Saturday was mostly spent following the ponies (we hit our “A.I. Pick of the Week” on VSiN.com/horses), but otherwise had a losing day. But the old adage of “a bad day at the track beats a good day anywhere else” applied as we got out of the Tuley’s Takes home office and met up with longtime readers and old friends at the National Horseplayers Championship at Bally’s.
We also watched some college basketball and had our worst day of the season and we went 0-3 with our best bets as Louisville, Oklahoma and Stanford all failed to cover as underdogs. We did win our best bet in NHL First-Period Overs with the Devils-Hurricanes 1P Over 1.5, but only split our secondary plays with Sharks-Panthers going Over but Golden Knights-Lightning staying Under. If you played them straight, you won a little; if you keyed our top play with the other two you won a little more; but if you boxed them (aka round-robin) you lost a little.
We’re just so happy for football to return to take over Sunday’s action, but first let’s recap the rest of Saturday’s action before updating our NFL plays.
Saturday’s recaps
NBA: Faves went 5-1 SU on Saturday, but faves/dogs split 3-3 ATS as the Nets (+ 10.5 in 110-106 road loss at Warriors) and Kings (+ 11 in 103-101 loss at 76ers) covered despite losing SU. The lone upset was by the Raptors (+ 2.5 in 124-120 win at Heat). Unders went 4-2.
CBB: In Saturday's biggest marquee game between ranked teams, No. 13 Kentucky beat No. 5 Kansas 80-62 as a 5-point road underdog and + 180 on the money line. Also in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Alabama upset No. 4 Baylor 87-78 as a 3-point home underdog and + 135 on ML.
NHL: Faves went 6-4 with upsets by the Flyers (+ 150 in 4-3 OT win vs. Kings), Jets (+ 175 in 4-1 win at Blues), Golden Knights (+ 125 in 4-3 shootout win at Lightning) and Sabres (+ 120 in 3-1 win at Coyotes. Unders went 6-4.
Sunday’s Takes
Note: for reasons why I like both underdogs, check out Point Spread Weekly or our VSiN NFL Best Bet file later in the week at VSiN.com. In this case, we’re more interested in when to bet as the market moves during the weekend and into the weekend.
Bengals + 7 at Chiefs: We love the Bengals + 7, but we saw BetMGM go to 7.5 (though -120 on Bengals + 7.5) earlier in the week and several other books go to -7 with added juice and other indicators that this line was heading higher, so we advised waiting to get the hook. Most books have been reluctant to move off the key number, so if you do see + 7.5, grab it ASAP as it probably won’t last long.
49ers + 3.5 at 49ers: Likewise, we’ve been OK taking the 49ers + 3.5 -120, though there’s been plenty of opportunities to take them at 3.5-flat (-110 both ways). As always, shop around for the best line you can get.
Good luck today (and every day!).