💸 UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya

If you've ever felt embarrassed, you probably feel for Jairzinho Rozenstruik.  Rozenstruik (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was outpointed to a unanimous decision by Gane (8-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in their heavyweight headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.  

The boss man Dana White wasn't pleased with the fight in general either:

“Everybody’s talking about Ciryl being this big contender, but look at what Francis Ngannou did to Jairzinho. This was his coming out party and his chance to show the world who he is. He won, but let’s leave it at that. He won.”

Ouch.  Doesn't reflect well on either fighter really.  

That is what underwhelmed looks like.

Perhaps UFC 259 this weekend with Adesanya will provide more fireworks.  

But that's neither here nor there, we are now in March.  Selection Sunday is less than two weeks away.  And March Madness is nearly upon us.

Keep track of these two dates:

Selection Sunday: March 14

Tournament Kickoff: March 18

Get you bookies ready.  It's about to go down.

Speaking of basketball, how about the Utah Jazz?  It's crazy what they've been achieving this year - without adding any pieces of note in the off season.  They just happened to get better.

The UEFA Champions League continues with the round of 16 on Tuesday March 9th, with Juventes taking on Porto and Dortmund taking on Sevilla.

Also, as an aside, crazy times for Barcelona leadership and fans.  The Barcelona offices were raided this week and the club is suffering from financial troubles (primarily due to mismanagement).  

The Arnold Palmer Championship starts tomorrow.  And in the world of golf all eyes continue to be on the player that won't participate - Tiger.  The Sheriff has now executed a warrant for the black box from the crash.

Ok, let's dig into some lines.

Prime Cut - Highlighted Lines

NBA: (lines for Mar. 3 '21)

Lines reposted from reddit

NCAA Basketball:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

English Premier League:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

EFL Championship:

UEFA Champions League:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

NHL:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

PGA Tour - Arnold Palmer Championship

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who won this event in 2018, will enter the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational as the odds-on favorite. McIlroy is going off at 9-1 in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational odds from William Hill Sportsbook.

And a few props:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

There are many more props out there (far too many for us to include them all here), so be sure to look them up in your sportsbook of choice if you have the itch.

Also, like we said in previous iterations, eSports is exploding.  Just check out this audience growth:

Want to see more in this area?  Reach out at michael@bettorsecrets.com.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

You can check out the streams for these here: https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Counter-Strike%3A Global Offensive

Call of Duty League

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

League of Legends:

Pulled from Bovada.lv and sportsinsights.com

On to the play of the week.

Play of the Week:

PGA Tour - Arnold Palmer Invitational

We don't usually include PGA Tour events as our Play of the Week, but as we have a bit of a lull between now and the NCAA tournament, it might be a fun one to bet.

We're not going to make outright picks (it's golf - way too hard to pin that down), but we have some choice bets you can make that just might pan out.

So without further ado:

1. Matthew Fitzpatrick (at +2500):

Matthew Fitzpatrick is the 16th-ranked player in the world, and has fared well at Bay Hill - placing T2 two years ago, and T9 last year.

It seems from past interviews and performances, that Matthew Fitzpatrick is what they call a "mudder" in horse racing.  He thrives on touch conditions, while the rest of the field wilts.  

It appears that the Bay Hill course can play extremely difficult if wind speeds pick up.  Keep an eye on that and take a flyer on Fitzpatrick if the conditions look tough.

2. Francesco Molinari (at +3100):

Molinari is on a heater, with 3 top 10 finishes in his last 4 starts.  He also has a win at Bay Hill, which makes him well placed to compete.  

3. Patrick Reed (at +2100):

Patrick Reed typically plays with a natural draw, which fits the layout of Bay Hill.  

His ball striking is solid - and he's already won a tournament this year.  He's also worth taking a flyer on.

What's Trending - The Quick Action ⚡

Find out where the sharp money is laying.

NBA:

Pulled from sportsinsights.com

NHL:

Pulled from sportsinsights.com

NCAAB:

Pulled from sportsinsights.com

How to look at this:

1. This shows you where the bets (#) and the amount of money ($) are laying down across different bets.
2. The interesting stuff is when the number of tickets and the amount of money differs.  

Do with it what you will!

What You Need to Know - Key Insights 💡

NBA:

• Lebron James is sitting out tonight agains the Sacramento Kings
• Lakers Rumors: Hassan Whiteside, JaVale McGee Could Be Targeted in Trade, Buyout

NCAAB:

• Illinois stomped Michigan in a decisive win: Final score: Illinois 76, Michigan 53.
• Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan and Illinois appear to be the front runners for the four number 1 seeds

English Premier League:

• Manchester City lead by 12 points in the Premier League after Manchester United and Leicester dropped points again.

NHL:

• Canadiens' Bergevin fired goalie coach midgame Tuesday

Hot Takes 🔥

These are the hot takes that can seem to come out of left field.  Right or wrong?  Time will tell.  But one thing is for sure - these are spicy:

With Lebron sitting tonight vs. the Sacramento Kings, it might be worthwhile to take a flyer on the Kings at +4.  Just as we wrote that, we checked the line and it moved to -3.5 for the Kings.

Guess what?  We still like the Kings in this one.  It appears that the Lakers have circled this game as one to throw (or get as possibly close to doing so as possible).

On top of Lebron sitting, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso and Marc Gasol are all listed as questionable in the second of a back-to-back for LA.

Bet the King at -3.5, but don't bet the house.  We would never recommend going all in on Sacramento.    

The 'Degens' 🤪

Obscure games you didn’t even know you wanted to bet on.  The ESPN "The Ocho" of sports betting.  

If you couldn't get enough basketball in the US, there are actually many leagues around the world you can bet on.  The National Basketball League, Australia's flagship league, is one of those.

Check it out.  We ourselves made some coin betting on the Perth Wildcats.  Perhaps you'll have similar luck.

The WOATs (Worst of all Time) 🤬

The worst stories in sports gambling brought to you for your schadenfreude pleasure.  

This was just too good not to include.

One of the worst feelings ever from r/sportsbetting

All props to reddit user u/skolgang for that goodness.

We must say, these parlays are really ambitious.

Let's take another look at those games:

Ugh, we had the Dubs at home too.  Who knew Lebron would have his troops ready to destroy?  

I guess he wasn't going to let another 18 point comeback happen again.  On to the next bet.

Want more frequent newsletters, more info and access to top sports bettors that actually win?  We've also added daily sports insights on where the sharps are betting (usually a $200 a month value) - for just $10 a month.  

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