Vegas Butcher’s Super Bowl Breakdown And Picks

The Vegas Butcher is the sports handicapping service that we recommend you check out if you’re looking for some help picking a few more winners. Following is not only the Vegas Butcher’s Super Bowl picks for this weekend, but also an example of the thought process that goes into each of his selections. (To find out more about the Vegas Butcher, check out our Vegas Butcher review)

Super Bowl Breakdown and Pick:

Giants versus the Patriots in Superbowl XLVI.  I truly believe that this is a matchup between the two teams that are playing the ‘best’ football right now.  So how to approach this game?  Well, the ‘hype’ right now is all about the Giants and how great they’re playing.  They’re healthy, they’re hungry, and they’ve just put together an impressive 5-game winning streak beating the likes of ATL, GB, and SF.  I don’t disagree.  I think Giants are playing terrific ‘football’ right now.  The interesting thing though is that the Patriots are playing just as well, if not…

CFL Betting Preview: Week 4

It should be an exciting week of CFL action as three of the four games feature point spreads of a field goal.

Here are a few things you might want to keep in mind if you’re considering betting on any of the action (all odds  provided by 5Dimes):

Hamilton at British Columbia (-3, 50.5)

Hamilton looks to build on last week’s impressive victory over the Roughriders as it travels to meet the winless B.C. Lions Friday in Vancouver.

The Tiger-Cats hammered Saskatchewan 33-3 last Saturday at Ivor Wynne Stadium, building a 23-0 lead at halftime and cruising from there. Hamilton held the Roughies to just 13 first downs and forced four turnovers in the victory.

B.C., meanwhile, dug itself a 21-3 hole to the Eskimos before half time and was lit up for 320 passing yards by Edmonton’s Ricky Ray.

History is on Hamilton’s side as it looks to pick up on the momentum gained last week. The Tiger-Cats are 4-1 against the spread in their last five trips to B.C., while the…

CFL Week 3 Betting Preview

It’s shaping up to be another interesting week in the Canadian Football League.

Week 3 will start with perhaps the biggest underachiever — the Calgary Stampeders — visiting the biggest surprise so far — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — Thursday night. That’ll be followed by a clash between East rivals Toronto and Montreal Friday night in Montreal, a meeting between the winless Roughriders and Tiger-Cats Saturday afternoon in Hamilton and a tilt between the 0-2 Lions and 2-0 Eskimos Saturday night in Edmonton.

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re thinking about putting down a bet or two on this week’s contests. (All odds are provided by Pinnacle Sports)

Calgary at Winnipeg (+3, 52.5)

Before the season began, the point spread on this game would likely have been around a touchdown. The Stampeders, after all, were Grey Cup preseason favourites, while the Bombers were coming off a woeful 4-14 campaign. So while it might seem odd to see the undefeated Blue Bombers as underdogs on their home field, it…

Super Bowl Free Pick

It’s the most bittersweet time of the year for NFL football fans.

On one hand, we’ve got a great Super Bowl matchup to look forward to. Next weekend’s clash between the Steelers and Packers has the lowest point spread (Green Bay is favoured by 2.5) in a Super Bowl since Super Bowl XVII in 1983, when the Redskins upset the Dolphins as two-point underdogs.

On the other hand, once the confetti rains down on the winning team next weekend, we won’t see any more NFL football until next fall. Those sacred Sundays on the couch could soon turn into afternoon trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond and other feminine domains.

So we might as well make the best of it by making a bit of money on the final game of the NFL season. And we like the Steelers to make that happen.

When the better team is catching points on a neutral field, we’ll take that any time. Tack on the fact that the better team has more big-game experience, and we like the…

NBA Free Pick For Dec. 21

The Heat gets all the attention, the Celtics and Lakers get all the respect, and the Spurs get their share of the spotlight for their great start to the year.

This is all just fine for the Dallas Mavericks, who are quietly putting together an excellent and underappreciated season.

Dallas owns the third-best record in the NBA. The Mavs have lost just one game on the road. And they’ve already beat the Heat (twice), the Celtics and the Spurs.

Yet they are catching 3.5 points tonight in Orlando, underdogs against a Magic team that is in disarray after making a couple blockbuster trades last weekend.

Orlando is an elite team in reputation only. The Magic has lost three games in a row and seven of its last 10. And coach Stan Van Gundy is scratching his head these days how to redesign his offence around Hedo Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas while making up for the losses of Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter.

The Mavericks played last night, but we don’t see fatigue being an issue…

NCAA Football Free Pick For Saturday Nov. 13

Saturday in NCAA football, one of our favourite plays on the board is the Missouri Tigers over the Kansas State Wildcats.

Three weeks ago, Missouri stunned then-No.3 Oklahoma 36-27 on national TV. The Tigers have slipped in their past two games, falling by two touchdowns at Nebraska and one TD at Texas Tech, but we expect a focused effort from Missouri on its home field against Kansas State.

The Wildcats are coming off a rout of the Texas Longhorns last week, but a look inside the numbers doesn’t make that victory as impressive. Kansas State allowed 412 total yards of offense to a struggling Texas squad, but five interceptions were too much for the Longhorns to overcome.

All but nine of Kansas State’s 270 yards of offense in that game, meanwhile, came on the ground. The Wildcats won’t run over a Missouri rushing defence that is allowing only 4.1 yards per carry.

Recent history is also on Missouri’s side Saturday. The Tigers have beaten Kansas State in each of the past four seasons, with 17…

Free NCAA Football Pick For Saturday Oct. 30

Every now and then here at Sportsbookbonus.ca, we’ll be posting a free pick that we are betting ourselves.

Like anyone else, we’re not going to win every single one of these plays. But over time, we expect these picks to be profitable for both us and our followers.

This week in NCAA football, one of our favourite plays is the Texas Longhorns over the Baylor Bears.

A great strategy when betting football is to look for possible letdown spots – games where one team is coming off an emotional win or loss and might not be completely focused for this week’s game. Baylor fits the letdown spot to a T. The Bears’ 47-42 win over Kansas State last weekend made them bowl eligible for the first time since 1995, and they were celebrating like it was 1999 afterwards.

Meanwhile, here’s a Texas squad that is coming off an embarrassing loss last week to Iowa State. The Longhorns are down this year, but this is still a national powerhouse program. Texas reminded us all of that…

Free NCAA Football Pick For Saturday, Oct. 23

Every now and then here at Sportsbookbonus.ca, we’ll be posting a free pick that we are betting ourselves.

Like anyone else, we’re not going to win every single one of these plays. But over time, we expect these picks to be profitable for both us and our followers.

Last weekend, our free pick of the Indianapolis Colts -3 at the Washington Redskins resulted in a frustrating push. Indy controlled the game but three fumbles and a Washington touchdown in the final minutes saw the Colts only win by three, canceling our wager.

This weekend, we really like the Iowa Hawkeyes to bring the Wisconsin Badgers back down to earth in NCAA football.

Wisconsin stunned Ohio State last Saturday on national television, opening an early 21-0 lead and going on to hand the top-ranked Buckeyes their first loss of the season. That might make a lot of people fall in love with this Badgers squad, but we anticipate a letdown Saturday as they visit Iowa. South Carolina, you might remember, defeated No. 1 Alabama a couple…

Free NFL Pick For Sunday, Oct. 16

Every now and then here at Sportsbookbonus.ca, we’ll be posting a free pick that we are betting ourselves.

Like anyone else, we’re not going to win every single one of these plays. But over time, we expect these picks to be profitable for both us and our followers.

We’re coming off a 2-0 showing last weekend, winning with the Georgia Bulldogs in NCAA football and the Denver Broncos/Baltimore Ravens over the total in the NFL. Let’s try and continue that roll this week in the NFL, where our favourite play is the Indianapolis Colts -3 over the Washington Redskins.

We’ve been scratching our head a little bit about why this line is so low and why it hasn’t moved much during the week. When a line doesn’t make sense to you, that can be a bad sign. But we just don’t see how the Colts don’t dominate Washington in this one.

Granted, the Colts haven’t looked that impressive so far this year, but that can actually work in our favour. Indianapolis scored only one touchdown…

Free NFL Pick For Sunday Oct. 9

Every now and then here at Sportsbookbonus.ca, we’ll be posting a free pick that we are betting ourselves.

Like anyone else, we’re not going to win every single one of these plays. But over time, we expect these picks to be profitable for both us and our followers.

Yesterday in college, we won with the Georgia Bulldogs mauling the Tennessee Volunteers as 11-point favourite. As expected, Georgia came out as the hungrier team and didn’t let up on the overmatched Vols.

This Sunday in the NFL, one of our favourite plays on the board is the Broncos and Ravens to go over the total.

First of all, the total on this game is posted at 39.5. That’s low, considering that totals in the 30′s are usually reserved for two teams with dominant defences and dormant offences. We just don’t see that here.

Granted, the Ravens aren’t setting the scoreboards on fire – yet. It’s taken longer than expected for Joe Flacco and company to get things rolling, but we are seeing some good signs. Flacco…