Peter Childs is an oddsmaker with Belmont.com.
We had a solid weekend with a full slate of college basketball games taking place on Saturday. One of the bigger games included Illinois at Purdue.
We had good two-way action on the game and there was sharp action on both sides. We opened Purdue as a 12-point favorite and booked sharp money on the favorite, which forced us to eventually go to 13. After we posted 13, we booked sharp money on the dog and closed this game Purdue -12.5. The game landed 10, with Purdue getting the win but not the cover.
By far the biggest game of the day was Kentucky at Vanderbilt.
Kentucky is the second ranked team in the nation and has one of the most dynamic players in John Wall. The Wildcats are also one of the bigger public teams this season.
We opened this game at pick'em, but eventually went to Vandy -1 based on sharp action on the home team. We eventually went back to a pick'em and then Kentucky -1 because we were slammed with Kentucky money.
It was a game where sharp money was on one side, public money was on the other side and the public got the money. It was the heaviest bet game of the day.
Overall, we basically broke even on Saturday. We held roughly two percent on the day.
Sunday was a very good day for us, especially if you consider that we lost the biggest game of the day. While there were tons of great NBA matchups, it was the hockey game between the U.S. and Canada that drew the most attention with our bettors.
Since the majority of our bettors are Americans, we booked significant action on Team USA, both on the puckline as well as the moneyline. U.S.A. was getting +250 on the moneyline, so every dollar that was bet on them paid out two and a half times and that cost us dearly yesterday.
The game going over didn't help either. That hockey game was very unfavorable to bookies.
The rest of the day worked out much better for us. The public was all over the Cavs in their matchup vs. the Magic. We opened and close the Magic as 2-point favorites and over 75 percent of the action was on the Cavs in this one.
Bettors also took the moneyline on the dog, which of course didn't get there. The game stayed under the total of 197 with the two teams combining for 196.
The Spurs losing outright to the Pistons was also a big haul for us. The Pistons have been awful this year and bettors definitely prefer fading them, especially against good teams.
But the Spurs were without PG Tony Parker, and the Pistons won a tightly contested matchup in overtime.
Another big win for us on Sunday was the T-Wolves covering against the Thunder. The Thunder are one of the hottest teams in the NBA and the public was all over them. And while the Thunder did win, they failed to cover.
There was a limited amount of college hoops on Sunday, but the game of the day came out of the Big East. Third ranked Villanova traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the 21st ranked Panthers.
We opened Villanova a 1-point road favorite and booked nearly 70 percent of the action on them. We eventually went to 1.5 and then 2, before closing Villanova a solid 2.5-point road favorite.
Pittsburgh won the game outright and the game stayed under the closing total of 146. It was a very good result for us.
Overall, Sunday was a very profitable day for us. We held almost 15% and if the hockey game between Canada and the US would have gone the other way, it would have been a banner day for most bookies.