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Bodog Sportsbook: Superbowl 43 Gambling Preview

Super Bowl is the busiest event of the year, with estimates of $8 billion in cold, hard cash exchanging hands. Let’s take a look inside Super Bowl betting…

Super Bowl XLIII Betting

The most important day of our lives is less than two weeks away.

If you’re new to sports gambling, you’ve picked a great time to start. The Super Bowl is by far the busiest event of the year, with estimates of $8 billion in cold, hard cash exchanging hands worldwide. A lot of this money will be wagered by people who are betting for the first and only time in 2009. They don’t necessarily know what they’re doing, but they’re having fun. You can have it both ways; pick up some of the basics of Super Bowl betting, and you’ll dramatically increase your chances of getting paid while enhancing your appreciation of the NFL.

The first thing to look at is the betting line. The Pittsburgh Steelers opened as 7-point favorites over the Arizona Cardinals at press time (for current lines, visit the Bodog online sportsbook). The Cardinals got some early support, so the linesmakers have adjusted by lowering the juice on the Steelers from –110 to –105. The total is 47, with the over priced at –105.

These small line movements speak volumes about the Super Bowl. Early bets are often made by sharp handicappers, who always want to get their team at the best price they can. Some were able to get Arizona +7 at the standard –110. Others who waited had to pay –115, but that’s still a bargain compared to the possibility of the line moving to Arizona +6.5.

On the Pittsburgh side of the ledger, the betting public generally prefers to bet on the favorite, and the Steelers are one of the most publicly adored teams in the NFL. “Square” money tends to come in closer to game time, especially after the Friday workday is done. These market trends are important to follow; if you prefer the Steelers in this matchup, you might decide it’s in your best interests to wait and see if you can get them at –6.5 instead of –7.Sports Betting at the Sportsbook

The sharp/square divide isn’t necessarily cut and dried. Bettors at just about every level were on the New York Giants last year at +10. Sharps liked the way the Giants were playing at the time, while casual bettors had simply grown to hate the then-undefeated New England Patriots, partly because of the Spygate scandal. This year, while the Steelers are definitely a public team, the Cardinals also have their share of fan support. Arizona runs an exciting offense with two-time league MVP Kurt Warner at quarterback. Both teams are likely to pull in some big action on Super Bowl weekend.

This public dynamic is incredibly important for handicappers to understand. People are motivated to bet on the Super Bowl because of the added spectacle. The sports pages will be filled over the next two weeks with stories about the two teams and their players, mostly of the human-interest variety. But stories that matter to the game itself do hit the newswires, like when Oakland Raiders center Barrett Robbins was spotted drinking and despondent before the 2003 Super Bowl against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. These are the kind of developing stories you want to follow as we get closer to Feb. 1.

So now you’re in touch with your inner Jimmy the Greek. But what if you still don’t really know all that much about the Steelers and Cardinals? Let the machines sort it out. Every year, computer projections get a little bit better at telling us the likely outcome of a sporting event. This year’s AccuScore forecast has the Steelers winning by an average of 27.1-20.6, which is uncannily close to both the pointspread and the total for this year’s game. Don’t take these projections as gospel, but use them as a general guideline to help tailor your expectations for Super Bowl Sunday. The rest is up to you.

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By Cappers Picks

Articles on CappersPicks.com are written by Q (the Head Honcho) at Cappers Picks or by our resident "in house" handicapper Razor Ray Monohan! Enjoy the free picks folks! "Pad that bankroll one day at a time!"