World Series Archives

Vegas Dave Wins $2.5 Million Payout on the World Series

Here are more details on Vegas Dave and the $2.5 Million he won on the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series.

Over the weekend I tweeted about my surprise that I was only just hearing about this now. News like this usually travels more quickly. Now there’s some publicly released information on the wager(s) and Vegas Dave.

Dave Oancea, aka “Vegas Dave,” one of the most aggressive and successful future sports bettors in the gambling world, and World Series champions the Kansas City Royals.

“Vegas Dave” won a historic $2.5M payout – the largest future bet in the history of sports betting when the Kansas City Royals won last night’s World Series.

He placed his bet in week one when the odds were 30 to 1 and bet it all the way down to 8-1 (the Royals haven’t won a World Series in 30 years). Declining several opportunities to cash out and make a guaranteed $750,000, Vegas Dave showed his faith in the team by letting the bet ride. See all of his tickets here.

Vegas Dave’s passionate, no-nonsense approach, along with actual postings of his tickets on his website validate his credibility as one of the most successful sports bettors of his time. His winnings have even prompted The Westgate casino to change their policy on accepting his bets, which will change the way casinos do sports betting (no longer accepting such extreme odds or allowing repeat bets). He plans to give back to his community by donating turkeys and toys to underprivileged Las Vegas residents during the holiday season.

I wasn’t familiar with Vegas Dave until this weekend so this section of the press release was useful.

About Dave Oancea

Dave Oancea, better known as “Vegas Dave” started his gambling career in Las Vegas 15 years ago after moving from Honolulu, Hawaii in pursuit of “making it big” in Sin City. After years of weathering major wins, devastating losses and even a two-month stint in Gamblers Anonymous, Dave eventually learned the discipline needed to stay successful as a professional gambler. Today, Dave is regarded as one of the elite sports handicappers of this era. He regularly wagers high stakes bets from $100,000-200,000 per week on sporting events. He also consults for approximately 2,500 people on their bets. With the financial freedom he’s achieved through his gambling career, Dave is truly living his dream in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas. For more information and to view Dave’s actual winnings, please visit itsvegasdave.com.

10 Best Days To Watch Sports In Las Vegas (2012)

This article from Forbes titled “10 Best Las Vegas Sports Events – And Where To Watch Them” may have been paid for by MGM Resorts as there are sportsbooks here that nobody will ever recommend and half the list is MGM properties. Additionally, the write ups seem forced or written by someone that doesn’t gamble or has been to Vegas in years. Besides the possibly fraud of a sportsbook Top 10 list the article it provides another list that is a little more realistic, The 10 Biggest Sporting Events Worth Going to Vegas For (in order):

1. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Opening Weekend (Days 1-4)
2. The Super Bowl
3. TIE: Kentucky Derby (General Public) & Breeders’ Cup (Horse Racing Devotees)
4. Any Big Boxing Title Fight
5. College Football Season Saturdays
6. New Year’s Day Bowl Games (especially when on weekend like this year)
7. Any Sunday in NFL Season
8. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four
9. Soccer World Cup (draws huge international crowds)
10. TIE: Indy 500/ NASCAR Daytona

There are only 2 things missing on this list and they are the NBA playoffs and BCS Championship Game. I’ve watched quite a few NBA playoff gams at the sportsbooks and there are definitely people betting and watching the games – no matter what round. I can’t say the same for any kind of auto racing. Showing that demand is high for the BCS Championship game, Wynn opened the Encore Theater this year for the final game in the college football season.

You could easily remove either auto racing event. Few sports bettors wager on auto racing and most people at the sportsbooks aren’t there to watch auto racing. In fact, there are days when auto races aren’t even on in sportsbooks. I understand that the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 are big fish in their pond, but their pond is small.

I was at the Mandalay Bay sportsbook when and they were airing a USA soccer friendly against Mexico and the place was going crazy. Even though the World Cup is only every four years, I can only imagine that sportsbooks will be swelling with people from all over the world. H0wever, if another event has to be pulled from this list to make room for the BCS Championship game it would be the World Cup.

As a baseball fan, its sad for me to think that the World Series doesn’t belong here, but I really don’t know what I’d remove from this list (besides racing) to add it.

To the list’s credit I’ve been told, multiple times this week, that the first weekend of March Madness is even crazier than the Super Bowl at the sportsbooks. I avoided the sportsbooks last year but I may peek in to see what the action is like. I’m experimenting on the strip with the Super Bowl, why not for the madness!

You know my favorite sportsbooks on the strip are Lagasse’s Stadium at Palazzo and the sportsbook at Venetian. If you want a book off the strip you know I love the sportsbook at Red Rock casino.

Note: I don’t have any idea if MGM paid for their sportsbooks to be featured, nor am I sure why I care. However, Forbe’s Top 10 list bothered me enough that I will provide a more accurate Top 10 sportsbooks in Vegas list later this week from someone that actually lives, vacations and gambles in Vegas sportsbooks.

Baseball Futures: World Series

Spring Training is here and it’s time for baseball! This is one of my favorite times of the year. Since I’m so stoked I think it’s time to look forward to the season with MLB futures odds. We’ll look at the futures from sportsbook.com from division winners and then to win the world series. As always, check sportsbook.com for exact odds as they change all the time.

I don’t like to make many futures bets, in part, because I don’t like to have my money tied up for almost an entire year. That being said I decided to make one baseball futures play this year and that’s all. I shared that with you yesterday with the NL Championship futures.

Besides the Brewers, my lone plays for the season is watching as many games as possible and playing in my one fantasy baseball. I don’t think much about the options beyond the favorites (Phillies and Red Sox) for the World Series and betting chalk bores me so I stay away. Click any team below to go to sportsbook.com for up to date odds.

World Series

Arizona Diamondbacks +10000
Atlanta Braves +2000
Baltimore Orioles +6000
Boston Red Sox +400
Chicago Cubs +3000
Chicago White Sox +2500
Cincinnati Reds +2500
Cleveland Indians +20000
Colorado Rockies +2500
Detroit Tigers +2500
Florida Marlins +3500
Houston Astros +10000
Kansas City Royals +20000
Los Angeles Angels +2500
Los Angeles Dodgers +3000
Milwaukee Brewers +3000
Minnesota Twins +2000
New York Mets +6000
New York Yankees +700
Oakland Athletics +5000
Philadelphia Phillies +200
Pittsburgh Pirates +20000
San Diego Padres +10000
San Francisco Giants +1500
Seattle Mariners +10000
St Louis Cardinals +1600
Tampa Bay Rays +2500
Texas Rangers +2000
Toronto Blue Jays +6000
Washington Nationals +10000

World Series Prop Bets

This is my favorite time of the year. The weather is getting warmer and baseball season is starting! The first game of the year is this Sunday. What better time to make World Series picks? I don’t tend to make picks at the beginning of the baseball season because the season is so long. After looking at the pre-season odds I may change my mind.

All odds are courtesy of sportsbook.com – where I do all of my online sports gambling.

Arizona Diamondbacks          +1500
Atlanta Braves             +3000
Baltimore Orioles         +8000
Boston Red Sox             +500
Chicago Cubs             +700
Chicago White Sox         +4000
Cincinnati Reds         +5000
Cleveland Indians         +1500
Colorado Rockies         +7500
Detroit Tigers             +2000
Florida Marlins         +3000
Houston Astros             +10000
Kansas City Royals         +8000
Los Angeles Angels         +1200
Los Angeles Dodgers         +1800
Milwaukee Brewers         +5000
Minnesota Twins         +3000
New York Mets             +700
New York Yankees         +350
Oakland Athletics         +4000
Philadelphia Phillies         +1500
Pittsburgh Pirates         +10000
San Diego Padres         +10000
San Francisco Giants         +3000
Seattle Mariners         +8000
St Louis Cardinals         +2500
Tampa Bay Rays             +1200
Texas Rangers             +10000
Toronto Blue Jays         +7500
Washington Nationals         +10000

Betting $100 returns the amount after the “+.” There are plenty of good returns available. The favorites such as the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox have a decent return.

There are good returns available for some of the teams that have an outside chance. Giants and Marlins seem to have great pitching staffs. The Tampa Bay Rays are 12-1 and last years champs, the Phillies, are 15-1.

All of this is making me reconsider not placing a few small bets before the season starts. If I decide to make any bets, I’ll update this post this weekend.

UPDATE: I’ve decided not to make any World Series bets. I need quicker gratification. I’ll look to the Masters instead.