I would be much happier right now if Arizona could manage to triple cover Santonio Holmes with the Superbowl on the line. It’s Thursday and I can finally let it go. I really need to work on leaving my losses behind me and just gambling more the next day to forget about it.
In the end - with that catch my NFL gambling season ended on a subpar note, at least there’s a good amount of hockey to be played.

 

Seeing how this is only my second post, I’ll start letting you in on a few of my homegrown prarie betting strategies – give you the prarie advantage if you will (If you want you can act like you came up with these when your with your friends…I don’t mind). These strategies can really only be perfected on the praries, Winnipeg is the center of North America so logically everything would reach us first. 

Advantage: Having any connection to Winnipeg, Manitoba, or the Winnipeg Jets.

The odds are always on your side when a player on the ice has a connection to Winnipeg the city, or the Winnipeg Jets team itself. The total reverse is true of the Phoenix Coyotes. Unless you can bet on Shane Doan individually, just disregard that this team exists. Also just so you know Teemu Selanne is better then Gretzky, Vegas just doesn’t know it…

 I wish I could make a team full of Teemus

Advantage: Where hockey doesn’t belong, your money doesn’t either

With hometown biases aside, I find that a good gambler goes deeper then just the players on the team. You need to understand the hockey market as a whole. Notice that my picks will often discourage teams that have no fans and/or no snow in the winter. This goes for teams like the Panthers, Lightning, Hurricanes, Thrashers, Predators. I seriously don’t expect any hate mail from anyone, does anyone really care about these teams? I’ll elaborate more down the road, but why would you question my judgement on this?!

So with those few key learnings about gambling, let’s take a look at the Thursday games.

LA Kings +239 @ Washington – 259 $10
Washington has been playing out of their mind lately. The Kings also have been playing above their usual level with new goalie Jonathan Quick getting some starts. I still like the Caps at home playing well, watch for Eric Fehr the ex-Brandon Wheat King to have a solid game.

Boston – 155 $20 @ Ottawa +145
The Bruins are rolling along nicely atop the east standings. David Krejci has been a surprise, and Micheal Ryder decided to play after taking the year off in Montreal last year. What have the Sens become anyway? They have 1 line and two AHL goalies. Willhill.com has Bruins paying 2.40 after 60 minutes, this is worth the bet even on back to back nights for Boston.

Anaheim + 118 $10@ Nashville – 128
If you read anything above you’d understand my pick here. Seeing how the Ducks have been on a win one/lose one rhthym all season they just got beat Wednesday night, and Nashville doesn’t score much, they aren’t paying bad either. Watch Teemu light it up tomorrow like he was back in his rookie days.

Carolina +271 @ San Jose – 291 $10
Carolina just lost to Vancouver of all teams. San Jose always feels like a safe bet at home. I’m going to throw this and Washington on a double ticket, see how things go there.

I have to work overtime during the games tomorrow, so I’ll be streaming online like a poor mans center ice cable package. Anyway, throw down some money and you won’t regret it. Hopefully you have been inspired by the prarie knowledge you’ve been exposed to, and may your hockey picks forever benefit.

Winnipeg Mark