The last of the football gaming … for now

LAS VEGAS – Despite yesterday’s brutal showing in the sports book Zoneblitz.com was back at the Golden Nugget this morning plopping down more cash on the opening weekend of professional gridiron action.

We put some action down on several individual games and then we each took a couple parlays as well. Parlay cards are generally seen by professional gamblers as sucker bets due to how they make bit players like us light up because of the progressively large payouts – people think they are smarter than they are and when they put down a few bucks hoping for the big immediate payoff they usually get themselves beat.

So we did it anyway.

Here are the games we picked together:

(more…)

Redskins to win a low-scoring game

LAS VEGAS – Not that I’m going to post my thoughts on every game but this is the opener.

The Washington Redskins will defeat the New York Giants … well, they’ll beat the spread anyway in a game that will end up under the 41 point total posted for the game.

As Tony mentioned the Blackjack tables have not been friendly. In hopes of having something to play with during college and pro football on Saturday and Sunday I didn’t put money on the Giants/Skins game tonight.

But I did separately put sizable individual bets on Washington +4.5 and under 41 at CentSports.com … at least sizable based on that site’s standards anyway.

Everyone getting excited? As some baseball fan once said, “Life begins on opening day.”

Cheers. Now, off to the sports book for some Beam and some real football.

Vegas, here we … are

LAS VEGAS – Well, Zoneblitz.com has hit the road.

The patriarch of the Zoneblitz.com family and Tony and I landed at about 1 p.m. Las Vegas time and quickly caught a cab to the Golden Nugget, which will be home base for the next four days. I’ve got my last fantasy auction on Friday but much of the rest of the week will be spent playing Blackjack and analyzing some sports bets for Sunday.

The week got off to a rough start. Tony and I both took a beating at Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel, Fitzgeralds Casino and the Four Queens Resort and Casino. At press time Dad was still out there trying to make sure we had enough cash for dinner … okay, it’s not that bad.

(more…)

Reports: Warner to start in Arizona

Reports from the SportingNews.com and ESPN indicate that Kurt Warner, not Matt Leinart, will start at quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

While the Arizona Republic quotes Leinart as saying he is satisfied with his play this preseason, it appears as though the coaching staff didn’t like the 2.8 passer rating Leinart posted while putting up three interceptions Saturday against the Oakland Raiders.

“It’s very little things,” Leinart told the Republic in a story published before the Raiders game. “but things that are easy to clean up.”

He’ll apparently have time to clean those things up from the sidelines while Warner suits up with Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James and company when the Cardinals open at San Francisco on Sept. 7.

Incidentally, the Cardinals have been installed as a three-point favorite over the 49ers in that game, according to VegasInsider.com. While the Cardinals have looked better with Warner right now I think the Niners and the points look pretty good.

Merriman injury makes 2008 season even murkier

Last year I was in Las Vegas in July for a conference as teams were preparing to head to training camp. I loved almost every move New England made, from trading for Randy Moss and Wes Welker to adding Adalius Thomas and Donte’ Stallworth. Coming off their disappointing early playoff exit the year before the Patriots dominated the offseason and put themselves in a position to not only contend, but dominate.

I put small futures bets down on the Patriots to both win the AFC and the Super Bowl and as the Patriots steamrolled through the regular season undefeated I felt very good about my bets.

Well, one of those bets turned out well and the other I narrowly lost. I can live with that – that’s why they call it gambling.

But as the 2008 season approaches – and my next Vegas trip is a mere 10 days away – I have no strong feelings yet about who will emerge as this year’s Patriots.

(more…)

CentSports.com Update

Last week, we put up a post recommending all our readers who are interested in sports betting check out CentSports.com.

From what we can tell, you’ve all ignored it–which is fine.  But it doesn’t mean we’re not going to subject you to updates on our betting habits.

Our first bet was a 4-way parlay, taking the Colts (+3) over the Falcons, the Vikings (+3) over the Ravens, the Saints (-3) over the Texans, and the Cardinals (+3) over the Chiefs, which would have won us $1.17–if the Saints hadn’t blown the game.  Not really sure why we went with them in the first place, to be honest.

But, the beautiful thing about CentSports is–when your account hits $0.00, they give you another $0.10 to play with.  So last night, we threw up a quick two-way parlay, taking the over on both the Lions/Bengals (35.5), and the Bucs/Pats (34)–and neither disappointed.  So now we’re up to $0.45, heading into tonight’s game–just for fun, we threw down a $0.10 over bet on that one, too (would pay $0.13).