[Andy Vix]

Hello,

I am just wondering if anyone utilizes any software that assists them in handicapping NHL games?

I know there is a product by "SBS", but I was wondering if there are other programs available (free or for a cost) that are worthwhile in assiting in handicapping NHL games.

Thanks.

[bozeman]

Software is useless when gambling on sports, unless it compares mathematical odds to the ones bookies offer, than if it's an exact estimation by the computer you would be able to get over 60 percent. Otherwise don't waste time on it

[w1nterl0ng]

Hi Andy, can you be more specific in what you are looking to accomplish with software? I would be more than happy to give you my opinionb once I understand the questions a little better.
Thanks

[Andy Vix]

What am looking for is software that can do the following
- After loading a database of teams and power rankings, be able to provide a head to head analysis of any teams in the database

- Run simulation on the game and predict a line to compare against current lines being offered

- Also assist in over/under analysis by predicting a numeric score i.e 4.4 goals in this game,

- A way to update the power rankings as teams begin to play better or their play declines for more acurate assitance.

[w1nterl0ng]

I'll answer what I can, these are my opinions and mostly just a starting point for you to do your own research.

- After loading a database of teams and power rankings, be able to provide a head to head analysis of any teams in the database

A service such as StatFox can do this for you, the basic numbers can be found on Covers and other Stat sites.

- Run simulation on the game and predict a line to compare against current lines being offered

Simulations are tricky business. If your simulation is too basic it will simply result in the average of the variables you submit. If you run them too few times it is simply a coin toss.

- Also assist in over/under analysis by predicting a numeric score i.e 4.4 goals in this game,

I don't want to sound discouraging here, but unless you apply some amount of esoteric or statistically unquantifiable data you will be hard pressed to beat the line. With that being said, your best bet here is to use excel or python

- A way to update the power rankings as teams begin to play better or their play declines for more acurate assitance.

Depending on your understanding of computer programming, I think Excel is your best bet here as well.

So, to answer your overall question, I am not aware of a software product designed for NHL that will do this for you. But everything you want to do can be done with Excel. I suggest starting simple. Make a Sheet that has all of the teams with a few stats each, use those stats to create an overall number in a calculated column. then simply compare the competing teams, if the deference is small then you you have a close line, if they are further apart you have a larger line. I realize that I have oversimplified this example. But I think anything else is beyond the scope of this post.
I am new to this Think Tank forum. And from what I can tell there are a lot of very smart people who have most likely posted thoughts on this type of handicapping before. If I do not find anything that is similar to how I look at lines I will try to write up a separate post with my ideas.
Thanks.

[Andy Vix]

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply.
I will take your advice and begin my research.

Andy