Moneylines, Point Spreads & Wednesday Free Pick 2/9/11

I often talk about the point spread being "a great equalizer." Teams can "back-door" into a win ATS -- or the game can just be closer-than-expected. Of course, many times, the underdog gets completely thrashed -- but I think of sports betting as a "numbers game" where you try and put the numbers and probabilities on your side.

Yesterday's pick, So. Ill +16, happened to be an outright winner -- and some back-of-the-envelope analysis has shown that the point spreads and moneyline odds are fairly efficient. That means that if you you want to diversify, you can sometimes split a small portion of your bet and do some moneyline action in addition to the point spread.

In today's sports activity, I like a play in the NHL: Phoenix Coyotes (visiting Dallas) at +130.