Been bogged down with things the first 3 weeks and this is the first chance I've had to put this down on paper.
For those of you that aren't familiar with Bookies Battle, it is a contest run by Gaming Today, a Vegas weekly gambling paper. GT puts up a prize of about $1000 to the "bookie" that has the most point spread winners for the 17 week season. Usually it's the sports book managers that make the selections for each book in Vegas and beyond. Usually include entries from Reno-Tahoe, Laughlin and Mesquite, and one entry from Foxwoods, CT.
You have to realize, that the bookies make their selections usually before the Sunday night game is finished, as the paper has to get printed in Monday to be distributed Tuesday. The bookies pick EVERY game against the spread, and in many years the winner has had over a 60% success rate.
What I do is show the first 5 best records for the season, and show what they've picked for this week. Next I show what the Consensus has picked for this week. The Consensus shows which teams the books have picked most for the week. I then match up what the winners have taken compared to the Consensus. When the top five pick one team heavily, like 4-1 or 5-0, and the Consensus picks the opposite side, you should have a good bet on the top 5 picks.
JOSH POOL FIESTA RANCHO YTD 36-12 LW 11-5
OAK.TEN.NE..CLE.NYG.DET.WAS..IND..NYJ..BUF..SF.DEN.SD.MN
DAVID SNOCK PLANET HOLLY YTD 32-16 LW11-5
HOU.TEN.NE.CLE.NYG.DET..TB.....IND..NYJ..BUF..SL.DAL.SD.GB
EDDIE RICCA SUNCOAST YTD 32-16 LW 11-5
HOU.TEN.BAL.CIN.NYG.DET.WAS.IND.NYJ..BUF..SL.DAL.SD.GB
LAMARR MITCHELL MGM GRAND YTD 30-18 LW 10-6
OAK.TEN.BAL.CIN.KC...DET.TB....SEA.NYJ..BUF..SF.DAL.SD.GB
ANTHONY SANTORO ARIZ CHARLIES E. YTD 29-19 LW10-6
OAK.JAX.BAL.CIN.KC...CHI.WAS..IND.NYJ..BUF..SF.DAL.PIT.MN
CONSENSUS ALL HOTELS YTD 22-26 LW 8-8
OAK.TEN.BAL.CIN.NYG.DET.WAS.IND.NO...BUF..SF.DAL.SD..GB
The top 5 selected the JETS and BUF 5-0. TEN, DET, IND, and DAL were selected at a 4-1 rate.
There was only one team where the top 5 was opposite the Consensus, and that was the JETS! J-e-t-s! J-e-t-s! J-e-t-s! JETS, JETS JETS!
As far as the differences in the lines that the bookies picked at, and current lines, they had the Titans at -1.5, CHI at 11.5, IND at 6.5, and the BIG DIFFERENCE MIA -3.5 RATHER THAN BUF -2.5.
So that will wrap it up for this week. Hope it brings you some winners.