Cappers Drinking the Juice – December 29

Sports Hub’s Computer Picks and our Free Picks were drinking the juice last night as they put up win after win. When we check out the leaderboard later on, you’ll see that our SportsHub cappers came through once again. Yes, they gave up some juice, but our top-5 raked in over $2000 yesterday.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “juice,” don’t worry. Here at Sports Hub, we make sure that you understand betting terminology and concepts. You don’t want to get caught in a conversation with your buddies and feel like they are speaking a foreign language. Plus, you don’t want to make any betting decisions without fully understanding what it is you are doing.

What Is Juice?

Put simply, juice in sports betting is the commission that a sportsbook makes for taking a bet. Juice also has other nicknames like vig, which is short for vigorish, rake, cut, and take. All of these terms refer to the part of a bet that sportsbooks take. This is how the books make money and stay in business.

A sportsbook’s primary goal is not to have a vested interest on either side of a bet. Instead, the main goal is to bring in an equal amount of action on both sides. This is especially true of point spread bets and totals bets. You can see the juice in the odds. Let’s look at an example.

This Saturday, Detroit travels to Dallas to play the only NFL game that day. The Cowboys are a 5.5-point favorite at your sportsbook, the bet might look like this.

• Detroit Lions +5.5 (-110)
• Dallas Cowboys -5.5 (-110)

The 5.5 is the line, or spread. The number in parentheses (-110) is the odds, or price that you will pay in order to make the bet. The odds also determine the amount of your payout. In most point spread bets, the most common odds are -110. This is also the most common juice amount.

On every $110 wager, a sportsbook will keep $110 from each loser and pays out $100 to every winner. The sportsbook is keeping $10 and paying out $100. That $10 is the juice. 

Scott’s Picks Got Some Great Juice

Scott’s Picks was our overall leader on the board yesterday winning seven of eight picks. He won all four of his NBA picks. Three of them came in with juice less than -110. He had the Heat and Spurs at -105 and the Pacers at -106. Remember, the juice determines how much you must wager in order to make $100. Instead of a $110 wager, the juice in these cases allowed Scott’s Picks to wager just $105 and $106. That’s savings.

Our Computer Picks made 22 picks. Of the 22 picks, 20 had the standard juice of -110. The other two picks were at even money. That means you wager $100 and you win $100. Now that you thoroughly understand juice, let’s see how much these cappers won yesterday.

Here’s yesterday’s leaderboard.

• Big winner: As mentioned, Scott’s Picks went 7-1 yesterday. His total payout was $590, which was the most of all our cappers yesterday. Over the last three days, Scott’s Picks are 12-5 and have earned $689.
• Computer Picks back in the mix: Our Computer Picks are only released when there is at least a two-point difference between the actual betting line and our computer-generated line. Yesterday, that resulted in 22 picks. CP went 14-8 and ended up with $530 in winnings.
• Free Picks & Robert: Next on the board, we had two of our own experts go 4-0 and win $400. Robert Ferguson is a Sports Hub expert who made four football picks yesterday – all at standard -110 juice – and won them all. Right with him was our Sports Hub Free Picks. Who doesn’t love free picks? Especially when they are up $768 for the week and $1296 for the month. There is a free NFL pick in the system already for this weekend. Check it out.
• Big Tonny: Tonny Ricci is another Sports Hub expert who has been here before. After going 4-0 yesterday, Tonny followed that up with a 3-0 performance to win $300. He made three college basketball bets all at standard juice. Over the last three days, Tonny is 8-1 and has won $740. He has two picks in the system for today.

The Browns Roll and the Pistons Roll Over

The Cleveland Browns jumped out to a big early lead and crushed the New York Jets 37-20 in last night’s Thursday night football game. QB Joe Flacco did it again and with the win, the Browns qualified for the AFC playoffs.

The Pistons and playoffs should not be used in the same sentence this season. Detroit went to Boston and forced the best team in the NBA to overtime. Then, in true Pistons fashion, they went on to lose 128-122.

The Browns and Pistons are among trending news.

• Browns clinch: Flacco went 19-of-29 for 309 yards and three touchdowns to lead Cleveland to its third 30-point-plus performance in the last four games. The Browns are now 11-5 and own the top wild card spot – the No. 5 seed – in the AFC.

• Yep, Pistons lose again: Detroit’s overtime loss to Boston allowed the Pistons to tie the NBA record for the most consecutive losses at 28. To make matters worse, Detroit was up by 21 points at one time last night. The Pistons are off tonight and then will take on Toronto at home on Saturday. A 29th straight loss would set a new NBA record for futility.
• Joker’s wild: Denver’s Nikola Jokic pulled off a rare feat last night in the Nuggets 142-105 win over Memphis. Jokic had a triple-double with 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists. What made this triple-double unique was that Jokic hit every single one of his shots. He went 11-for-11 from the floor, 1-for-1 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. It’s the third time Jokic has completed the perfect triple-double. That ties Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain. It was also Jokic’s 116th career triple-double.

Last Friday of the Year Schedule

It’s hard to believe, but it’s the last Friday of 2023. We have a nice schedule on tap today. There are more bowl games as we head into a weekend full of football action. We can get a little appetizer today with four more college bowl games. The NBA and NHL are in action as is college football and even tennis is back in the mix.

Let’s take a look at today’s schedule.

• Bowl mania: Four more bowl games for college football fans today. We’ll kick off the day with No. 22 Clemson playing Kentucky in the Gator Bowl. No. 19 Oregon State faces No. 16 Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl, which brings up some college football bowl trivia. Read about it later. Memphis and Iowa State meet in the Liberty Bowl and we finish off the day with No. 9 Missouri and No. Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Consult our college football bowl picks for assistance with today’s games. 
• NBA: There are 10 games tonight on the hardwood. The Pistons are off, so they can’t lose tonight. Last night, the juice on the Pistons moneyline was +870. 
• NHL: There are nine games on the NHL schedule tonight. The red-hot Rangers, who have the most wins (24) in the NHL, are playing at Columbus tonight.

• College basketball: Friday is typically not a huge college basketball day, but today there are several dozen games on tap. No. 1 Purdue plays and a total of nine AP Top 25 ranked teams are in action tonight. 
• Soccer: Serie A is the only elite professional soccer league with matches today. The English League Championship, English League One and English League Two continue today. Check our database for soccer picks. 
• Tennis: After a nice break, men’s and women’s tennis is back. Both are playing right now in the Brisbane International in Australia and the ASB Classic in New Zealand. 

There are enough choices on the betting board to have a great Friday. Now that you completely understand juice, you can pick your bets wisely and earn some major profits. Don’t forget to consult with your favorite Sports Hub handicappers before making your bets today. 

If you’re not a Sports Hub member, join now and gain access to all of our outstanding cappers. Your bankroll will thank you. We’ll be here tomorrow to do this all again as we head into the final weekend of the year.

Oh, how about our college football bowl trivia? So, one of the games today is the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. It is the only bowl game that is not televised by the ESPN network of stations. The Sun Bowl can be watched on CBS, where it has been since it started in 1935. Fun fact No. 2…the Sun Bowl is the second-oldest bowl game behind the Rose Bowl.