Betting Picks

The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Saturday afternoon from Belmont Park in New York is expected to live up to its name, with a field of multiple graded-stakes winners going 1 1/2 miles chasing a purse of $500,000. You could make a case for several of the eight starters to get the win, making the Joe Hirsch a real handicapping challenge.

A host of familiar names will be going to the gate on Saturday at Belmont Park for the (G1) Jockey Club Gold Cup, where the race winner will get an automatic berth into the 2018 Breeders' Cup Classic on November 3. Eight are expected to take to the Belmont track to race the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles on the dirt and a $750,000 total purse.

Time for another round of gridiron action at the highest level. If we've been paying attention to the NFL football (and I have) the first three weeks, we should be looking for teams in Week 4 (and I am) that pass the eyeball test. Here are the teams I'll be playing simply because they look good and/or Vegas and the betting public are overlooking them..

The Los Angeles Lakers were viewed as a team in the middle of a growing process last season. That all changed with the addition of one of the greatest NBA players of all time — and so did the league's betting future odds. L.A. inked LeBron James to a four-year, $154-million contract in July. It altered the Lakers and the balance of power in the Western Conference with one signature.

NHL preseason games are a completely different animal than their regular-season cousins. It's more about auditioning talent than it is about the wins and losses, so wagering on preseason hockey isn't an exact science. But these are still trained professional athletes who've been conditoned to seek out victory their entire careers, so if you pay attention to who's in the lineup, there's money to be made.

Talk about a puzzling betting line on the Ryder Cup. The United States have not won on foreign soil in more than 20 years, and yet they are the overwhelming favorites to defend their title in this year’s event. Tiger Woods and his 11 teammates tee off early Friday in the crown jewel of golf’s team format. The 42nd clash between the Europeans and the Americans is a three-day event held on Sept. 28-30 at Le Golf National, located southwest of Paris, France.

While it's certainly a more difficult path to the Super Bowl, six teams have managed to win it all despite entering the playoffs as a Wild Card. Each year, there are four Wild Card sports up for grabs and picking which fringe team will reach the playoffs can be a beneficial prop bet.

When handicappers set out to establish the odds on a Major League Baseball game, the first item that they take into consideration are the opposing starting pitchers. No two players in a baseball game will have a more profound impact on the outcome of the game than these two fellows, and that impact can be either positive or negative. Items including past performances, pitching styles and matchups will be analyzed.

Houston Dynamo take on Philadelphia Union at the BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston in the final of the 105th U.S. Open Cup. Both sides are evenly matched, so before you place a bet, read our expert preview of what should be a thrilling soccer match.