Betting on Golf tournaments-players

tnc200 · Jan 24, 2011

Ok I love watching golf tourneys. I have seen sites online that take bets and have odds etc. I'm not much of a gambler as I've never been impressed with the odds at the horse track, or black jack, and poker has become a joke. I do like craps and sports bets though. I've got 3 major tribal casinos close and would hopefully place bets there, I won't do it online though.
Does anyone actually bet on golf tourneys-players? And if, is there a fansite for this?

P.S. I hope this isn't illegal sshhhhh...

Smallville · Jan 24, 2011

If my prowess at Fantasy Golf is any indication, I would be throwing my money away if I bet on golf tournaments.

CharlieMoy · Jan 24, 2011

You and me both Smalls

Awsi Dooger · Jan 30, 2011

tnc200 said:
Ok I love watching golf tourneys. I have seen sites online that take bets and have odds etc. I'm not much of a gambler as I've never been impressed with the odds at the horse track, or black jack, and poker has become a joke. I do like craps and sports bets though. I've got 3 major tribal casinos close and would hopefully place bets there, I won't do it online though.
Does anyone actually bet on golf tourneys-players? And if, is there a fansite for this?

P.S. I hope this isn't illegal sshhhhh...

Unless you're in Nevada you're out of luck. Tribal casinos aren't allowed to book sporting events outside of racing. Places like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun devote huge casino area to a racebook and many novice gamblers assume they take sports bets also, but that's not the case.

I bet hundreds of PGA head-to-head golf matchups per year. I use certain statistics and don't make subjective judgements. I don't start until March, once enough stats have been compiled during the new year. You'd be shocked at the variance from season to season and how that impacts results.

It's the same type of betting that Alex Micelli references every week on one Golf Channel show, other than he uses subjective evaluation only.

A matchup might look like this:

Steve Stricker EVEN
Dustin Johnson -120

You are betting those two guys in relation to each other. Nothing else matters. Johnson is a small favorite, bet 120 to win 100 while Stricker is 100 to win 100. Obviously the ratio can vary, like 36 to win 30 on Johnson, or whatever level the bettor is willing to risk. And the first criteria is not final score. It's number of completed holes. Someone who withdraws after one round at +2 loses to someone who misses the cut at +12. A player who is eliminated on the first playoff hole loses to someone who is eliminated on the second playoff hole. If the number of completed holes is tied (obviously often the case), then the score comes into play.

Golf betting was in its heyday about a decade ago. Nevada sportsbooks were aggressively competing for clientele and many books put out their own matchups. Offshore outfits were getting into the act. It was not uncommon for upwards of 80-100 different matchups to be available every week. But coorporate mergers ruined everything. Sportsbooks that once put up their own versions are now mere satellites of the big shops. Consequently you have the same bland 5-10 matchups everywhere, with only a couple of joints willing to risk their own opinion. Minus the competition the house take or "juice" also jumped, from 20 cents as in my example to 30 or 40 cents, i.e. -120 on both sides if it's a pick'em matchup. I find it hilarious that Golf Channel this year is making Micelli bet into a 30 cent line instead of 20 cents like previous years. Frankly, I don't think they even realize it. They grab the numbers from some source like Olympic (TheGreek.com) and stick them on the screen.

Offshore sites still offer plenty of matchups but it's from the same source and too many of them use the same handful of players. You might have the top guys used in 3 or 4 separate matchups against different players, i.e. Zach Johnson against Stricker then another one with Zach Johnson against Hunter Mahan. In the old days every book or offshore site used a player in only one matchup but reached much further down the rankings to form the matchups. Now it's rare for matchups to include players who are underdog to make the cut.

I don't deal with betting to win tournaments. Futures odds are ridiculously low. Sportsbooks in the '80s started to offer matchup wagering on the majors only. Harrah's sportsbook manager banned me from golf wagering in 1988 when I happened to get on a hot streak for the first three majors that year. The darn ban was carried out for a decade, even though the manager was long gone. His supervisors remembered.

The Imperial Palace was the first spot to offer weekly golf matchups, 1990. The supervisor used his own judgement and offered interesting matchups. He based it on current form more than reputation. Eventually the IP expanded to offer Senior Tour and even some LPGA matchups. They got plenty of local positive publicity and that prompted other casinos to take a stab. Every joint had golf enthusiasts behind the counter so many of them used homemade matchups. It was a field day for me once I discovered the statistical method, after dumping hundreds of results into Excel. Golf betting was my primary source of income for years. Unfortunately I blabbed a bit too much to friends and someone leaked the key criteria of the statistical focus. The matchups gradually took a different look, following the same lines as the vital stats. In other words #14 in one category would be matched up against #16 instead of the old glory days when it might be #4 versus #87 solely because the name recognition was similar. Like the top Nevada oddsmaker told me on a radio program in the late '80s; "thank you for that football trend, I'll make sure you never make any money on it again." They absolutely know where they are vulnerable, and make adjustments. My golf betting win percentage consequently is markedly lower than the late '90s or early '00s but it's still a dependable grind.

Shankopotamus · Jan 30, 2011

tnc200 said:
Ok I love watching golf tourneys. I have seen sites online that take bets and have odds etc. I'm not much of a gambler as I've never been impressed with the odds at the horse track, or black jack, and poker has become a joke. I do like craps and sports bets though. I've got 3 major tribal casinos close and would hopefully place bets there, I won't do it online though.
Does anyone actually bet on golf tourneys-players? And if, is there a fansite for this?

P.S. I hope this isn't illegal sshhhhh...

FanRoto.com is the sister site of the site THP uses for its weekly Fantasy League. Games are the same format as the weekly fantasy league, but are limited to 2 or 10 entries per game. Payouts are winner take all, or win/place and show.

It is considered a "game of skill", and as such is legal in most states under the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Smallville · Jan 30, 2011

Shankopotamus said:
FanRoto.com is the sister site of the site THP uses for its weekly Fantasy League. Games are the same format as the weekly fantasy league, but are limited to 2 or 10 entries per game. Payouts are winner take all, or win/place and show.

It is considered a "game of skill", and as such is legal in most states under the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Then that obviously leaves me out of it, hehe.

coolbreeze · Jan 30, 2011

Ok to start sports betting is legal in Canada and I love to bet sports. I have an account with www.sportsinteraction.com and really like the site for betting golf or any thing for that matter. The long post by Awsi Dooger gives you a lot of good info, but here is my advice, don't bet until you know what you are doing. I only bet on what I know and use statistics to help place my bets. Don't bet on something just because it is on tv, and never bet on your favorite team or player. Have fun, don't bet more than you can lose and yell at the tv or computer.

Snap Hook · Jan 30, 2011

@Awsi Dooger
I live in vegas and you're pretty much correct on all accounts. Except on how little sports books care about Golf Bets now.
They only carry matchups during the majors now a days so all you're left with is a future pool bet on winning the whole tournament.

Shankopotamus · Jan 30, 2011

Smallville said:
Then that obviously leaves me out of it, hehe.

At least at FanRoto.com, you're only playing against at most 9 other players, and you only have to finish in the top third to cash.

Smallville · Jan 30, 2011

Shankopotamus said:
At least at FanRoto.com, you're only playing against at most 9 other players, and you only have to finish in the top third to cash.

I limit my gambling to slot machines and Powerball! (And now MegaMillions)

tnc200 · Jan 30, 2011

Awsi Dooger said:
Harrah's sportsbook manager banned me from golf wagering in 1988 when I happened to get on a hot streak for the first three majors that year.

I never have understood how they just pull a player like that. I got pulled from a crap roll @ Hyatt-Incline, they said to check my id. They wanted me to forfeit my roll to sign my name for verification, right....I didn't make much, but other people sure were betting, good fun there. Thanks for your reply, it is gonna take some time for me to digest this. I've thought about doing my own excell stat charts, glad I'm not the only one.

Shankopotamus · Feb 11, 2011

Cash Fantasy

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To claim the bonus, use Promo Code: THPFEBRUARY5 when making a deposit.

All4's · Feb 11, 2011

tnc200 said:
Ok I love watching golf tourneys. I have seen sites online that take bets and have odds etc. I'm not much of a gambler as I've never been impressed with the odds at the horse track, or black jack, and poker has become a joke. I do like craps and sports bets though. I've got 3 major tribal casinos close and would hopefully place bets there, I won't do it online though.
Does anyone actually bet on golf tourneys-players? And if, is there a fansite for this?

P.S. I hope this isn't illegal sshhhhh...

Was very suprised to see your comment that you were not impressed with the odds at the horse track. The odds and the multitude of wagers available are what draws most to the horse track. Last year we missed a pick 3 at Keeneland on Derby day that would have paid about $875 on a $2 bet (the 3rd and final race our horse came in 2nd BY A NOSE!!!! Maddening!!). Last year's Derby winner paid well and all the trifectas in the triple crown races paid well. You can't really make much money betting winners, but if you open the betting playbook you can make serious money on horses, very fast.

I just dipped my toe into golf betting this year and am loving it. I bet a winner, round mathcups and tournament matchups last week and it made it much more interesting to watch for sure.