HILTON CONTEST UPDATE
9/11/02 - Lynda Collins
Call them the dandy dozen, but don't refer to them as consensus builders.
Twelve entrants among a record field of 281 in the popular Las Vegas Hilton SuperContest had perfect 5-0 slates in Week 1 of the 2002 competition, and, obviously, none of them used top consensus pick Cincinnati among their weekly selections.
The Bengals, 1 1/2-point favorites over San Diego, were humiliated 34-6 as the first consensus best bet of the new season, leaving the record for top plays at 0-1. The Bengals were named on 84 cards, the Chargers on only 27.
Overall, the consensus went 7-8, not including the Tennessee-Philadelphia game in which opinions evenly were divided 49-49.
SuperContestants went with favorites in 10 games and underdogs in five.
Winning favorites were the N.Y. Jets, Miami and Oakland. Winning dogs were Carolina, Atlanta, Denver and New Orleans.
Losing favorites in addition to the Bengals were San Francisco, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and Pittsburgh. Arizona was the only consensus losing dog.
Posting 5-0 marks to move into a first-place tie with five points apiece were Tony Smith Sports, RRG, LCS, mywinners.com, Larry Drees, Larry the Pickman, whocovers.com, Big Ragu, GPS Sports, Little Awful Andy, LaJolla Guy and Winners Inc.
Thirty-five players went 4-1, 92 were 3-2, 67 went 2-3 , 65 were 1-4 and 10 checked in at 0-5.
Hilton participants anted $1,500 each and all entry fees will be returned in prize money. Twenty spots will cash, with the champion expected to earn about $180,000. Players get one point for a win and a half-point for a push.
Bruno's Boys, the defending champions, opened at 2-3. Tony Salinas, the 2001 runnerup, got out of the gate at 3-2 along with third-place finisher Tim Trushel (trushel.com).
(By The Prescription's Lynda Collins)
OPENING WEEK SUCCESS
9/11/02 - Lynda Collins
Las Vegas bookmakers had good reason to whistle while they worked last weekend as packed houses and house winners were the norm in both college and pro football.
The frosting on their cake occurred Monday night when reigning Super Bowl champion New England beat Pittsburgh as a home underdog, 30-14.
"It was a good weekend," said Joe Lupo, race and sports director at the Stardust.. "Saturday was very good, bordering on excellent, and Sunday was pretty much the same."
"We were extremely busy," said Palms oddsmaker and bet shop supervisor Jeff Sherman. "We're open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday and a lot of people came into the place.
"Saturday was steady all day long. The Sunday rush started about an hour before the games kicked off.
"We did really well on Saturday and Sunday was pretty good. Our Saturday losers were mostly added games. Rice-Michigan State was a nice winner for the house. We opened at 26 and closed at 31.
"Notre Dame-Purdue was a nice winner, too. We opened Boston College at minus-seven, closed it at 10 and just about everyone who bet the game lost."
The Spartans won 27-10, the Irish triumphed 24-17 as 6 1/2-point favorites and the Eagles won 34-27.
The expansion Houston Texans' big 19-10 upset of Dallas Sunday night as touchdown or more underdogs "saved the day" for The Palms because it sent parlays and teasers down the tubes.
"Sunday, people bet a lot of favorites and 'overs' and a lot of the games went 'over,' some of them way 'over,' which is kind of unusual for the first week of the season," Sherman observed. "Usually the defense is sharper than the offense early in the season and it takes the offense a while to get going.
"Dallas-Houston was big for us. Dallas has a tough outlook after that one, but I still don't think much of the Texans.
"We needed the Bills in the Jets game and we lost on the Eagles-Titans. We won on the Chargers-Bengals."
The Jets were victorious 37-31 in overtime as field goal favorites, Tennessee won 27-24 to cover 1 1/2 points and the Chargers romped 30-6 as 1 1/2-point or higher underdogs. Eleven of Sunday's 14 NFL games went 'over' the total.
While the Stardust was full both days last weekend with what Lupo describes as "lively, spirited" crowds, the books boss admits he'd hoped for larger throngs..
"We were busy but it wasn't overwhelming," Lupo said. "I was a little disappointed in the turnout. But it's usually like that the weekend before a holiday and the weekend after a holiday (Labor Day capped a three-day weekend Aug. 31-Sept. 2).
"Saturday's Boston College-Stanford game was good for us, Syracuse-North Carolina was good, Illinois-Southern Mississippi was good, Utah was horrendous, TCU-Northwestern was bad and UAB-Troy State was bad. I still can't believe that (added-board) game was so big for us."
The Tarheels won 30-22 as solid road underdogs, the Golden Eagles triumphed 23-20 but failed to cover, the Utes won 40-13 as double-digit choices and minus 5 or higher TCU coasted 48-24.
Properties across the valley apparently took it on the chin in the UAB-Troy State game as the Blazers staved off the Trojans 27-26. UAB generally opened as five to 5 1/2-point favorites and heavy Troy State wagers -- based on the Trojans covering against Nebraska the week before -- drove the number down to 1 1/2.
Turning to Sunday's card, Lupo clicked off the store's biggest winners and losers.
"The Bears were good for us, the Chargers were excellent, the Colts were excellent, the Broncos were excellent, the Dolphins were bad, the Raiders were real bad and the Texans winning straight up was good because of teasers."
Lupo noted about 15 people - mostly 'wise' guys - were on hand for Sunday's 5:35 p.m. lottery draw.
"It was busy and the money was flying across the counter fast and furious," Lupo said.
The Palms and Boyd Group books were delighted with New England's Monday night victory. Lupo and Sherman noted prior to the game that they needed the Pats.
"We (had) a lot of liability there," Sherman said. "We opened Pittsburgh at minus-one and it (was) up to three."
"All we (saw) was Steelers' money," Lupo added.
9/11/02 - Lynda Collins
Call them the dandy dozen, but don't refer to them as consensus builders.
Twelve entrants among a record field of 281 in the popular Las Vegas Hilton SuperContest had perfect 5-0 slates in Week 1 of the 2002 competition, and, obviously, none of them used top consensus pick Cincinnati among their weekly selections.
The Bengals, 1 1/2-point favorites over San Diego, were humiliated 34-6 as the first consensus best bet of the new season, leaving the record for top plays at 0-1. The Bengals were named on 84 cards, the Chargers on only 27.
Overall, the consensus went 7-8, not including the Tennessee-Philadelphia game in which opinions evenly were divided 49-49.
SuperContestants went with favorites in 10 games and underdogs in five.
Winning favorites were the N.Y. Jets, Miami and Oakland. Winning dogs were Carolina, Atlanta, Denver and New Orleans.
Losing favorites in addition to the Bengals were San Francisco, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and Pittsburgh. Arizona was the only consensus losing dog.
Posting 5-0 marks to move into a first-place tie with five points apiece were Tony Smith Sports, RRG, LCS, mywinners.com, Larry Drees, Larry the Pickman, whocovers.com, Big Ragu, GPS Sports, Little Awful Andy, LaJolla Guy and Winners Inc.
Thirty-five players went 4-1, 92 were 3-2, 67 went 2-3 , 65 were 1-4 and 10 checked in at 0-5.
Hilton participants anted $1,500 each and all entry fees will be returned in prize money. Twenty spots will cash, with the champion expected to earn about $180,000. Players get one point for a win and a half-point for a push.
Bruno's Boys, the defending champions, opened at 2-3. Tony Salinas, the 2001 runnerup, got out of the gate at 3-2 along with third-place finisher Tim Trushel (trushel.com).
(By The Prescription's Lynda Collins)
OPENING WEEK SUCCESS
9/11/02 - Lynda Collins
Las Vegas bookmakers had good reason to whistle while they worked last weekend as packed houses and house winners were the norm in both college and pro football.
The frosting on their cake occurred Monday night when reigning Super Bowl champion New England beat Pittsburgh as a home underdog, 30-14.
"It was a good weekend," said Joe Lupo, race and sports director at the Stardust.. "Saturday was very good, bordering on excellent, and Sunday was pretty much the same."
"We were extremely busy," said Palms oddsmaker and bet shop supervisor Jeff Sherman. "We're open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday and a lot of people came into the place.
"Saturday was steady all day long. The Sunday rush started about an hour before the games kicked off.
"We did really well on Saturday and Sunday was pretty good. Our Saturday losers were mostly added games. Rice-Michigan State was a nice winner for the house. We opened at 26 and closed at 31.
"Notre Dame-Purdue was a nice winner, too. We opened Boston College at minus-seven, closed it at 10 and just about everyone who bet the game lost."
The Spartans won 27-10, the Irish triumphed 24-17 as 6 1/2-point favorites and the Eagles won 34-27.
The expansion Houston Texans' big 19-10 upset of Dallas Sunday night as touchdown or more underdogs "saved the day" for The Palms because it sent parlays and teasers down the tubes.
"Sunday, people bet a lot of favorites and 'overs' and a lot of the games went 'over,' some of them way 'over,' which is kind of unusual for the first week of the season," Sherman observed. "Usually the defense is sharper than the offense early in the season and it takes the offense a while to get going.
"Dallas-Houston was big for us. Dallas has a tough outlook after that one, but I still don't think much of the Texans.
"We needed the Bills in the Jets game and we lost on the Eagles-Titans. We won on the Chargers-Bengals."
The Jets were victorious 37-31 in overtime as field goal favorites, Tennessee won 27-24 to cover 1 1/2 points and the Chargers romped 30-6 as 1 1/2-point or higher underdogs. Eleven of Sunday's 14 NFL games went 'over' the total.
While the Stardust was full both days last weekend with what Lupo describes as "lively, spirited" crowds, the books boss admits he'd hoped for larger throngs..
"We were busy but it wasn't overwhelming," Lupo said. "I was a little disappointed in the turnout. But it's usually like that the weekend before a holiday and the weekend after a holiday (Labor Day capped a three-day weekend Aug. 31-Sept. 2).
"Saturday's Boston College-Stanford game was good for us, Syracuse-North Carolina was good, Illinois-Southern Mississippi was good, Utah was horrendous, TCU-Northwestern was bad and UAB-Troy State was bad. I still can't believe that (added-board) game was so big for us."
The Tarheels won 30-22 as solid road underdogs, the Golden Eagles triumphed 23-20 but failed to cover, the Utes won 40-13 as double-digit choices and minus 5 or higher TCU coasted 48-24.
Properties across the valley apparently took it on the chin in the UAB-Troy State game as the Blazers staved off the Trojans 27-26. UAB generally opened as five to 5 1/2-point favorites and heavy Troy State wagers -- based on the Trojans covering against Nebraska the week before -- drove the number down to 1 1/2.
Turning to Sunday's card, Lupo clicked off the store's biggest winners and losers.
"The Bears were good for us, the Chargers were excellent, the Colts were excellent, the Broncos were excellent, the Dolphins were bad, the Raiders were real bad and the Texans winning straight up was good because of teasers."
Lupo noted about 15 people - mostly 'wise' guys - were on hand for Sunday's 5:35 p.m. lottery draw.
"It was busy and the money was flying across the counter fast and furious," Lupo said.
The Palms and Boyd Group books were delighted with New England's Monday night victory. Lupo and Sherman noted prior to the game that they needed the Pats.
"We (had) a lot of liability there," Sherman said. "We opened Pittsburgh at minus-one and it (was) up to three."
"All we (saw) was Steelers' money," Lupo added.
