This past weekend's action from a bookmaker's point-of-view
By Jimmy Mason, Director of Sportsbook Operations, www.betcom.com
What an unbelievable weekend of NCAA basketball. Never before in the history of the NCAA tournament have three of the four ?Elite Eight? games gone into overtime! Not only was it exciting but, we as the book did well as we generally tend to when there is such sheer volume being wagered.
Saturday started well for the house as the bulk of the action was on Rick Pitino?s Louisville Cardinals. West Virginia had played well to get to the ?Elite Eight?, but many felt that their offense, based on 3-point shooting would run cold sooner rather that later. Louisville as eight point favorites, went up to eight and a hook and we were so heavy we actually ended up going to nine before tip-off. It looked great for the house as the ?Mounties? took the game to O.T. In overtime the Cardinals made the bookies sweat though as they eventually stretched the final score to 93-85 winning and narrowly missing the cover.
In the ?Saturday Night Special?, Big-10 powerhouse Illinois opened as a five and a half point favorite and the sharps quickly moved in on the dog. The public agreed with the sharps in taking ?Zona? for the most part, as did our own David Rockwell. ?Rock? had Arizona winning the whole shebang in a pair of big money office pools. He asked if we could stop at my house so he could watch the end of the game before dinner, dancing and casino night with our beautiful ladies. We wished we hadn?t stopped to watch though as the ?Illini? showed why they were ranked #1 most of the season. They shook off a big deficit for an overtime comeback squeaker 90-89.
Sunday afternoon saw another one for the dogs. Surprisingly we didn?t need North Carolina for our lives as some of our high rollers from the Midwest got in on the ?Badgers? early. UNC was a nine point favorite over underdog Wisconsin when the line opened and rose as high as ten and a half in places while we stayed steady. Wisconsin hung tough with the ?Tar Heels? who just don?t seem to be able to pull away from the competition at this point. In the end, North Carolina won by six 88-82 but it was really a yawner where we just sat back and collected the juice.
The last game of the weekend was worth the wait as Michigan St. and Kentucky took it into double overtime before the winner was decided. Kentucky was a small favorite, but really the teams were evenly matched. Our action reflected that as we took incredibly well balanced action. The ticket count was almost 1 to 1, which in a game of this magnitude is amazing. In the end the ?Spartans? had a bit more gas winning 94-88 and will be making the trip to the ?Final Four?.
Join us again next week as we ?wrap? it all up again!!!
Jimmy Mason
Get in on the action: www.betcom.com
By Jimmy Mason, Director of Sportsbook Operations, www.betcom.com
What an unbelievable weekend of NCAA basketball. Never before in the history of the NCAA tournament have three of the four ?Elite Eight? games gone into overtime! Not only was it exciting but, we as the book did well as we generally tend to when there is such sheer volume being wagered.
Saturday started well for the house as the bulk of the action was on Rick Pitino?s Louisville Cardinals. West Virginia had played well to get to the ?Elite Eight?, but many felt that their offense, based on 3-point shooting would run cold sooner rather that later. Louisville as eight point favorites, went up to eight and a hook and we were so heavy we actually ended up going to nine before tip-off. It looked great for the house as the ?Mounties? took the game to O.T. In overtime the Cardinals made the bookies sweat though as they eventually stretched the final score to 93-85 winning and narrowly missing the cover.
In the ?Saturday Night Special?, Big-10 powerhouse Illinois opened as a five and a half point favorite and the sharps quickly moved in on the dog. The public agreed with the sharps in taking ?Zona? for the most part, as did our own David Rockwell. ?Rock? had Arizona winning the whole shebang in a pair of big money office pools. He asked if we could stop at my house so he could watch the end of the game before dinner, dancing and casino night with our beautiful ladies. We wished we hadn?t stopped to watch though as the ?Illini? showed why they were ranked #1 most of the season. They shook off a big deficit for an overtime comeback squeaker 90-89.
Sunday afternoon saw another one for the dogs. Surprisingly we didn?t need North Carolina for our lives as some of our high rollers from the Midwest got in on the ?Badgers? early. UNC was a nine point favorite over underdog Wisconsin when the line opened and rose as high as ten and a half in places while we stayed steady. Wisconsin hung tough with the ?Tar Heels? who just don?t seem to be able to pull away from the competition at this point. In the end, North Carolina won by six 88-82 but it was really a yawner where we just sat back and collected the juice.
The last game of the weekend was worth the wait as Michigan St. and Kentucky took it into double overtime before the winner was decided. Kentucky was a small favorite, but really the teams were evenly matched. Our action reflected that as we took incredibly well balanced action. The ticket count was almost 1 to 1, which in a game of this magnitude is amazing. In the end the ?Spartans? had a bit more gas winning 94-88 and will be making the trip to the ?Final Four?.
Join us again next week as we ?wrap? it all up again!!!
Jimmy Mason
Get in on the action: www.betcom.com
