[Mostly Casual]

the sooner we all learn this the better. I don't know much about anything, I haven't been betting on sports very long, but this I know for sure. Case in point: Lakers/Magic. The lines are meticulously, painstakingly calculated to screw you.

It's not always obvious just by looking at who the public is betting on and betting the opposite, if it were we'd all be too rich to care to post on this forum. And the games aren't fixed, so the books have to guess who will win too. They're just better at the guessing game than the every day bettor and have the resources to do it.

There are no gifts from Vegas on the board. They don't give those out. Sorry.

I make sure to remember this simple fact day to day. I hope everyone who lost tonight gets some wins tomorrow. Good luck everyone.

[dwluv3333]

always easy to think these kind of things after the fact

just remember, we remember the days when the public gets buried way more so than when vegas' trap lines don't end up trapping anyone at all

there was absolutely no way vegas could have known lakers and magic would both lose their games straight up today.

[BernardMadoff]

Remember, its just a line, if it makes you feel better, look at the matchups without ever looking at the lines, come up with a number yourself and go from there, when you finally do see the line then make a move. Looking at the lines first will cause hesitancy sometimes, Lakers arnt good on the road and everybody gets up for them, they are lucky to win on the road period, let alone cover a favored spread on the road. Magic, typically dont lose to Charlotte, but things happen, they wont win every game against them and this was one of them, hope you didnt have their pricey moneyline, even if parlayed, pretty pricey, might wanna stay away from parlayed moneyline favored road teams, their risky.

[Mostly Casual]

I didn't bet these games, I just read through a lot of forums and saw that they were big plays by a lot of people. I just think it's important to remember that when a line looks great then it probably isn't.

That's some good advice Madoff.

[Frisco]

Remember, its just a line, if it makes you feel better, look at the matchups without ever looking at the lines, come up with a number yourself and go from there, when you finally do see the line then make a move. Looking at the lines first will cause hesitancy sometimes, Lakers arnt good on the road and everybody gets up for them, they are lucky to win on the road period, let alone cover a favored spread on the road. Magic, typically dont lose to Charlotte, but things happen, they wont win every game against them and this was one of them, hope you didnt have their pricey moneyline, even if parlayed, pretty pricey, might wanna stay away from parlayed moneyline favored road teams, their risky.

Betting on the Magic recently has become a crazy thing to do. Last time i bet on them was against ATL b4 the break when Joe Johnson and their 2 big men were out. Put $500 on them 1H line of like -2 and they got blown out. Dwight had 7 shot attempts the whole game and is obviously looking forward to his exit.

[Mostly Casual]

always easy to think these kind of things after the fact

just remember, we remember the days when the public gets buried way more so than when vegas' trap lines don't end up trapping anyone at all

there was absolutely no way vegas could have known lakers and magic would both lose their games straight up today.

Ofcourse not, they can't possibly know the outcome of a game. I don't believe in game fixing. What they did know is that those lines would attract 90% of the public and they did. Lakers -5.5 against the woeful Pistons? They just beat the Heat. Complete no brainer.

[Patrickz0rs]

Two things:

1. Vegas knows that the Lakers will always attract the public action (same goes for any large public team Heat, Bulls..), so the lines are 'usually' a tad inflated.

2. When it seems too easy and you think Vegas is giving out free money, remember Vegas doesn't give out free money.

[Frisco]

Ofcourse not, they can't possibly know the outcome of a game. I don't believe in game fixing. What they did know is that those lines would attract 90% of the public and they did. Lakers -5.5 against the woeful Pistons? They just beat the Heat. Complete no brainer.

Lakers -5 against almost any team would attract 90% of the public. Same w/ almost any team playing Charlotte.

[Frisco]

Two things:

1. Vegas knows that the Lakers will always attract the public action (same goes for any large public team Heat, Bulls..), so the lines are 'usually' a tad inflated.

2. When it seems too easy and you think Vegas is giving out free money, remember Vegas doesn't give out free money.

Except when it came to Kentucky and UNC this last weekend. I loved Vegas overvaluing Duke and Florida.

[BernardMadoff]

Betting on the Magic recently has become a crazy thing to do. Last time i bet on them was against ATL b4 the break when Joe Johnson and their 2 big men were out. Put $500 on them 1H line of like -2 and they got blown out. Dwight had 7 shot attempts the whole game and is obviously looking forward to his exit.

They may be getting back to year's past when Howard would have a few shot attempts the entire game, on a side note, hate the Hawks, dont like to bet them, yet they win on the road without Johnson tonight, go figure.