Sports Betting

Soccer Betting
Weekend Sports Wagering PreviewThere's sports everywhere you look this weekend, from the court to the ice to the pitch to the diamond to the track to the, uh, arena football surface. And with playoffs and tourney games on tap in many of the leagues the stakes will be high in the days ahead. Game 2 of the NBA Finals will be played down in Dallas on Sunday night, with the Mavs coming off a win in Game 1 on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The spaced-out series will then shift over to South Florida for Game 3 on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes travel up to Alberta for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday night. The Oilers desperately need a victory in this contest, as they're down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series after losing their second straight game Wednesday. Game 4 will also be in Edmonton, and is slated for Monday. And the third league featuring a playoff contest this weekend is Arena Football, with the Chicago Rush and Orlando Predators set to meet in ArenaBowl XX at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Sunday. The Rush got past the San Jose SaberCats 59-56 last week, while the Preds are coming off a 45-28 win over the Dallas Desperados. Oddsmakers like the Predators' chances to come away from Sin City as Arena Football champions, setting them as 2.5-point favorites. The game's total is pegged at 98 points. Across the Atlantic Ocean, however, it's the opening of the 2006 World Cup in Germany that will be getting all the attention. The host Germans will take on Costa Rica in the tournament's first game on Friday, with Ecuador and Poland meeting later on in the day. On Saturday a three-game slate features Paraguay vs. England, Sweden vs. Trinidad and Tobago, and Ivory Coast vs. Argentina. There are three games on the pitch Sunday as well, with Netherlands vs. Serbia and Montenegro, Iran vs. Mexico, and Portugal vs. Angola. The schedule then continues Monday and runs through the rest of the month. It's just the plain-old regular season in baseball, but there are still several series of note on the weekend. In the National League the division-leading New York Mets will travel down to Arizona for a set with the Diamondbacks, who are trying to stay in the thick of things atop the NL West division. Their chief competition at this point, the Los Angeles Dodgers, will be playing a series against the rival Rockies in the thin air up in Colorado. Other National League series on tap over the next few days include Philadelphia at Washington, the Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, Atlanta at Houston, Florida at San Diego, Pittsburgh at San Francisco, and St. Louis (minus slugger Albert Pujols) at Milwaukee. Over in the American League, fresh off a series against each other the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will go their separate ways and play weekend sets against some AL West opponents. New York will host the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium, while the Red Sox will prepare for a visit from the Texas Rangers at Fenway. In the other five series it's Detroit at Toronto, Baltimore at Minnesota, Cleveland at the Chicago White Sox, Seattle at the Los Angeles Angels, and Tampa Bay at Kansas City. Horse racing fans will be treated to the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday; an event that would've had more buzz if it weren't for the serious injury suffered by favored Barbaro at the Preakness Stakes in the season's second Triple-Crown event. Bluegrass Cat highlights the field for the 138th Belmont Stakes, and is favored at 3/1 odds. Other top contenders include Sunriver (4/1), Steppenwolfer (9/2), Bob and John (5/1), Jazil (10/1), and High Finance (12/1). Hemingway's Key, Deputy Glitters, and Sacred Light are all listed at 15/1 odds, Oh So Awesome sits at 20/1 odds, and both Platinum Couple and Double Galore are considered the race's longshots at 30/1 odds. The Nextel Cup Series stages the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Matt Kenseth won last week's race, the Neighborhood Excellence 400, and firmed up his hold on second place in the driver standings. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the points race, sitting 74 points up on Kenseth and 216 points up on Mark Martin. The Formula 1 schedule resumes overseas with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit on Sunday. Juan Pablo Montoya won the F1 race in Britain last season, but Fernando Alonso is coming off a victory in the Monaco Grand Prix and leads the drivers championship by 21 points over Michael Schumacher. Montoya is fifth in the standings. And finally, fans of the WNBA will have plenty of games to follow on Friday night, with Seattle at Connecticut, Indiana at Charlotte, Minnesota at San Antonio, New York at Houston, Detroit at Phoenix, and Chicago at Los Angeles. On Saturday it's New York at San Antonio and Chicago at Sacramento, while Sunday features Washington at Connecticut, Seattle at Indiana, and Houston at Minnesota to finish the week's games.
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