Just ask Kevin Na.

Na, if you haven’t watched any of the tournament, is going through an unwatchable case of yips. But not with his putter. With every other club in his bag. These yips are being called a ‘trigger problem’ as Na is unable to pull the club back and make a complete swing in any reasonable amount of time.  Here is one of the more pronounced examples of Na’s trigger problems during yesterday’s round at The Players.

Despite his trigger problems, Kevin Na has a 1 shot lead heading into today’s final round. But oddsmakers don’t think Na, a one-time winner in 10 years on the PGA Tour, is going to hold on to the lead.

At 5Dimes, Na is +263 to win The Players. The favorite is Matt Kuchar, who is 1 shot back of Na, and is +195 to win. Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler, who has sole possession of third place and is 3 shots back, is +380. Zach Johnson is 5 shots back and is +1500 to win.

Some other notes you should consider before betting on the final round:

But here’s a little secret: some Buddhist monks like to drink. And smoke. And gamble.

According to Reuters, six leaders of South Korea’s biggest order of Buddhist monks were caught on video “raising hell, playing high-stakes poker, drinking and smoking.” To add even more drama to the story, the monks were engaged in their hell-raising just days before a national holiday to celebrate the birth of Buddha.

The monks were gathered at a luxury lakeside hotel for a fellow monk’s memorial service. While there, they played high-stakes poker for 13 hours where more than $875,000 changed hands. Apparently being a Buddhist monk pays good money.

The illicit gambling (it’s illegal to gamble in South Korea outside of licensed casinos and horse racing tracks) was caught on video by a hidden camera. The tape from that camera was provided to a monk named Seongho (monks go by one name like some pop stars and soccer players) who then turned it in to prosecutors.

Seongho, the informant monk, said “Basically, Buddhist rules say don’t steal. Look at what they did, they abused money from Buddhists for gambling.”

ht twitter.com/phillygodfather

Despite recent Marriage-centric verses, the favorite is “No” at -150.

Kayne & Kim Betting Stats

Began dating: April 2012

Kayne West

• One previous engagement
• Zero previous marriages

To get in on the celebrity engagement action, head on over to Bovada. No odds have yet been released around the impending divorce if they do tie the knot…

The top 8 U.S. Players on the Ryder Cup points list till be automatically added to the U.S. Ryder Cup team (along with 4 picks from captain Davis Love III).  If using the current points list the top 8 Americans would be:

• Bubba Watson
• Phil Mickelson
• Hunter Mahan
• Keegan Bradley
• Jason Dufner
• Steve Stricker
• Rickie Fowler
• Tiger Woods

2010 Ryder Cup Odds

US:  +120

Europe:  -140

2008 Ryder Cup Odds

US: +110

Europe:  -150

2006 Ryder Cup Odds

(tie loses)

US: +120

Europe:  -120

Like a side?  Head over to Bovada to place your wager.

This time,  it’s “Sarah Phillips.” Ms. Phillips, in case you’re not aware, is a writer for Covers.com and ESPN. When she’s not writing for these media outlets, she’s entering into shady “business” deals with bloggers and hijacking their content.

Deadspin exposed most of the Sarah Phillips story. They revealed what many in the industry already knew but didn’t quite have the evidence to prove: that Phillips operates in tandem with someone named Nilesh Prasad. And that Phillips and Prasad have attempted to scam money out of people (and seemingly succeeded in some cases.)

As Deadspin notes, Phillips started as someone posting in the forums on Covers.com. From there, Covers hired her as a columnist. Keep in mind, it appears the hiring practices at Covers aren’t terribly rigorous. And from Covers, Phillips made her way to ESPN as a Page 2 columnist. Most of her writing was mediocre. So why did Covers and ESPN hire her?

It’s simple. She’s a seemingly attractive girl who bets on sports (and knows about sports betting.) That’s a character that the 18-35 year old male demographic would gravitate to. And gravitate they did. Phillips developed a decent following on Twitter.

As of this moment, Phillips has 63,057 Twitter followers. But here’s a little secret: the vast majority of these followers were bought by Phillips (or whoever runs that Twitter account).

How do we know? It’s simple, really.

She writes for Covers but has more followers than the official Covers Twitter account. Does that make sense? Of course not.

But there’s more than that. Phillips started her Twitter account in April 2009. From April 2009 until October 2011, she had just a handful of followers. Then, in October 2011, her followers started to climb. She had about 5,000 followers in early December 2011.

Then the follower count grew fast. Really fast. Unnaturally fast.

Yes, writing for ESPN helped. But it was ESPN Page 2 and that doesn’t give you 60,000 followers. But a few hundred bucks can get you that many followers as you can see from one Twitter spam site:

And buying followers is the route that that Phillips went.

We analyzed her followers and found an enormous percentage of her followers are paid-for spam accounts. We noticed this in December 2011 when Phillips was regularly adding thousands of followers a day – a feat usually reserved for major celebrities. As we watched the follower count climb, we checked out the quality of the followers. And this is what you’ll generally find:

Lots of locked accounts that follow hundreds of people but have very few followers. That is the classic structure of a spam Twitter account that has been purchased. And Phillips has thousands of these accounts “following” her.

Of course, buying Twitter followers isn’t the worse thing she (or he) has done. But that the person behind the Sarah Phillips online persona would resort to this sort of widespread Twitter spam reveals a lot about the illegitimacy of their motives.

While the bump was quite light, any contact with an NBA official is bad contact.  So says the NBA rules:

E. PHYSICAL CONTACT—SUSPENSION

Any player or coach guilty of intentional physical contact with an official shall automatically be suspended without pay for one game. (Cont): A fine and/or longer period of suspension willresult if circumstances so dictate.

So look for Rondo to get suspended for game 2.  But what does that mean for bettors?

Game 1 opened in Atlanta with the Hawks favored by a point-and-a-half and bet down to the Hawks -1 before game-time.  Look for a Rondo-less Celtics to be getting 3.5 or 4 when the line opens.  Game 1 saw the O/U of 179 fall miserably short as only 157 points were scored between the two teams.  The low score + the loss of Rondo should see the O/U open up even lower, close to 177.5.  But should that be the case?  Here’s the game log without Rondo this year:

Overall w/o Rondo:  8-5 SU, 7-6 ATS, 7-6 Over/Under

Away w/o Rondo: 3-3 SU  3-3 ATS  5-1 Over/Under

When playing away sans-Rondo, the Celtics have gone over 5 of 6 games by an average of 8.6 points per game.  This stands out because with Rondo, the Celtics have goin the other way going 11-17 on the season over/unders.  So while the O/U line has been getting bet down without Rondo, the play may be on the opposite side.  If the line opens at or under 177.5 (and Rondo is suspended) we’d lean over.

Make sure to make your fantasy bet on the game by shooting over to our NBA Odds page.

Here are the odds on picks 3-10, with relevant articles for each.  Please note, each player prop is set for the position, regardless of the team that makes the selection.  If any team trades up/down, you will still be saddled with the player you selected at that draft position.

3rd Pick

2012 NFL Draft – Which team will make the 3rd overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Minnesota Vikings -400
• Any Other Team +250

Who will be the 3rd overall pick in the NFL Draft?

• Matt Kalil (OL USC) -250
• Morris Claiborne (DB LSU) +120
• Justin Blackmon (WR Oklahoma State) +500
• Riley Reiff (OL Iowa) +1200

Who will make the 4th overall pick in the NFL Draft?

• Cleveland Browns -400
• Any other team +250

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 4th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Trent Richardson (RB Alabama) -300
• Ryan Tannehill (QB Texas A&M) +250
• Justin Blackmon (WR Oklahoma State) +425
• Morris Claiborne (DB LSU) +600

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 5th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers -350
• Any Other Team +225

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 5th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Matt Kalil (OL USC) +275
• Morris Claiborne (DB LSU) -200
• Stephon Gilmore (DB South Carolina) +525
• Trent Richardson (RB Alabama) +250

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 6th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• St. Louis Rams -250
• Any Other Team +170

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 6th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Fletcher Cox (DT Mississippi State) +275
• Justin Blackmon (WR Oklahoma State) -140
• Morris Claiborne (DB LSU) +235
• Trent Richardson (RB Alabama) +300

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 7th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Jacksonville Jaguars -150
• Any Other Team +110

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 7th overall pick the NFL Draft

• Melvin Ingram (DE South Carolina) +115
• Justin Blackmon (WR Oklahoma State) +150
• Michael Floyd (WR Notre Dame) +250
• Quinton Coples (DE North Carolina) +300

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 8th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Miami Dolphins -200
• Any Other Team +150

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 8th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Ryan Tannehill (QB Texas A&M) -200
• Michael Floyd (WR Notre Dame) +150
• Riley Reiff (OL Iowa) +450
• Melvin Ingram (DE South Carolina) +850

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 9th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Carolina Panthers -150
• Any Other Team +110

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 9th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Fletcher Cox (DT Missisiippi State) +110
• Luke Kuechly (LB Boston College) +150
• Michael Floyd (WR Notre Dame) +350
• Stephon Gilmore (DB South Carolina) +235

2012 NFL Draft – Who will make the 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Buffalo Bills -300
• Any Other Team +200

2012 NFL Draft – Who will be the 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft

• Luke Kuechly (LB Boston College) +335
• Mark Barron (DB Alabama) +380
• Michael Floyd (WR Notre Dame) +160
• Riley Reiff (OL Iowa) -140

On IAmA, you’ll see topics like “IAmA 34 year old who has had a glass eye since age 2” and “IAmA former driver for a prostitue” and “IAmA person who is locked in a room with a violent psychotic who’s currently sleeping for the next three hours with only my IPhone and a panic button” and “I Am Louis C.K. (yes, he really did it).”

Today, a Reddit user called ‘AdvantageGambler’ engaged in an IAmA Professional Gambler question and answer session. Now, users are supposed to provide proof of their IAmA claims and ‘AdvantageGambler’ provided some proof. It’s a screen shot of his Pinnacle account and it shows a balance of $980,288.01.

Is the screen shot legit? Well, it looks it. But it’s impossible to be definitive. But what adds some credibility to the screen shot is the question and answer session.

Before we get to the Q&A, you should read AdvantageGambler’s introductory statement:

I’ve been gambling professionally (full-time) ever since I turned 18 (ten years ago). The bulk of my income over the last decade has been sports betting, though as my username suggests, I’m a broad-spectrum Advantage Gambler.
90%+ of my income comes from sports betting, online gambling (non-poker), and blackjack variants (card counting). While I do play poker from time to time, I only do it when I’m very bored of my other jobs or there’s a lull in the sports betting world – or when there’s a great game I can’t pass up on.

So the bulk of his income is generated from gambling. That begs the question: how much income does he make? According to his Reddit session, he made $400,000 in 2011 (though he expected to make $280,000). How does he do it?

In his own words:

In general, I bet single games and their derivatives, rather than futures bets (say, Manchester United wins in a season, or New York Yankees runs scored in a season).

To keep it simple, there are two reasons I bet on games that return positive bankroll growth (+EG):
1) Steam plays. These make up a significant amount of my bets. You can think of this as one-sided arbitrage, where someone buys cheeseburgers from the McDonalds down the street at 90 cents and sells them at the McDonalds up the street at $1 for a guaranteed profit of 10 cents. The assumptions are that there exists an unlimited amount of burgers to be bought/sold on both sides; this is a true arbitrage and obviously cannot exist for very long.
Now think of it this way: The correct “market price” for a Yankees game is -120 (meaning I have to put up $120 to win $100; I’m a “favorite”) and the other side of the same game is +110 (put up $100 and you win $110; you’d be an underdog). Let’s just assume that -120/+110 is priced perfectly from an Economics standpoint, so a bet that has $0 of positive expectation is something close to -115. If I bet $1,000,000 on a line at a sportsbook that is -115 1,000,000 times, I expect to win/lose $0 (though there will be variance). So, if I can find a line better than -115, I’m making money by betting this line.
They call these “steam plays” because a book with a lot of liquidity for a given market will generally be close to the “market price” for a bet, and if they move their line in either direction, you have time to bet it at another book that is too slow to move their lines. Do this enough and it builds up “steam,” and usually a curt conversation with the head linesmaker at the book you are pillaging.
2) Handicapping. This is where you build a model that takes all sorts of inputs (weather, batting stats, pitcher are all simple variables) and evalutes a fair betting line – the “market price.” If you can calculate the market price better than the big books, you stand to beat opening lines for a fair amount of money. This is obviously quite hard, since the largest books employ lots of geniuses to create tough to beat lines. However, it’s not impossible. Right now, we have a model that has beaten MLB games and derivatives for a pretty large sum over the last 3 years.

That’s an informed answer and it’s clear this guy knows his stuff.

Some other evidence that AdvantageGambler is legit:

The entire thread is certainly worth a read. Based on his extremely informed answers, we think AdvantageGambler is indeed one of a very rare breed – he’s a successful professional gambler. Of course, we can’t be certain that his self-reported numbers ($400k a year and $900K at Pinnacle) aren’t inflated but he talks the talk of an educated, successful gambler.

Charlotte Bobcats at Washington Wizards

Current Line: Washington -8.5

Current O/U Line: 189.5

The Charlotte Bobcats (7-56 SU, 22-41 ATS) look to snap a 20 game losing streak when they take the court tonight squaring off against the Washington Wizards (17-46, 26-36-1 ATS) who has dominated Charlotte this season going 3-0 SU and 3-0 ATS thus far.

The Bobcats struggles continue to come from the offensive side of the ball. Charlotte is averaging 77 points per game the last five games while shooting 37.1% from the field and 16.4% from beyond the arc.

With a struggling offense and a few injuries the Bobcats have gotten to see a few players showcase some talent that we haven’t see much this season. Rookie point guard Kemba Walker (12.3 PPG)has scored double digits in nine of his last ten games, while Derrick Brown (7.9 PPG) has scored 11 or more in six of the last seven contests.

The Bobcats defense has not been all that horrible over the last five games. Charlotte is allowing 93.6 points per game the last five games with opponents shooting 46.5% from the field and 32.3% from beyond the arc against them.

The Washington Wizards will look to wake up their offense tonight when they face a Bobcats defense that they have averaged 102.3 points per game against this season. This Wizards offense needs a wake up considering they are averaging 89.6 points per game the last five games in which they are shooting 41.6% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc.

John Wall (16.4 PPG, 7.8 APG) the main focal point of this offense has struggled a bit scoring more than 16 points just once in the last seven games. Jordan Crawford (14.9 PPG) looks to rebound from one of his worst offensive outing this season going just 2 for 14 from the field with just seven points. Kevin Seraphin (7.7 PPG) continues to showcase his talents in which has scored 10 or more in 13 straight contests.

The Wizards defense has not been anything special this season in which they are allowing 99.5 points per game. Over the last five games Washington is allowing 96.2 points per game with opponents shooting 44.1% from the field and 36.8% from beyond the arc against them the last five contests. Three of the last six opponents for Washington have been held to 85 points or less.

I am not impressed with the offense coming from both of these teams right now. Charlotte doesn’t even look like they are trying offensively. The Bobcats could find it tough tonight against a Washington team that has showed some brilliant defense at times lately. I like Washington to sweep the season series against this poor Bobcats team and for this game to be a low scoring affair.

Prediction:

Charlotte 84 Washington 98

Cleveland Cavaliers at Memphis Grizzlies

Current Line: Memphis -13

Current O/U Line: 191

The Cleveland Cavaliers (21-42 SU, 30-33 ATS) losers of four of their last five head out on the road tonight to take on the Memphis Grizzlies (39-25 SU, 29-35 ATS) who are riding a four game winning streak as they continue to build some momentum going into the playoffs.

Cleveland’s offense is starting to wake up as we come down the home stretch of this regular season. The Cavaliers have scored 98 points in back to back games after a three game stint where they could not break more than 87. Over the last five games Cleveland is averaging 88.8 points per game whiles shooting 41.1% from the field and 30.5% from beyond the arc.

Rookie of the year candidate Kyrie Irving (18.7 PPG) is back in the lineup after missing some time due to a shoulder injury and has scored 19 and 21 in back to back games now. Antawa Jamison (17.4 PPG) ha struggled a bit over the last few games scoring more than 18 twice and has been held to 8 or less in two of the last five games.

The Cavaliers continue to struggle on the defensive side of the ball where they have allowed triple digits to four of their last five opponents. The last five games Cleveland is allowing 104.6 points per game with opponents shooting 50.8% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc against them.

Memphis has some work to do on the offensive side of the ball these last two games before heading into the playoffs. The Grizzlies are averaging 89.4 points per game the last five games in which they are shooting 44.3% from the field and 30.8% from beyond the arc.

Rudy Gay (19 PPG) continues to be the main piece to this offense as he continues to showcase his talents with five of his last six games he has scored 21 or more points in. Marc Gasol (14.5 PPG, 9 RPG) continues to struggle scoring 12 or less in five straight games in which he failed to grab more than 7 rebounds in any of those contests.

The Grizzlies haven’t had to rely on the offense much considering they are playing outstanding defense right now. Memphis is allowing 86.4 points per game the last five games while opponents are shooting 40.8% from the 28% from beyond the arc against them.

Cleveland is going to have problems scoring tonight against a very good Memphis defense. The Grizzlies on the other hand should score some points but how many is an interesting question since the offense has struggled for them a bit. Memphis hasn’t really been covering lines and you would think it should come easy against a weak Cleveland squad but that might not happen. I think Memphis wins this game but covering this line could be farfetched. This should be a low scoring affair also.

Prediction:

Cleveland 86 Memphis 96

Colorado Rockies at Pittsburgh Pirates

Current ML: Pittsburgh -109

Current RL: Pittsburgh -1.5 +195

Current O/U Line: 8 (-120)

The Colorado Rockies (9-7) start a three game road stand in Pittsburgh (6-10) tonight when the ageless wonder Jamie Moyer (1-2, 2.55 ERA) takes the hill to face off against Kevin Correia (1-0, 1.50 ERA).

The Rockies come into tonight’s contest playing good baseball as of late. Colorado is 4-1 the last five games in which they are averaging five runs per game over that span.

Jamie Moyer will look to grab his second win of the season when he takes the hill tonight. Moyer became the oldest pitcher to record a win his last outing in which he went seven innings allowing six hits and 0 earned runs (2 runs).

Pittsburgh looks to rebound from a 5-1 loss yesterday in which the Pirates hitting struggles continue scoring no more than two runs in the last four games.

Pittsburgh has to be feeling good going into tonight’s contest with Correia on the mound considering in his two outings this season he has pitched a total of 12 innings allowing just two earned runs and seven total hits.

The Pirates are going to need a strong outing tonight from Correia since they are struggling offensively, the last few games and have not been very successful against lefties this season. The Pirates are hitting just .209 against lefties this season and are averaging just 1.93 runs per nine innings this season against lefties.

Pittsburgh has a very good chance to get back winning ways tonight if Correia can produce another strong outing for them on the mound. Colorado is going to need Moyer to feed off his last outing to gain some momentum when he faces off against this weak lefty hitting team. I like this game to be a low scoring affair and stay under the posted total.

Prediction:

Colorado 3 Pittsburgh 2

The Favorite

Ben Rothwell may look like a character from Hillbilly Handfishing, but is actually a seasoned veteran.  Rothwell has been fighting since 2001 with a unimpressive 1-2 in UFC fights.  Back in 2001, Brendan Schaub was playing football at the University of Colorado before bouncing around in the AFL and being a member of the Buffalo Bills practice squad.  The TUF 10 runner-up is a powerhouse, yet quite raw when it comes to MMA skills.

Schaub didn’t look good in his last fight when he lost to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, so some bettors may be staying away from him keeping the lighter than it should be.  Look for Schaub to run through Rothwell , not only ending the fight, but Rothwell’s career in the process.

The Evenly Matched

Miguel Torres is a former WEC title holder who loves cracking rape jokes on Twitter.  He is also the more well known of the two fighters.  Joining the UFC at 19, Michael McDonald is 10 years younger and on a 3-0 roll since joining the UFC.  Torres is 3-3 in his last 6 fights, and at 31, his best years may be behind him.

MacDonald at even money is our lean on this fight as  each of these fighters is heading in a very different direction and MacDonald is the one going up.

The Longshot

Rory MacDonald is a beast, with his only professional loss coming to Carlos Condit.  Even in that loss, MacDonald would have earned a split decision victory if he could have hung on for 7 seconds longer.  Che Mills has only had 1 UFC fight that ended in just 40 seconds.  Mills has power that comes in punches and knees and has experience.  Mills won the Cage Rage Walterweight title from former Dream champ Marius Žaromskis (defeating him twice).

This match will likely go to MacDonald, but Mills packs power, winning 1/2 of his fights by knockout.  There may be some value on Mills, if he can land a solid knee early he will have a chance.

All lines are courtesy of 5Dimes.