Cardinals at Dodgers: A battle between two of the the NL’s top three teams comes together in Los Angeles. There are rumors flying around that John Smoltz might be on his way to St. Louis after refusing an option. Until that happens, the Cards will offer up Mitchell Boggs in this one. He’s only started 7 games this season, with a relatively indecisive 1-1 record and 3.78 ERA. He has 31 K’s but a large 1.89 WHIP, which means he’s walking a lot of guys, not something you want to do against one of the top hitting teams in your league. Plus, the last time he pitched, he lost. The Cards are lucky to enjoy the breathing room they have with the Cubs unceremoniously tanking it on their own this month, but they have to win these big games to prove they’re a factor come the postseason. Unfortunately for them, even against Jeff Weaver (5-4, 3.84), it’s not going to happen in this game. Even though Weaver has to look back to around the 4th of July to see a check in his team’s W column when he starts, this is the game he’ll turn it around against a relatively cool-hitting Cards team. St. Louis is hitting .259 as a team, although they hope to improve that number with a home series against lowly San Diego. Still, expect the home team to roll in this one. Dodgers -170, Cards +145. Take the Dodgers, and take the over if it’s at 13 or less.

Minnesota at Texas: The Rangers have proven to be resilient this year, dispelling predictions that their quick start would soon crumble under unreliable pitching and one-dimensional power hitting. But these aren’t your 1990’s Rangers, and they’re not going away, right in the thick of the Wild Card fight. If you thought the Yankees AND the Red Sox making the playoffs was a baseball betting gimme, think again. Texas throws Scott Feldman (11-4, 4 ERA), who isn’t striking many guys out this year, but isn’t walking too many either. He faces Carl Pavano, the newly acquired starter for the Twins in their latest attempt to shore up a very shaky staff as they try to stay alive in the AL Central (something a little league team could do these days). Pavano has been healthy this year, if not effective (5.1 ERA). But Texas is only hitting .255 as a team, good for 13th in the AL, just out of the cellar. Neither team has been playing inspired baseball lately (both under .500 since August 1), so this one could really go either way. I can’t imagine Texas being thrown by not having seen Pavano in a Twins uniform this season, so as the home team they’ll likely get the small edge in the money line. Texas -115, Minnesota +110. I’d honestly take a chance on Minnesota here, it’s worth the small risk of them being the road team. And I’d take the under if it’s at 10 or more.

Everyone loves a rivalry. Yankees vs. Red Sox, Blackhawks vs. Red Wings, U.S. vs. the world, I could go on for hours. They’re exciting, intense, physical, and for all involved and watching at home there just feels as though more is at stake.

There’s more hype and online sports betting for these games than a summer blockbuster movie sometimes, and more often than not, the games tend to live up to what they were billed as. Even better, depending on how a team’s schedule stacks up, we might even get to see them play that big rivalry game in the first part of their season.

So what’s the problem gamblers?

Well, as a gambler myself, here’s how I look at it. You don’t want that awesome fudge Sunday too early at the dinner table. It might taste great, but you end up not caring about the appetizers, main course and coffee afterward. That’s similar to getting the great game too early in the season. There’s no buildup, no pacing of excitement. So you’ll probably do some hardcore research on that game, bet your brains out, and then suffer from gambler’s hangover (win or lose) for the next few games, weeks or months. It happen subconsciously to most of us, there’s nothing you can do about it.

This especially hits home at the college level. Nobody wants to see Duke vs. North Carolina when they’re both 2-0. Sure, the same season might be at stake in November than it would be in February, but fans and the betting community don’t see it that way, and most of us aren’t looking that far down the road until we cross it. So the early matchup takes some of the luster out of the rivalry game, and also kills one team’s chances of getting to the title game (in football, at least).

You might not agree with me right now, but it’s just not as easy to get into college football betting Florida or USC if you know they’re not playing for the title. Same with a conference favorite – if they’re not even in bowl game contention, it takes away from the fun of betting them. Of course, if you like the line, there’s always a reason to bet, but that’s not the point.

So do all sports fans and gamblers a favor schedule-setters, and don’t jump the gun on the sweetest part of the season.

Any blackjack online player, whether amateur or professional, will tell you the best way to put yourself in a position to win without learning to count is to memorize the situation chart. You know the one, we’ve talked about it at length before and you can find it, usually laminated, at every casino gift shop around the world. What they forget to mention is for those of us who can’t memorize as easily as others, the idea of retaining the decisions on all 270 variations on these charts is nearly impossible. These people, and you may be one of them, need something a little easier to bite into at first.

Well, folks, here’s your baby step. Instead of 270, let’s chop that by about 90% and give you far fewer rules to remember. Because when it comes down to it, if you can remember these basic strategy rules, you’ll be ready to take a stab and the tables (just avoid the side bets and be aware that no matter how well you play, the dealer will always have the odds in his favor).

As you may already know, there are two different types of hands – hard hands and soft hands – that are determined by whether your hand contains an ace.

If you’re playing a hard hand, you want to: always stand on a hand of 17 or more, always take a hit against a dealer’s 7 or higher, hit 12 if the dealer has a 2 or 3, always hit any hand with a value less than 12, double an 11 against anything but an ace and double a 10 against anything but an Ace or 10 (value). And when in doubt, stand.

If you’re playing a blackjack soft hand, you want to: stand, every time, on a hand value of 19 or 20, also hit anything against a dealer’s 7 or higher, double anything in your hand against a five or six, stand on 18 against a 7, and double 17 or 18 against a 3. And when in doubt, hit (unless you’re already looking at five cards, then add them up first

Finally, you’ll want to remember just a few rules if you’re playing pairs. In that situation, first and most important, always split eights and aces (you might already have heard that phrase). Also, it might be tempting to split 10’s, but don’t, stand on them. And finally, double down on a pair of fives if the dealer’s hand is 10 or less.

The NFL betting season is one of the busiest times for sportsbooks as there are millions of dollars exchanging hands every single week of the season. If you’re getting tired of wagering on just the games and you would like to mix up your bets this year then you should take a look at halftime bets. The reason I would like to recommend betting on the halftime of a football game is because there is a huge opportunity to make some money without doing much research.

During the NFL season there are always multiple games at 1PM and 4PM EST on Sundays which means that there are often multiple games going into halftime at the same time or nearly the same time. This means that the sportsbooks only have a short period of time to post up the second half odds and if you’re smart you’ll be able to make some money. A lot of the online sportsbooks will favour the favourite during the second half because most of the public is going to bet on the favourite which is what the bookie wants you do.

You want to find lines that seem out of place based on the lines that you seen at the start of the game. For instance, if you see the Bills and Dolphins playing and the nfl odds for the game were -220 for the Bills and +170 for the Dolphins, but the second half odds were -150 Bills and +100 Dolphins because the Dolphins won the first half you need to consider why. The bookie wants action on the Bills for the second half at this point in the game and is willing to make it look like juicy odds. Most of the public is going to bet on the Bills since they believe the Bills will catch up as the favourite team, but in the NFL this won’t always happen and in fact the underdog will win the game a lot of the time after winning the first half.

Apart from line movement you also want to consider how the first half of the game was played between the two teams. Generally you’re going to want to have watched the game because often the halftime highlights aren’t going to give you an honest view of how the game has been played. If you pick up on a team playing horribly then you’re going to want to bet against them in the second half. Often things don’t change much after the first half when a team is having a horrible game because most players just give up until the following week.

It’s been noted that the second half of NFL games receive more action then the first half of games because the public prefers watching the first half of the game first. You can use the second half to hedge bets as well or to try and hit both ends of a bet. For instance, if you bet on the Bills to win by -7 for the game and they’re winning by 4 at half time and the second half odds are posted at -4 for the Bills then you could win both bets. You could bet on the Bills at -4 for the second half which would mean if that wins your -7 for the game bet would also win. Always try and find odds like this when playing football because often these are the games that will hit.