The week started off with a bang. I did an interview with a website that I love (more on that when it runs) and a podcast talking about Vegas on The Betting Dork with Gill Alexander. The podcast was released this week and it seems to be well received. We talked about my favorite steakhouses, blackjack tips, clubs, naked joints, Erin Burnet and more. You can download it here.

I’m not sure what happened later in the week, but I started to get some kind of sick. I’m resting up this weekend to prepare for Super Bowl on the strip. I can’t wait! Odds are good I’ll be tweeting wherever I end up watching the game. Feel free to follow along to see what it’s like.

Looking back, looking forward, now let’s look back again.

AC2LV

• Baccarat Bigger Than Blackjack In Vegas
• Three Sneaky Bad Bets
• Betting Dork Podcast and Me!
• Want To Buy A Radio Station In Las Vegas?
• Time to Innovate $0.25 Slots
• Dear Boxing, It Was Nice Knowing You
• Sweet Video: Las Vegas 1962

Vegas Chatter

• Where to Find ALL the Prop Bets For The Big Game
• Which Would You Rather: A Free Tee or 5 Bucks in Free Play?
• Prop Bets Are Now Available For The Big Game
• Discovering Zine at Palazzo
• Fitzgeralds Folds Its Poker Room
• What’s Up With Our Identity? 
• Super Bowl XLVI is Set, Let The Betting Begin

Yesterday morning I recorded my first podcast! It’s a pretty exciting moment for me as I’ve been listening to The Betting Dork podcast for a while.

I add a little Vegas flavor to what is typically a sports based podcast. I talk about best sportsbooks, steakhouses, clubs, Erin Burnett and more.

I found the Betting Dork podcast while looking for a baseball podcast that looks at the game more analytically than most of the other baseball podcasts. Gill Alexander looks at baseball with a Sabermetric angle and is helpful for both betting and fantasy. He brings a similar angle to other sports as well.

You can find me in the 2nd segment of the podcast, 21 minutes in, after Vegas Runner talks a little Super Bowl.

• Download Betting Dork @ iTunes
• Listen Online

I’m stoked to have been able to do the podcast and hope to do more in the future. Follow Beating The Book on twitter if you’d like more sports info and like tweeting with nice, smart people about sports.

Dear Boxing,

We’ve been friends off and on for my whole life. I blame my dad. When I was impressionable I watch Alexis Argüello fights with him. I enjoyed the fights, but I also enjoyed watching wrestling. Growing up I moved on to other sports like baseball. When Mike Tyson was destroying people I started paying attention again. After getting bored with Tyson I moved away. I came back when I was a senior in college and the ship workers at the bar talking about Vinnie Pazienza in their broken English. My enjoyment with boxing at this time was more for the camaraderie at the bar than the boxing and the enjoyment of boxing only lasted while I was hanging out at the bar in college.

I didn’t care much about boxing until I found Manny Pacquiao around 2008. I loved the way Manny fought and he became my favorite fighter. He had speed and the ability to give and take a beating. During this time I found boxers like Miguel Cotto and Joe Calzaghe who were different kinds of fighters but always had me interested when they fought. There was nothing like Cotto knocking a guy out with a punch to the gut.

Unfortunately, as my favorite fighter continued to grow in popularity he began running out of interesting opponents. Along with the lack of interesting opponents I learned about the politics of boxing. Manny’s promotor, Bob Arum, wasn’t interested in making fights that were interesting as much as he was interested in making money by having both fighters on the bill or making obvious mismatches where Manny had no chance to lose (see Josh Clottey and Shane Mosely and Antonio Margarito). My ill will towards boxing started at this point and while Arum should make as much money as he can, it’s bored me.

There was a great idea a couple years ago called the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which was a great idea and started as something fun to watch. My interest waned as half the the field dropped out.

Floyd Mayweather is a great boxer, but his style bores me and he just plays whatever role will get him payed the most money. Again, there’s nothing wrong with him wanting to get paid, but I’m not interested. His approach makes boxing look similar to wrestling, which I lost interest in years ago.

There’s been a lot of talk about Mayweather and Pacquiao fighting, but I’m sick of the talk and don’t really care anymore. When I read that Manny’s next fight will be against a washed up Miguel Cotto (who Arum promotes and thus double dips) again, I realized that I’m done with boxing.

I’m done spending my time with boxing and I’m done trying to explain to people why I like boxing. I will always like boxing, but I’m moving on. Again. This may be the longest blog I’ve written and that’s just so I can give myself some closure on the subject. I won’t be paying for fights any longer. I won’t be reading boxing news any longer and I won’t follow the boxing media on twitter as much any longer.

I won’t quit cold turkey because that never works for me, but I will be slowly removing boxing from my life. I still may go to see a fight at some point this year for the experience, but that’s about it. I don’t like MMA so my allegiance won’t be going to UFC. I live in Vegas, I’m sure it won’t be difficult for me to find a way to fill the time.

Boxing, it was nice knowing you.

Kind regards,

Marc

With news that there will be basketball in Las Vegas this summer (albeit not the traditional summer league) it got me once again thinking about the often proposed but never completed strip arena.  Arenas have been proposed in a few different places including behind Bally’s and next to Fontainebleau and Sahara, but none have taken hold.  Would a strip arena make sense?

The wisdom is that the arena would attract events for locals and visitors alike to the strip and maybe even allow for an NBA or NHL team to move to town.  The problem with this assessment is that one-off events already have homes at venues at hotel-casinos.  So people who will travel for those sorts of events already have a place to go.  Furthermore, were Vegas to get a team, I don’t think the market is very big for people who would travel to Vegas to watch their team play.

I do think that a strip stadium could increase the visitation by Las Vegas Locals to the strip.  Presuming that Las Vegas got a team and people would attend, they would naturally filter out into nearby places along the strip.  However, they may not stay all night as they would still have to drive home and can probably find better drink prices and gambling odds at properties near where they live.

Overall, for the sporting events that Las Vegas does get, the Thomas and Mack center at UNLV seems fine.  Unless Las Vegas were to get a major league sports team, I don’t see the need for a new arena on the strip.  Even if they did, I don’t see it being the lure that they hope.  It’s great to see people investing in the strip in new ways (like The Linq) other than demolishing an old resort for a new monstrosity, but I don’t think that a strip arena is the right thing.  Perhaps the land on the north strip should be repurposed and we just all need to accept that the Las Vegas strip has condensed to be from Encore to Mandalay Bay.

(ED: Yes, I snagged the pic from the Vegas Chatter article…I like it.)

I like to bet on sports, but I tend to stay away from the Vegas Strip when it comes to sports gaming since I live down the street from Red Rock Casino.  Also, if it decides to work, I can use my netbook to bet online legally.

At the end of May and into the beginning of June I had one of my worst strings of sports gaming.  In fact, it was so bad I stopped betting after a week into June.  I figured time would do me some good to stay away and I was right.  Thankfully, I’m back to normal now peppering my losses with wins.

Looking at the gaming numbers from May, it seems as if I’m not the only person who did poorly with sports.  In fact, while casinos on the Vegas strip improved almost 30% in overall gaming income in May they destroyed sports bettors!

Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip chalked up a 28.9 percent jump in winnings in May, the biggest increase since February 2010.

The gain was led by baccarat, up 129.7 percent, and by the sports books, which saw a 511.7 percent jump.

The casinos improved by 500% in May (year over year) which means bettors lost 5 times as much this May as they did last year!  That’s a shocking number to look at but the only thing this says to me is that the smart bettors aren’t doing much sports gaming on the strip, which wouldn’t be much of a surprise to me.  The strip is mostly tourists who mostly bet with their heart and not their head.

It’s been a fun week and kind of busy week.  For the first time since I moved to Las Vegas, I went out three nights in a row.  This doesn’t include trips to the strip where I’ll stay there for 3 days.  I got to see some cool people and eat some good food.  I’m pretty stoked to have a few “trips” coming in the next couple months.  Also fun, has been watching my friends back east complaining about the heat…I haven’t had to turn on the AC yet.  I know it’s coming, so I’m enjoying while I can.  Here’s the week in review.

East Coast Gambler

• Seven Stars Insider – June Edition
• Buy Sahara Leftovers (Bring Your Own Sanitizer)
• Just Call Me Marc: Mayor of Sahara!
• Golden Nugget Atlantic City Hooking Up Trump Chairman Members

Vegas Chatter

• A Million Bucks Could Lead To The Ultimate Poker Bragging Rights
• What’s In A Number?
• Phil Ivey: No Show at WSOP, Suing Full Tilt Poker
• That Sound You Hear is the Key of C
• World Series of Poker Begins Today

Free Picks and Fun

• Yo Frenchie, Bite This!
• Over 30 Free MLB, NBA, NHL Sports Betting Picks

Get Vegas Apps

• I finally restored GVA after breaking it last week so there were no updates.

It was a slow week while I was away at Harrah’s Ak-Chin and taking in some Cactus League games, but that will change in the next week while I’ll have a bunch to report back on.

In the meantime check my flickr gallery for some pictures of my trip and check the stories below.

• Harrah’s Ak-Chin and Spring Training Tease
• Gone to the Desert
• Another New Casino for Pennsylvania
• March Madness On Demand App
• The Madness Begins!
• Vegas Chatter: Brackets Busted?
• Vegas Chatter: Pai Gow Goes Commission Free
• Vegas Chatter: A Pool Switcharoo, And More New Things A’Coming To Flamingo
• Vegas Chatter: The Cosmo Debuting Knock-Out New Series
• Vegas Chatter: Wine and Jazz Downtown!

It’s the Super Bowl of NASCAR, Daytona 500, this weekend and odds are out from my friends at sportsbook.com.  The odds are changing regularly, so check sportsbook.com for current odds.

Below are odds for both winners and top 3 finishers.  I don’t know NASCAR very well, so I’ll probably throw something on a top 3 finish like I did a few years ago when I placed Clint Bowyer who came in fourth place.  I’ve called Bowyer “My man Clint” since that day.

My early lean is to Kurt Busch, but it’s still early for me.  I’ll watch ESPN and Speed and probably just tweet any play I make.  Click any driver to get to sportsbook.com.

WINNER

AJ Allmendinger +5000
Bobby Labonte +10000
Brad Keselowski +4000
Brian Vickers +3500
Carl Edwards +2000
Clint Bowyer +1500
Dale Earnhardt Jr +600
David Ragan +5000
David Reutimann +3500
Denny Hamlin +1500
Greg Biffle +2500
Jamie McMurray +1200
Jeff Burton +1500
Jeff Gordon +800
Jimmie Johnson +1200
Joey Logano +2000
Juan Montoya +2500
Kasey Kahne +3000
Kevin Harvick +700
Kurt Busch +1500
Kyle Busch +800
Marcos Ambrose +10000
Mark Martin +3000
Martin Truex Jr +4000
Matt Kenseth +3000
Paul Menard +6000
Regan Smith +10000
Ryan Newman +3000
Tony Stewart +1000
Field (Any Other Driver) +3000

TOP 3

AJ Allmendinger +1500
Bobby Labonte +3000
Brad Keselowski +1200
Brian Vickers +1000
Carl Edwards +600
Clint Bowyer +450
Dale Earnhardt Jr +180
David Ragan +1500
David Reutimann +1000
Denny Hamlin +450
Greg Biffle +750
Jamie McMurray +350
Jeff Burton +450
Jeff Gordon +240
Jimmie Johnson +350
Joey Logano +600
Juan Montoya +750
Kasey Kahne +900
Kevin Harvick +200
Kurt Busch +450
Kyle Busch +240
Marcos Ambrose +3000
Mark Martin +900
Martin Truex Jr +1200
Matt Kenseth +900
Paul Menard +1800
Regan Smith +3000
Ryan Newman +900
Tony Stewart +300
Field (Any Other Driver) +900

I love Super Bowl Prop bets. I usually break them down by segment – each team, game, silly, etc. and share my favorites later in the week after I’ve had time to marinate with them. You can see where I’m leaning on Vegas Chatter, but I’ll go way more in depth with everything here.

Today we’re going to start with complete game prop bets. Take a look at the options from our friends at Sportsbook.com. Note: click anything below to head over to sportsbook.com.

Coin Toss
Heads -101
Tails -101

Super Bowl XLVTeam to Win the Coin Toss
Steelers -105
Packers -105

Super Bowl XLVTeam to Receive the Opening Kick
Steelers -105
Packers -105

Steelers vs Packers – Will Either Team Score in the First 6 1/2 Minutes of the Game
Yes -120
No -110

Steelers vs Packers – Team to Score First
Steelers -105
Packers -125

Steelers vs Packers – First Score of the Game will be
Touchdown -170
Any Other Score +140

Steelers – Total Points
Steelers Points
Over 21.5 (-115)
Under 21.5 (-115)

Packers – Total Points
Packers Points
Over 24 (-115)
Under 24 (-115)

Steelers vs Packers – Longest Touchdown of the Game
Over 44.5 (-115)
Under 44.5 (-115)

Team to Score LAST
Steelers -110
Packers -120

Will Either Team Score 3 Straight Times w/o Other Team Scoring
Yes (Conversions Excluded) -180
No (Conversions Excluded) +150

Will Either Team Score in the Last 2 Minutes of 1st Half
Yes -260
No +200

Will Either Team Score in the Last 3 1/2 Minutes of the GAME (If Game Goes To Overtime Yes is the Winner)
Yes -155
No +125

First Touchdown of the Game will be
Passing Touchdown -220
Any Other Touchdown +170

Team to g FIRST 1st Down of the Game (Excludes Rurns/Penalties Does Not Count)
Steelers -115
Packers -115

Team to g FIRST 1st Down of the 2nd Half (Excludes Rurns/Penalties Does Not Count)
Steelers -115
Packers -115

Shortest Touchdown of the Game (Fumble Recovery in the Endzone Under Wins/Includes all Rurns) (NO TD-NO ACTION)
Over 1.5 (+105)
Under 1.5 (-135)

Total Touchdowns Scored in the Game
Over 5 (-115)
Under 5 (-115)

Longest Made Field Goal of the Game (NO FG-NO ACTION)
Over 43.5 (-115)
Under 43.5 (-115)

Shortest Made Field Goal of the Game
Over 25.5 (-130)
Under 25.5 (even)

Total Field Goals MADE by Both Teams
Over 3.5 (+160)
Under 3.5 (-200)

Will Both Teams Make a 33 or Longer Field Goals (If No FG – NO WINS)
Yes +155
No -190

Distance of FIRST Made Field Goal of the Game (If No FG – No Action)
Over 33.5 (-115)
Under 33.5 (-115)

Total Sacks by Both Teams
Over 5 (-125)
Under 5 (-105)

Distance of FIRST Punt of the Game (Must be an icial Punt) (No Punt-No ACTION) (Rurn Yards Does Not Count)
Over 44.5 (-115)
Under 44.5 (-115)

Total Punts by BOTH Teams (icial Punts Only)
Over 9.5 (+110)
Total Punts
Under 9.5 (-140)

Team with the Most Penalty Yards (Declined Penalties Does Not Count)
Steelers -155
Packers +125

Team to Use Coaches Challenge First – Excludes icial Challenges
Steelers -115
Packers -115

Over/Under Jersey Number of Player to score First Touchdown
Jersey Number of Player 1st TD
Over 59.5 (-115)
Under 59.5 (-115)

Over/Under Largest Lead of the Game (After Conversion Attempt)
Over 13.5 (-130)
Under 13.5 (even)

Total Kick Rurns by Both Teams (Rurns Only – Excludes Touchbacks/Out of Bonds/Fair Catches)
Over 9 (even)
Under 9 (-130)

Team to Commit the 1st Penalty (Declined Penalties Does Not Count)
Steelers -135
Packers +105

Team to Score LAST in the 1st HALF
Steelers -105
Packers -125

LAST Score of the 1st HALF will be (Conversions Does Not COUNT)
Touchdown -115
Any Other Score -115

Will there be a Safety
Yes +700
No -1200

Will there be Overtime
Yes +650
No -1100

Will the game be Decided by Exactly 3 Points
Yes +325
No -450

Will the Team that Scores First Win the Game
Yes -170
No +140

Total Interceptions Thrown by BOTH Teams
Over 2.5 (+180)
Under 2.5 (-240)

Total Fumbles Lost by Both Teams
Over 1.5 (+110)
Under 1.5 (-140)

Will Either Team Make a Field Goal in the 1st Quarter
Yes -110
No -120

Will The Steelers Score a Touchdown in the 1st Quarter
Yes +125
No -155

Will The Packers Score a Touchdown in the 1st Quarter
Yes +115
No -145

Will there be a Defensive or Special Teams Touchdown
Yes +140
No -170

Will there be a Successful 2 Pt Conversion
Yes +400
No -600

Will the Game be Tied after 0 – 0 (Tie Dermined after Extra Point or 2 Point Conversion)
Yes +110
No -140

First Turnover of the Game will be
Interception -140
Fumble +110

LAST Score of the GAME will be (Conversions Does Not Count)
Touchdown -200
Any Other Score +160

Will One Quarter be Scoreless – 1 Quarter will have 0 – 0 Score (Overtime Quarters Count)
Yes +200
No -260

Total Number of Different Players to have a Pass Attempt (2 Pt Conversion Do Not Count)
Over 2.5 (+180)
Under 2.5 (-240)

Total Yards by Both Teams
Over 666.5 (-115)
Under 666.5 (-115)

Total Number of Different Steelers to have a Rushing Attempt (Conversions Does Not Count) (Kneeldown is a Rush Attempt)
Over 4.5 (+160)
Under 4.5 (-200)

Total Number of Different Steelers to have a Pass Reception (Conversions Does Not Count)
Over 7.5 (+150)
Under 7.5 (-180)

Total Number of Different Steelers to Score – Includes Kickers (Safy Does Not Count) (Includes 2 Pt Conversions)
Over 3 (-170)
Under 3 (+140)

Steelers – Will they Score a Rushing Touchdown
Yes -200
No +160

Steelers – Will they Score a First Half Rushing Touchdown
Yes +150
No -180

Steelers – Total First Downs
Over 18 (-115)
Under 18 (-115)

Steelers – What will Happen First (Includes Safety) (oficial Punt Only)
Steelers Score +125
Steelers Punt -155

Steelers – Will they Score in All 4 Quarters (Overtime is NOT Included)
Yes +270
No -350

Steelers – Total 3rd Down Conversions MADE (Conversions by Penalty Does Not Count/Overtime Does Not Count)
Over 5.5 (+115)
Under 5.5 (-145)

Steelers – Will they Convert a 4th Down Attempt (4th down Conversion by Penalty Does Not Count)
Yes +140
No -170

Steelers – Total Rushing Yards
Over 109.5 (-115)
Under 109.5 (-115)

Total Number of Different Packers to have a Rushing Attempt (Conversions Does Not Count) (Kneeldown is a Rush Attempt)
Over 4 (-160)
Under 4 (+130)

Total Number of Different Packers to have a Pass Reception (Conversions Does Not Count)
Over 7.5 (+120)
Under 7.5 (-150)

Total Number of Different Packers to Score – Includes Kickers (Safy Does Not Count) (Includes 2 Pt Conversions)
Over 3.5 (-130)
Under 3.5 (even)

Packers – Will they Score a Rushing Touchdown
Yes -110
No -120

Packers – Will they Score a First Half Rushing Touchdown
Yes +180
No -240

Packers – Total First Downs
Over 18.5 (-115)
Under 18.5 (-115)

Packers – What will Happen First (Includes Safy) (icial Punt Only)
Packers Score +120
Packers Punt -150

Packers – Will they Score in All 4 Quarters (Overtime is NOT Included)
Yes +210
No -280

Packers – Total 3rd Down Conversions MADE (Conversions by Penalty Does Not Count/Overtime Does Not Count)
Over 5.5 (+110)
Under 5.5 (-130)

Packers – Will they Convert a 4th Down Attempt (4th down Conversion by Penalty Does Not Count)
Yes +160
No -200

Packers – Total Rushing Yards
Over 78.5 (-115)
Under 78.5 (-115)

I’ve had my ups and downs with boxing and over the past few years I’ve had my ups.  I hadn’t watched since college, but boxers like Manny Pacquiao helped bring me back to boxing.  Manny is awesome and he’s blown through all the big names in the game ending some of their careers (see Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton).

Floyd Mayweather is the obvious big name and talent out to fight Manny, but he has his own problems.  The only other name fighter available for Manny is Sugar Shane Mosely who’s looked washed up since he beat Antonio Margarito in January of last year.

With most of the big names gone Top Rank has put together a bunch of crap fights together for Manny that do two things.

• These fights make Manny lots of money
• These fights make Top Rank lots of money

I haven’t paid to watch Manny fight since I was in Las Vegas and watched him DESTROY Ricky Hatton while in a room full of Brits.  It was an awesome fight (for Manny) and a great time for me (Thanks Brits).

I will NOT pay for these crappy fights because I don’t want to see them and the more money Top Rank and Manny make the more they will continue to put on these boring fights.  Why shouldn’t they?  it’s their jobs.

Manny was fun to root for as the little guy destroying everyone in his path until his last few fights, but there is no fun in watching him out pace bigger, slower, washed up fighters.  I’m on the verge of becoming a Manny hater, but I don’t give up so easily and I’m hanging in there.

If you don’t want to see these fights then don’t buy these crappy fights. There is clearly an audience for both Manny and Shane but I don’t care and I don’t even think I’ll bother finding a way to watch this fight.  Come back to me when he fights someone interesting.

If you want to talk boxing, just tweet me!