Ok, I don't post a lot around here, but I read a lot, and there is a lot of talk about "fading" certain posters or "the public", so I have decided to carry a little experiment.
I will administer a betting pool for the Arkansas - LSU game tonite. The line is Arkansas +12.5 points. Here is how you play:
1. Pick a side and pick an amout of points to bet (by trasfering them to me)
2. I will pool all the points bet on the game and if you picked correctly, you will get paid part of the pool, on a pro rata basis depending on how much you bet (so you correctly pick that LSU covers, there is a total of 200 points bet on the game, 100 of which were bet on LSU, and you bet 25, then you get 25% of the pool, or 50 points).
3. Thrash talk the guys on the losing side.
Rules of the game:
1. You can pick only one side. Once you have taken a side, however, you can put more points in the pool.
2. Only posts timed before game time will count. If you tranfer points to me after the game time, I will return them to you. Can't edit posts.
3. I will take 1% of the total pool for running this. If this flops (i.e. nobody takes Arkansas) I am not going to take anything.
In an efficient market, this has the potential to be equivalent to a penny line (if exacly half of the points go to each side and I take 1%), but as we know nothing is efficient, so the actual odds may differ significantly from the book odds. My reasoning for doing it, however, is not to offer better odds, but just to see what happens.
OK, then, let's see. Please include the amount you bet in your post.
P.S. If any of you are concerned that I might just take the points and run to some place warm, I have a 400 point deposit in Thaddeus's bank, this can serve as a collateral for this competition. But like I said, points are not that big of an motivatior for me.