It turns out that Lorena Ochoa was the safest bet golf has seen all year, as the World’s No. 1 female player proved her dominance by taking a 5-stroke victory at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship.
As the Masters approaches, many are likely to feel that Tiger Woods will be the bet at Augusta National. They’d be right, of course, as the World’s best golfer has shown no real inclination to lose lately. Still, the question remains, what are the odds? And where can you make a wager on those odds.
Now, let me be totally forthright here - I know nothing about golf betting. Sure, I read the PGA Punter at WorldGolf.com religiously, but I really have no idea what he’s talking about most of the time because I don’t really understand English as people from England choose to speak it.
Nonetheless, I have been curious about those who bet on golf. Not curious enough to do any actual research on the subject, mind you, but curious nonetheless. Because let’s face it, the Masters is very likely the Super Bowl of golf. And during the NFL Super Bowl, there’s more speculating being done by fans than by all the mortgage companies and Ben Bernanke combined.
But I understand how that’s done. People either go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, or get a card from someone who has minor ties to a bookie, or just bet against friends in a pool. But how do you handle putting money down on golf?
Sure, there’s the Vegas and Atlantic City options, but where else? I can’t remember anyone at work passing me a golf betting card to see if I was interested the way I used to always have access to football betting cards. And the U.S. has put a ban on online betting that I know of.
So, while I am not endorsing gambling in any way, I am curious about how golf betters go about their business. Are there super-secret Web sites we’re unaware of? Do you have access to a bookie that takes bets on everything? Can you call in bets to Vegas?
Like I said, I’m curious. Curious enough to request that others do my research for me and tell me how it’s done. Plus, I can’t be the only one out there who doesn’t understand golf betting. So let me know who the best bet is for the Masters, while I head back over to PGA Punter’s place to try and translate his attempts at English.
–WKW
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I personally never bet on golf, it's perhaps the most difficult sport on which to get anywhere close to the proper odds.
One of the guys in our firm has an account with Pinnacle Sports which is certified in Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles. He has a connection on that island so as to avoid any conflict with US laws concerning internet wagering. Enforcement of these laws has thus far been very inconsistent.
Before placing any bets, first an account must be established which, of course, would guarantee payment of all losing wagers to Pinnacle.
The odds on virtually any sporting event from horse racing to soccer to cricket to golf are posted daily on the Pinnacle website. Wagers can be placed on line as long as sufficient funds are available in the account to cover losses. No wagering on credit is allowed.
As far as betting on Tiger goes, Shanks is correct. Because Tiger is so good, the oddsmakers always make him the prohibitive favorite at ridiculously low odds. Most neophyte bettors simply don't realize how badly they are being victimized by the super low odds.
A man who works at a Las Vegas sports book once casually told me that far more money has been lost betting on Woods than won. Young people hoping to get a winning ticket on Tiger just can't fathom how poor the odds are on Woods.
I checked the Pinnacle website, and Woods is now 5 to 4 to win the Masters, a lot better than the site quoted by Shanks.
A $100 wager on Woods would get a profit of $125, quoted as "+125." A similar bet on Phil would render $1000, on Vijay $2200, on Geoff Ogilvy $3000, on Steve Stricker $7000, and if Zack Johnson were to repeat $7500.
Later in the week, Pinnacle will quote additional odds on some propositions, most notably the "imaginary matchups." These are notorious sucker bets where Tiger is concerned. The handicapper always puts Tiger up against the next best golfer in the field, the odds being posted something similar to this:
T. Woods -275
P. Mickelson+235
Sometimes these odds are for the entire tournament, but most often for one round at a time.
This means that for round one for instance, a bettor would have to lay $275 on Woods to win $100, whereas a punter who liked Phil would need only to bet $100 on Lefty in order to win $235. The disparity between the two larger numbers is the bookmakers edge, or the "juice" or the "vigorish" as it's commonly known.
In other words, while Tiger is a true superstar and possibly the best ever, the bookies have made him the worst bet ever.
Alex USMC 1969-73
Sadly PGA Punter appears to have gone AWOL unless you can lure him back to give us some tips.
Of course he has the options of on-line and telephone betting or can simply stroll across to his high-street bookie.
The "juice" or "vigorish" or "vig" is the interest owed on top of any bets lost to a bookmaker, or interest owed on a loan from a'non-standard' loan provider.
The 'bookmakers edge' is really more commonly known as "only a flippin' idiot would bet on that". ;)
Okay, I'll give you that one. But only technically. That amount lost by making such a foolish bet would only increase the juice.
I think we both agree that putting money on Tiger at those paltry odds is paving the road to bankruptcy.
Alex USMC 1969-73
The assumption so far has been that people bet on a golfer to win – which, as Immelman’s superb victory proved, can be pretty tricky. Honestly, who thought the South African was going to be donning the green jacket last Sunday evening?
In actual fact, most people betting on golf choose to bet each-way – meaning they make a win bet and a place bet, with the bookie paying out on the place bet part of the wager at one-quarter of the odds if the player finishes in the top five placings.
This can provide a decent return even if your chosen player doesn’t win – especially with Tiger dominating the betting, which pushes the odds out on the other players as the bookies try to tempt people away from the world number one.
For example, if you had bet £10 each-way on Phil Mickelson, twice Masters champion and well-backed at 11/1 this weekend, you would have spent £20 (£10 on the win part, £10 on the place) and got back £37.50 (£10 multiplied by one-quarter of 11/1 = £27.50 plus the return of the £10 place stake).
Needless to say there was little value in betting each-way on Tiger, even though we had him at 5/4 rather than evens – £10 each way would have returned £13.30 for your £20 outlay. But the same bet on Padraig Harrington, another major winner, would have returned £65, while anyone who bet on Immelman at the 150/1 being offered on Thursday morning would have won £1,895 (£10 x 150/1 = £1,500 for the win, plus £10 x (150/1 x ¼) = £375 for the place, plus the £20 stake).
For the record, I had Retief Goosen, Justin Rose and Adam Scott at prices ranging from 20/1 to 33/1 – and didn’t win a penny. But the first two gave me a decent run for my money almost right up to Sunday’s thrilling finish.
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Many people doing betting on the golf match. I also know about the golf betting. I have no idea about that. please tell me where from i collect the information about that. I like tiger wood because he is a amazing golf player. if i play gambling in golf then i put my money on the tiger wood. And i will win definitely.