Frozen Assets – New Years Edition

Terms of Endearment

Welcome to this week’s episode of Frozen Assets. First of all, Happy New Years! My resolutions are the same as yours: win more and lose less!

Today I would like to address a concern that some of you readers have voiced. While expressed in different forms, it is summarized as follows: “I love the hockey stuff but I don’t understand the gambling stuff.”

The gambling advice I give readers can be difficult for the novice bettor to understand (especially the two-parter on betting exchanges). Most of the time the details of what I write are not essential to understanding my column, but an understanding of the purpose of Frozen Assets is.

The purpose of Frozen Assets is to demonstrate a fun, creative way to bet on hockey. Hockey futures are a great way to win a decent amount of money without risking more money than you should be. It is also a great way to follow a team for a season, or even better, is a great way to follow the story of the entire season.

I want to provide readers with a unique perspective on the NHL and betting – one that I have a lot of fun with. This perspective is also helpful for people that enjoy hockey but do not have a favorite team – put $30 on the Thrashers at +10000 and watch Kovalchuk and Hossa for the rest of the season. They probably won’t win the Cup, but if they can make the playoffs, enjoy the ride.

To help readers with the nuances of the gambling aspects of Frozen Assets, this week I am starting a glossary for the terms I use on Frozen Assets. If readers would like any other terms added to the glossary, send me a comment and I will add the term to this week’s article. We will add to the glossary over the course of the season. Hopefully one day it will be a Frozen Assets Encyclopedia.

Next week I will follow up my November 22, 2007 article on 10 Futures Bets You Should Have Made Over the First Quarter of the Season with 10 Futures Bets You Should Have Made Over the First Half of the Season.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Bad Line: Odds that are favorable to the bettor because of an obvious error by the bookmaker. For example if a team should be +300 but they are +3000 because an extra zero was added to the equation that is a bad line.

Betting Exchange: A sports betting website that is modelled after a market. For more info on betting exchanges see Here(1) and Here(2). The leading betting exchange is Betfair (Americans not allowed). For North Americans, Matchbook is also popular.

Bonus Offer: An offer by a sportsbook to match part of your deposit. Usually comes with conditions.

Buying Futures: Betting on a team to win a futures market. Contrasted with Selling Futures.

Deposit Only Sportsbook: A type of scam sportsbook where you only deposit (and never withdraw money).

Finding Value: Locating odds on a possible outcome that you think are better than the true odds.

Flamesing it in: A type of goal scored by the Calgary Flames where, in a 2-1 win or 2-1 loss, Calgary’s game winning or lone goal is scored off of a skate or body. May not apply this year.

Fraudulent (Scam) Sports Book: A sports book that does not pay out or that cancels winning wagers.

Futures Wager: A type of bet that takes place over the course of a season as opposed to a bet on an individual game. Examples include betting on a team to win a division, conference, or championship.

Hedging: Bet against a team you have previously bet on (for the same event) so that you
either minimize your losses or guarantee a profit.

Line Shopping: Searching different sportsbooks for different prices on the same event.

Parlay: A wager that involves multiple games, all required to be correct in order to win. The benefit of a parlay wager is that the payout is higher than a straight wager.

Reduced Juice Sportsbook: A sportsbook that offers better odds than the traditional -110 for each outcome.

Responsible Sports Bettor: A sports bettor that is only prepared to bet money that s/he can afford to lose.

Selling Futures: Betting against a team to win a futures market. Contrasted with buying futures.

Soft Line: Lines that are favorable to the bettor, not because of a computer or typographical error. One of the goals of Frozen Assets is to find soft lines.

Sportsbook Rating: Letter grade assigned to sportsbooks by Sportsbook Review.

Sportsbook Review: Essential research site for information on Sportsbook Ratings and scam sportsbooks.

Straight Wager: A wager on the outcome of a single game.

For illegal curve, I’m Ari Baum-Cohen

About the writer: Ari-Baum Cohen’s first sports betting victory came at age 8 when he won his father’s office pool. He screamed like a 14 year-old girl at a Justin Timberlake concert when Tampa Bay (had at +3500 to win Cup) and Calgary (had at +15000 to win Cup) made the Stanley Cup finals.

December 27, 2007: Ho Ho Horrible Homestands and Road Warriors
December 14, 2007: Western Conference: Starting Odds, Current Odds, Highest Odds
December 7, 2007: Eastern Conference: Starting Odds, Current Odds, Highest Odds
November 29, 2007: How to find the Sportsbook For You, The NHL’s best division – The Central(?)
November 22, 2007: 10 Futures Bets You Should Have Made Over the First Quarter of the Season
November 15, 2007: Explaining the Exchange(2), Random Thoughts on the Futures
November 9, 2007: Exaplaining the Exchange(1), This Weeks Best Bets
November 1, 2007: Profiling the Eastern Conference Teams
October 25, 2007: Profiling the Western Conference Teams
October 18, 2007: To Win the Conference or the Cup? Frozen Assets’ European Vacation
October, 11, 2007: Top 5 Hockey Futures Books, Stanley Cup Odds
October 4, 2007: Bad Lines, Soft Lines, and Conference Odds
September 27, 2007: Avoiding Fraudulent Sportsbooks and Preview of Division Betting
September 20, 2007: Introduction to Frozen Assets and Futures Highlights From Last Year