It has been 30 days, and finally Preakness betting fans also following the NBA, can watch the Conference finals. For the first time in roughly three years, the four remaining teams in the NBA sports betting finals have an opportunity to wipe the label of middle of the pack from their resumes. Here is our prediction for which two teams will move on from the Conference finals to battle it out for the NBA title.

The NBA Conference finals are already underway, with the Chicago Bulls up one game to nothing over the Miami Heat. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks will renew acquaintances tonight for game one in Dallas. On paper, the Mavericks should be able to crush the Thunder, since they have been resting for the last week, while Oklahoma City has just finished up a grueling seven game series with the Memphis Grizzlies.

In the Eastern Conference, already up one game to nothing, the Chicago Bulls appear poised and ready to return to the NBA finals for the first time in 13 years. Meanwhile, the new look Heat is aiming for their second NBA finals appearance since 2006, when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks for the NBA title.

As breeders cup betting sports fans, we are all about dream finals, and for many people, they would like to see the Dallas Mavericks take on Miami in the finals. However, a Dallas verses Chicago final wouldn’t be too bad either. But what about the Oklahoma City Thunder? Are they simply a stepping stone for the Mavericks to return to the NBA finals?

In our opinion, the Oklahoma City Thunder should be able to get over the hump this year and into the NBA final. They will face the Chicago Bulls, similar to the Seattle Supersonics (OKC before location change) from 1996 – 1997 seasons. Only this time, with Kendrick Perkins at center, the Thunder should be able to win the franchise’s first NBA title since being in Seattle in 1979.

For all of the talk about how the Boston Celtics are not prepared to go on a second consecutive run to the NBA finals with a veteran team that has struggled down the stretch, perhaps somebody should take a quick look back at what happened to last year’s team. The Celtics went .500 over the final couple of months of the season behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic in the Eastern conference standings, but came alive to push the Los Angeles Lakers to seven games before conceding the NBA championship in the finals. The pressure will be on the Lakers to three-peat, but it won’t happen after the improvements that Boston has made.

Gone is Kendrick Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder. In his place is Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal, Jeff Green, and Nenad Krstic. As much as Perkins was a key contributor to that Celtics’ team, the presence of both O’Neal centers as well as Krstic provides more experience and depth, and simple math outlines it as three big bodies compared to one. Kevin Garnett returns as focused and determined as he has ever been, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis has made strides in his game off the bench. The star guard tandem in Boston has become a star trio with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo all capable of handling the rock with the game on the line, and with Green to help provide that extra spark off the bench the Celtics are scary. The Lakers haven’t done enough to match the improvements that Boston has made, and after watching the Celtics push Los Angeles to seven games a year ago, this has to be their sports betting year to win it all.

The North Carolina Tar Heels were one of the hottest teams in the country to close out regular season play, and after failing in their chance to take down the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils in the ACC title game, they should have plenty of motivation to get back to the Final Four. Head coach Roy Williams has been there before, and there is no doubt that he feels this crop of players can get him back to the Final Four. Surviving the tough East region won’t be easy, especially with the top overall seed in the Ohio State Buckeyes, but the Tar Heels are confident they can get the sports betting job done.

They could very well get that rematch against the Blue Devils in the Final Four, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pittsburgh Panthers make sure that half of the March Madness betting teams that make it through the Elite Eight are top seeds. The final spot will be up for grabs however, as a Kansas Jayhawks’ team that was hardly pushed in the big 12 gets a taste of what it’s like to take on some of the best in the country. The team to look for to come out of the Southwest region is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, which finally cooled off with an 83-77 overtime loss to the Louisville Cardinals in the second round of the Big East semi finals. You’ll never see a betonline.com scam – Notre Dame looked absolutely dynamite at times this year, nearly closing the gap between them and the Pittsburgh Panthers for the top spot in the Big East at the end of the year with one of the best second-half’s in the nation, and will look to continue that momentum once the Madness begins.

While the names may not be as big as in past events, UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch will feature plenty of action when the lights go down at this year’s sell-out Pay Per View. The Ultimate Fighting Championships return to Sydney, Australia for the second time, where the UFC Betting fans are as intense as any in the world, and won’t hesitate to let the sports betting promotion know if they aren’t satisfied with the show they watch. That won’t be a problem for this card, as former lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn and the reckless Jon Fitch headline a group of 10 absolute battlers.

Fitch has now won five straight fights since falling to current Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre with the title on the line back in August of 2008. All five victories have been decided by the judges, including his last win over Thiago Alves at UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen. The No. 2-ranked welterweight in the world will face another tough task against Penn, who has lost two of his past three bouts but both against Frankie Edgar with the UFC Lightweight championship on the line. Penn was once considered the best in the world at the welterweight and lightweight levels, holding both belts simultaneously, but will need to prove that he can still handle some of the best in the sports book promo business. The card will also feature other names such as Michael Bisping, and hometown favorite George Sotiropolous.

Throughout the long illustrious history of sports betting fans and gamblers alike have been witness to some of the greatest rivalries both team and individually. For the online betting enthusiast who likes to wager a little bit extra when a rivalry game takes place, here are three rivalries you should consider.

1.     Manny Pacquiao v Floyd Mayweather Jr. – Perhaps the best rivalry of the decade, Pacquiao and Mayweather have not actually faced each other. Over the last few years, both boxers have established themselves as the best in the world. The question fans of both fighters and boxing fans in general wonder is who exactly is the best fighter in the world?

From what we can tell, Manny Pacquiao in recent time has taken on much tougher opponents, but Mayweather has a fiercer repertoire. Never the less, when this fight does eventually happen, it may go down as the biggest draw in boxing history. The two fighter’s average 1 million paper view buys for their individual fights, but when they meet up expect that number to triple.

2.      Montreal Canadiens v Toronto Maple Leafs – The rivalry that made hockey Canada’s game, Montreal and Toronto have hated each other since the 1930s. Initially when there were only six teams in the NHL, Montreal and Toronto was the main divide in Canada. The French Canadiens loved Montreal while the English speaking Canadiens followed the Leafs.

Overall, Montreal is the better team as it has won the most Stanley Cups in league history, while Toronto has been plagued without a Stanley Cup for several decades. In recent time, the Leafs have struggled mightily while Montreal had its dream run almost come to fruition during the 2009-2010 season.

3.     Duke Blue Devils v North Carolina Tar Heels – The ACC NCAA basketball division has long been considered a two horse conference. While the other schools in the conference are coming around, the two schools to dominate the ACC since it was established are Duke and North Carolina. Add the fact these schools are located in the same state and only differ by one championship, and you have one if not the best rivalry in sports.

When it comes to sports wagering sites, it is important to shop around as opposed to settling right away. While most sports betting patrons settle on an elite sportsbook, there are some that look for newer shops to gamble with. If you think this is you, then look no further than BetEd sportsbook. They have been in the industry for just over seven years and have been providing a great overall experience to the casual bettor. For the bettor unfamiliar with BetEd here are a few things you need to know.

• Who Bets Here - BetEd is one of the best shops online for the casual bettor. They aren’t concerned with getting their lines out early, or giving you a low juice, yet when it comes to bonus structure and site usability they are quite good. Bettors, who spend time at BetEd, will instantly notice that they only need to use one method for both depositing and withdrawing, which long term makes the sportsbook quite appealing.

• Customer Service - Whether you design your sportsbook to cater to sharps or casual bettors, having competent and good customer service agents is always a positive. When it comes to BetEd, they base their operation out of Costa Rica. Once discovering this tidbit, you will instantly realize that you are getting quite good service, as the majority of elite level sportsbooks base themselves out of Costa Rica.

One of the biggest criticisms of BetEd is that their site crashed in 2009 and the clients tried to take advantage of the fact. Essentially, when BetEd was criticized the hardest by its clientele, was when they enforced their rules on patrons who thought that the customer should always be right. Aside from this, they are a fantastic sportsbook for casual bettors, and operate year round.

As a new bettor one your goals when betting on sports should be to find value. Value is defined as a deal that separates you from the rest of the crowd. Meaning to say when sports betting on your favorite team prior to a game, you could find a line that offers your team at a -105 instead of a -125. In this example you are finding value by risking 20 cents less for the same game.

When betting the underdog in sports, finding value is especially important. The biggest bet which allows you to find at least a little bit of value is on the money line. Here, bettors are asked to risk more for the team that is deemed as the favorite while getting back less. For an underdog, the roles are reversed and bettors are required to risk less to get back more.

For instance, you take a team at +280 over 10 games. Now if you realize that this underdog at +280 is likely to win 40 percent of their games, you would be finding value, because although they will likely lose 60 percent of the games, you can show a profit at the end of the day. To make this idea more clear, we would risk $100 to win $280, we’ll likely lose the $100 six out of the 10 times. However, with the four victories we should end up showing a profit of $280 by the end of the 10 games.

Value tends to come from rather high odds whether you are betting on the favorite or the underdog. When considering value, it is important to research other factors that may appear in the money line. Such as how well a pitcher plays against a certain team.