How about the MLB odds for Detroit at Pittsburgh (thought I was going the Red Sox/Phillies route didn’t ya?). Detroit has – what’s the word – found itself in first place in the AL Central after all the other teams have managed to lose more games than them. Even so, their play is erratic and nobody coming out of this division will be taken seriously unless they can start showing some consistency and drive. Speaking of inconsistent, welcome to Dontrelle Willis’ career. First a hyped sportsbook.com rookie throwing up huge numbers, then hurt, then back on a different team…somewhere…then hurt, now with the Tigers and throwing horribly. With an ERA near 7, 13K in 5 starts (seriously?) and a 1-3 record, he mine as well claim he’s hurt. Ross Ohlendorf goes for the Tigers. He’s got a .500 record and a mid-4 ERA himself, which is pretty indicative of the Pirates season so far…a little worse than the middle of the pack. Unfortunately for them, in the NL Central that lands you in 5th place, actually tied for last with the Astros. But I think the Pirates are better than their baseball betting record would suggest. They’re fourth in BA in the NL, and continue to make moves to help their future. That pumps energy into a club desperately in need of something after so many years of losing. Pirates get the money line advantage here, and I’d bet on them to take the game. Pirates -130, Tigers +120.

South Africa has a population of over 45 million people which live in the nine different provinces inside of the country. There will be soccer played throughout the entire country at the 2010 World Cup so you need to make sure you plan your trip carefully. You don’t want to stay in Cape Town if you have tickets to soccer matches in Polokwane as you would need to do way too much travelling on your vacation. South Africa is like many other countries in that it has a wide range of different cultures living together. In all you can find over 10 different languages spoken in the country, but we’re glad to tell you that a lot of people do speak English, especially at tourist destinations like the hotel.

There will be nine different cities where the 2010 World Cup Betting will be played in June. You’ll want to buy your tickets before you plan your trip so that you can find out which city you need to stay close too. The following are the nine cities that will host soccer matches this summer at the World Cup.

* Cape Town – Green Point Stadium
* Durban – Durban Stadium
* Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium
* Mangaung / Bloemfontein – Free State Stadium
* Nelson Mandela Bay / Port Elizabeth – Port Elizabeth Stadium
* Nelspruit – Mbombela Stadium
* Polokwane – Peter Mokaba Stadium
* Rustenburg – Royal Bafokeng Stadium
* Tshwane / Pretoria – Loftus Versfeld Stadium

If you don’t already have tickets to the 2010 World Cup you can still purchase them several ways. There are still 2 out of 5 ticketing phases left for tickets with then next phase starting in a few days on February 9th 2010. There will be almost a half million tickets available during this time, but remember it’s a first come first served basis. Of course if needed you can always look to purchase tickets through a ticket broker closer to the World Cup, but you will definitely pay over the ticket price for them.

Since there are going to be millions of worldcup participants and soccer fans around the world attending the World Cup you should definitely book your accommodations and everything else you need now before it’s too late. There are still some places where you can book rooms, but South Africa doesn’t have a huge abundance of accommodations. The South African government has been spending tons of money on improving the countries infrastructure, so it should definitely be an enjoyable World Cup.

Unlike point spread basketball betting, money line betting does not involve either team spotting the opposing team points. Instead of spotting points, the money line bets are decided straight up, which means the bet is settled based on the actual outcome of the basketball game. A sample NBA money line listing may look like the following:

San Antonio Spurs +170

Los Angeles Lakers -200

In this sample basketball money line, the Spurs are listed at +170, while the Lakers list at -200. The positive number is associated with the underdog, while the negative number is associated with the favorite in this basketball game. With basketball money line betting, the positive number reflects the amount of money that will be won for every $100 wagered. In this sample match, if $100 is wagered on a Spurs win and they do win, the bet pays $170. Likewise, if $500 were bet on the Spurs to win, a winning $500 wager pays $850.

The Lakers are listed at -200 on the money line. The negative number reflects the amount of money that is needed to win $100. Thus, a person betting on the Lakers to win and wishing to receive a $100 return on their wager would need to put up $200 to win $100. Likewise, a person wagering $1K on the Lakers to win would get a return of $500 on their wager if the Lakers pulled off the victory.

Money line betting is a way to bet on the actual results of NBA games without having to worry about spotting a team points or receiving points. Using the money line when betting basketball games is an easy means by which to profit on basketball games and adds to the fun and excitement of watching basketball live or on the television.

The easiest bet to place when doing some online horse racing betting is a bet to win. When betting a horse to win, you are wagering that the horse will finish the race in first place. Should the horse fail to finish first, the bet does not pay out. In the event you do not feel comfortable in betting on a winner, a horse racing bettor can wager on a horse to either place or show. When betting for a horse to place, you are wagering that the horse will finish second or better in the race, as the place wager pays if your horse finishes second or first. Likewise, a wager for the horse to show is a bet that pays if the horse finishes in third place or better.

In addition to betting on a single horse at a site like Go Casino, one can bet on a pair of horses. Placing a wager on two horses in a single race is called an exacta. Exactas depend on the two horses that were wagered on to finish in first and second place respectively. Should these horses fail to finish one and two, the bet loses. However, if the horses finish first and second, the exacta pays out. Similarly, a trifecta is a wager on the top three horses. Thus, the horses must finish 1-2-3 for the wager to win.

When placing exacta bets and trifecta bets at Rushmore Casino, it is important to remember that the order in which the horses finish is important. If one places a single wager on a trifecta, the horses must finish exactly as the bet slip states. However, exacta bets and trifecta bets may be “boxed.” When you box an exacta or a trifecta, the order no longer matters, as you have placed a wager on every possible combination of horses that are included in the wager. This means that the horses you have wagered on may finish in any order within the top two or three and the bet will pay out.

There is no doubt that the most popular event at the Olympic Winter Games betting is Men’s Ice Hockey. The sportsbooks have had the odds posted for Ice Hockey for awhile now. You can wager on what team you think will win the gold medal and you can also bet on what team you think will win each group. The current favourite to win the gold medal is Team Canada at -200 around most bookies with Russia sitting at +200 odds roughly. Betting on what team you think will win a given group might pose a simpler challenge for you and you should definitely check that out if you think picking the gold medal winner is to difficult.

Another popular event you can do some online sports betting at the 2010 Winter Olympics is Figure Skating, especially for the women and trust me lots of women enjoy betting on these events. You’ll be able to wager on both Men’s and Women’s Figure Skating at the Olympics including Singles and Doubles. Figure Skating can be fun to bet on plus it can be fairly easy. For instance, the Women’s Singles event has Yu-Na Kim listed as a ½ favourite with the closest competitor being listed as an 11/2 underdog. I don’t know a lot about Figure Skating, but Yu-Na Kim seems like it would be a wise bet this year in Vancouver.

You can also bet on Speed Skating which is the last widely bet on event at the Winter Olympics. There are plenty of Speed Skating events that you can bet on at the Olympics ranging from Short Track to Long Track Speed Skating. The best thing about betting on Speed Skating is that the events don’t take that long to complete. It might only take a couple days to finish each event in Speed Skating for the most part, so you don’t need to wait as long as you would if you had bet on Figure Skating or Ice Hockey. The Canadian team has a strong Speed Skating team this year so make sure you look at them when it comes down to these events.

Generally the most popular event held outside at the Winter Olympics is skiing. Skiing is a widely popular sport in many countries around the world and it’s very competitive which helps draw in the bettors. There are lots of skiing events to bet on at the 2010 Winter Olympics including Downhill Skiing, Alpine Skiing and Freestyle Skiing. Skiing is very competitive and anything can happen which makes it one of the most difficult sports to bet on at the Winter Olympics and you should make sure you do your research before betting any money.

Men’s and Women’s snowboarding is also widely bet on by many people around the world. Just like skiing, snowboarding is very competitive although I find it a bit easier to win your bets. There are generally only a few snowboarders in each of the events that have a good shot at winning the gold whereas in skiing there could be 10+ skiers that could potentially take away gold.

Some of the other sports you can bet on at the Olympics that aren’t as popular include Curling, Luge, Skeleton and Bobsledding. These sports aren’t bet on by that many people, but this means you can often find more value in these events if you know what you’re doing. There are also some other cool prop bets being offered by many online sportsbooks this week while leading up to the start of the Winter Games. For instance, you can bet on what country you think will win the most amount of medals and what team will win the least amount of medals.

The Marlins. A three-game losing streak recently may have slowed their torrid pace, but they still swept the Braves and have a 20-plus run differential against their opponents. These types of baseball bets are coming more from their third-best 3.61 ERA than their not-as-impressive .258 batting average. Although don’t tell that to Jorge Cantu, who’s hitting .348 so far with 8 RBI’s. The Marlins are playing like they believe they can win, and that they belong atop the NL East (sound like another Florida team from last year?) These Sunshine State boys are making the conference wake up and take notice, all the while looking up at the fish in the standings. We’ll see how long this lasts.

The Red Sox. Welcome back to the top, Boston. Or at least near the top. These guys were murder on the gamblers early on, dropping games they were expected to win left and right. Hitting and pitching has been disappointingly average, but the defense has held up, and their certainly showing signs of life. Nothing like an upcoming series against hated rival Yankees to really put them to the test early on. Anyone else get the feeling the Blue Jays reign atop the AL East is about to fly the coop?

The Dodgers. Don’t forget the other NL team playing above .700 ball right now. That’s right, at 10-4 the Dodgers have paid off early for baseball betters more than any other MLB team. These guys are an offensive machine. The have the best hitting stats in the league right now, and their 14 stolen bases already only adds insult to injury to their opponents. Not to be forgotten, the pitchers are doing it, too, with a fantastic 3.14 team ERA (4th in the league). And expect the punishment to continue as Los Angeles gets to feast on San Fransisco and Colorado next. While all the Cubs fans are predicting a 100-win season for their team, it’s the Dodgers that have the tools right now to make a run at best record in the NL come September. I’d keep my money riding on Manny being Manny until they cool off, which may or may not happen anytime soon.