Phillies at 1,000-1!

If you follow me on this blog or anywhere else you’ll know that I’m a Yankees fan and like to bet on sports. I’m also a Jets fan, but that’s not important right now.

Even though I live in Las Vegas I’m not a professional gambler. Nor do I want to be a professional gambler. I’m asked whether I am or not on twitter much more than I should be on twitter.

I had friends in town from the east coast this weekend and after showing them around downtown Vegas on Saturday we watched football on the strip at Planet Hollywood where they were staying. We love Blondies and had to try Flavor Flav’s fried chicken. (See thoughts on Flav’s chicken at Vegas Chatter.)

While I’m not a professional gambler I’m a little more educated on ~~gambling~~ gaming than your average Joe. I’ve been writing about and researching gaming for a few years. I’d like to think I’ve learned something over that time. Still, I gamble for fun…not for a pay check. Of course I want to win, but that’s not going to happen all the time.

Baseball is my favorite sport so I think I know “value” when I see it. While cashing a football ticket at Planet Hollywood my friend saw the Phillies at 1,000-1 odds to win the World Series. He and another friend dropped a $20 on that bet. Hey, it pays $20,000 if they win. Why not?

I took a few minutes before doing anything on my own. The Phillies were 6 games out of a playoff spot but had a game in hand on the Brewers who were only 500-1. Both teams were .5 games aparts by record and Phillies have a better pitching staff while the Brewers have better hitting. If they’re equal on so many levels why are the Brewers offered at half the price? I see the value on the Phillies relative to the Brewers and other long shots.

The playoffs are about pitching, so if the Phillies remain the hot team and somehow make it to the playoffs they have a better chance to advance than the Brewers, if they even make it. Momentum is great in the playoffs. Dropping $20 on the Phillies sounds like a more interesting spend of $20 than playing 6/5 Bonus Poker at the bar.

After contemplating their current record and future schedule I ran to the sportsbook at Planet Hollywood. My friends big bets didn’t move the odds yet (I’m half joking) so I decided to join them with a $20 bet on the Phillies to win the World Series.

I know this isn’t a large bet, but for me it’s an S&G (shits n giggles) bet that has a pretty sweet payout of $20,000. There’s definitely some value in that 1,000-1 number compared to the other long shots and this will make the last couple weeks of the baseball season worth watching a little more.

In fact, tonight I went a little crazy with baseball. I was flipping between the MLB app, MLB TV and the Fox Sports to check on the following games.

Marlins at Phillies
Cardinals at Padres
Pirates at Reds
Braves at Brewers

It was a pretty intense situation tonight and everything fell right on the first night having this bet in place.

Gambling isn’t always about the money at stake for me, it’s about the win. I like to win. While the risk of here is small, the payoff is huge. I don’t need betting on baseball to keep me interested in the game while footballseason kicks off, but it certainly doesn’t hurt!

This will be fun regardless if I win $20k or lose $20. For the next few weeks,

#GoYanks!
#GoPhils!

…also #GoJets while we’re at it.