I know this sounds stupid, but have the old closing lines on SBR changed?

MonkeyF0cker · 11-20-09, 03:57 PM

Post some examples?

Mudcat · 11-20-09, 04:12 PM

It does not sound stupid to me at all.

I have seen some weirdness with some lines from the odds archives. Without getting into a whole long story, at one point I did see a bunch of them change basically right before my eyes. As I recall it was NBA and NHL from early 2008. It was like I was working away and there was a hiccup and BOOM - suddenly they were all scrambled like a bunch of Scrabble tiles that had been tossed up in the air. Data I had just gathered minutes before was upside down and mixed.

I talked to the techies quite a bit and the glaring errors were corrected - like completely reversed moneylines - but there were still a few variances.

I have seen a few other oddities as well. Again, I don't want to turn this into a major essay. Bottom line, I have only so-so trust in the archives. Having said that, angles I formulated using that data have proved to be successful so they're obviously not too bad.

I don't venture into the archives much now. I have taken everything I want from there and now it is part of my daily routine to collect scores and odds straight from SBRlines every morning.

monkeyspanker mo · 11-21-09, 04:58 AM

Thanks Mudcat. This is interesting. The odds changes I have noticed were not hugh. Usually just a point or half a point, so hopefully it will all even out in the end. You think the best way to get accurate odds is to enter them the same day? Anyway, how do I get a hold of these techies you refer to?

Mudcat · 11-21-09, 10:07 AM

I talked mostly to IvanC and ganchrow. I think I heard that ganchrow isn't around any more. Not sure.

I am not sure exactly where you are gathering your data. You made a comment about how you wondered if sportsbooks being added might make a difference. That leads me to believe you are doing things differently than me. I was using Pinnacle lines specifically so the addition of books wouldn't affect me.

Perhaps you are using default odds at the summary page for each calendar date?? I don't know if you understand what I mean by that but it is the best wording I can think of. If they changed the book they used as the default, that would be a simple explanation for your issue.

I do believe the best way to get accurate odds is straight from SBRlines before they disappear around noon each day. I also find it more efficient than all that navigating through the archives (again, depending on how exactly you are using the archives).

I have found errors in scores at time though. For top accuracy, they should be double-checked but that is a big job some days.

monkeyspanker mo · 11-22-09, 01:23 AM

This is where I get the data. http://www.sbrforum.com/Scores/NBA+Odds/20061103.aspx. This page, for example, seems very different from when I last visited it several months ago. I always assumed that the odds on this page was the average of a bunch of different sports books, which is why I theorized that adding a few more sports books could cause a slight change in the closing lines.

Mudcat · 11-22-09, 09:08 AM

I'm pretty sure the lines you see on that page are a default book. Bookmaker ??? So maybe you could PM IvanC and ask him if they have changed it recently. That might answer your question right there. Ivan is a good guy.

What I was doing was gathering lines specifically from Pinnacle. Perhaps you already know this but if you click under each game where it says

Odds History: Side, ML, Total

that takes you to a breakdown of a bunch of different books. It is very useful (to me anyway) but a lot of navigating if you want to collect a whole season of data on something.

But anyway, the big glitch I was referring to earlier affected all books - not just Pinnacle.