Author: horse-racing-free-tips

The good news for the LA Angels is that they are only four game back in the loss column in the wacky AL West. The bad news is that 2005 CY Young award winner Bartolo Colon is returning and has looked brutal in 2006.

In his third minor league rehabilitation start, Colon gave up six earned runs and nine hits against the Fresno Grizzlies. In three starts for the Angels this season, Colon is 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA and they are going to send down their best pitcher to accommodate him.

Jered Weaver, the Angels’ first-round draft pick in June 2004, reduced his ERA to 1.37 and became the second pitcher in franchise history to win his first four major league starts on Tuesday night. The other was Bo Belinsky, who won his first five starts in 1962 and finished his rookie season 10-11. Whether that’s enough to keep Weaver up in the bigs is another story. He has allowed just four earned runs, 16 hits and four walks in his 26 1-3 innings of work — and has received a total of 30 runs of support from his teammates.

The player who should be sent down is Weaver’s brother Jeff Weaver who is 3-9 with an embarrassing ERA of 6.15, but is earning $8.3 million.

The Angels are lucky to have Orlando Cabrera in the lineup as this guy has been incredible. Cabrera has reached base in 43 consecutive games without the benefit of a fielder’s choice, the longest current streak in baseball and longest in club history. He has hit safely in 27 of his last 31 contests and is 25-for-54 over his last 14 games, raising his average from .271 to .313.

When the LA Dodgers acquired Brad Penny a couple of years ago, much was expected of the hard throwing righthander, but some arm ailments affected him and he was just 7-9 in 2005. Already in 2006 he has equaled his 2005 total. Penny (7-1, 2.34 ERA) is 5-0 with a 2.03 ERA over seven starts since his lone loss of the season at Arizona on May 1. He also hasn’t allowed a home run in 10 outings since April 14.

The right-hander enters tonight’s start with a scoreless streak of 14 1-3 innings after a victory at Colorado on Friday. He surrendered five hits over 8 1-3 innings in a 3-0 win.

Padres catcher Mike Piazza, a former Dodger who is hitless in his last nine at-bats, is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with three homers and 12 RBIs in his career against Penny. Piazza is hitting just .188 at home this season.

The Colorado Rockies look to win three straight road games for the first time since April when they continue a four-game series against the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium on Wednesday.

The Rockies (32-32) opened the season winning 10 of their first 13 road games, but have gone just 6-13 away from Denver since May 1. Still, Colorado is 16-16 on the road this season — a huge improvement over last season’s 27-54 mark.

Garrett Atkins had a double and scored two runs, and is batting .395 (17-for-43) with seven runs, five doubles and nine RBIs during a season-high 12-game hitting streak.

Washington will counter with Tony Armas (6-3, 3.48), who has won six of his last seven decisions. He allowed three runs and six hits in five innings in a 9-8, 12-inning win over Philadelphia on Friday, but did not receive a decision.

The Nationals have won in six of his last seven starts.

Armas is just 1-1 with a 4.80 ERA in six starts at RFK, and has pitched five or fewer innings in three of his last four home starts, posting a 7.13 ERA in those games.

The right-hander is 2-2 with a 7.39 ERA in seven starts against the Rockies, but went 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts against them last season.

We told you what to expect this year from over the hill Randy Johnson and he has failed to earn his salary in 2006. Johnson (7-5, 5.63 ERA) was hit hard again his last time out, allowing six runs and six hits over four innings of a 6-5 loss to Oakland on Friday. He gave up three more homers, a season high, to bring his total for the year to 15.

The Big Unit has surrendered 10 homers in his last 33 1-3 innings spanning six starts, doing nothing to dispel the notion that his dominance may be fading at age 42. Last year, he gave up a career-high 32 homers in his first season with New York.

Bob Acton

Online Sports Betting

Some of the new slot machines have so many side games that they are confusing. It almost becomes a game of inserting your money, hitting a button, and seeing what happens. If you want to have fun, and know what you’re doing, Bank on It may be just the ticket.

No, Bank on It doesn’t have 293 reels and 216 bonus games. It’s a solid 3-reel game and the pay table is easy to understand. As with any great slot machine, you can play multiple denominations and there’s a bonus. Bank on It has five denominations-nickel, quarter, fifty cents, dollar and five dollar.

Do you hate seeing all blanks on the pay line? Not any more! In Bank on It, when you get three blanks on the pay-line, the coins you played are put into a bank. It’s called the “Piggy Bank.” The game puts 150 coins into the piggy bank to start out and the bank keeps increasing every time you get three blanks on the pay-line.

To break the piggy bank you need to get three little piggies. Bank on It has a wild symbol too and that can count as a piggy. The bank is a nice addition and a welcomed side game.

As with any slot machine, you’ll need to play max coins to hit the jackpot. Bank on It takes three coins to max it out. Once you’re maxed, start praying for the three red 7’s, because that’s the magical combination that will unlock the big payday.

Game Play

Playing Bank on It is incredibly easy. It’s not filled with tons of frills. After picking your denomination, you pick the number of coins to play. I never advocate playing anything less than the maximum. If you’re not going to max the machine out, why play? The goal is to hit the jackpot and you can’t do that on any slot machine without going all out.

I like Bank on It, because it’s your typical 3-coin max. You won’t need to put in 15-20 coins or more like other slot machines.

After putting in your coins, just hit the button to spin those wheels. The pay table is easy to understand and it’s right on the machine. You won’t need sub-screens to figure out how to win. There’s one pay-line, just like the good ole’ days.

Once the wheels come to a stop, you’ve won or lost. There aren’t any side games to Bank on It other than the piggy bank feature.

Bottom Line

If you want a simple slot machine, this is it. The machine has three reels, three coins max, one pay-line and one side game. It’s very simple, but it’s fun to play.

I’ve yet to pick up a good book on gambling that didn’t talk about bankroll creation and management. It’s that important. Even the lightest of books has a page or two devoted to it-regardless of the book’s game topic.

Unfortunately, the topic of creating and managing a bankroll can quickly become a complicated one. I’ve broken this article about money management down to two main segments-session money management and seasonal money management. I’ll go over some light information on each to give you a real head’s up. Let’s get into money management.

Managing your money by the session

This is the most popular method and best for those not betting on sports-Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, etc. Session management can get so detailed; you’ll need a PhD to follow it all. But, we’re not going that deep.

Basically, it’s like this. Before you go to play in the casino, you set limits. How much are you willing to lose? And you have to stick to it. So, let’s say Charlie is about to walk into the Win Here casino to play some Craps. He might set a loss limit of $100. His bankroll is now $100.

Ah, but wait. Charlie also needs to see a win cap. Yep, you’ve got to cap your wins and leave before it all goes bye-bye. Keep this realistic. For instance, if you set the win cap at $200, you’d leave when your bankroll equals $200, which would be a $100 gain-or a 100% increase. Anything more than 200% is highly unrealistic.

Most people fail at both ends of session management, but the win cap kills almost everyone. They are winning, so why love? Yes, why leave? Why not stay until you’ve lost it all back?

Managing your money by the season

No, I’m not referring to spring, summer, fall and winter. I’m talking about sports seasons-or anything else that lasts more than one session. Actually, a gambling marathon would apply too.

It works the same as session management, except that you’re setting a loss and win cap for the entire season-and thus, the amount is larger. In fact, you might not even have the money in your possession.

Let’s try an example. Charlie is a hard-working guy. He lives paycheck to paycheck, but loves betting football. He decides that he can afford to lose about $100 a week for the entire season. Figuring in playoffs and the Super Bowl, he sets a seasonal bankroll of $2,300.

He doesn’t have $2,300 right now, but he has the initial $100 to get going. So each week he now knows that he has $100 to spend. Additionally, he set a win cap at $3,500. If his bankroll ever hits $3,500, he’s out. Be smart with your money. You’ll have more fun and you could take more home in the process.