You’ve probably never done it; placed a bet on a golf tournament. Sure there was the time you and your buddies played that skins game and you lost your shirt – but that’s not what I’m talking about my friend. Wagering on the Professional Golf Association’s events offers smart gamblers a good chance to make some very nice returns, if they pay attention to the latest golf betting odds.

People bet on almost any sport out there, but still, some folks are hesitant to plunk down their hard-earned money on a sport that can be decided by a bad patch of grass, a strong gust of wind, or a messy divorce with a Swedish Supermodel. Golf is an extremely mentally focused sport and therefore can be a difficult problem for both oddsmakers and bettors to evaluate the risk and actual probability of any given outcome.

Take the latest Golf odds on the Masters Tournament for 2013. Tiger Woods remains the heavy favorite with 4 to 1 odds to win. Now this is a guy that is not even near the same level of play mentally he was at when he won his last Green Jacket back in 2005. Tiger’s name recognition clearly play a big part in this line and this is the factor that creates a good chance that smart money can win big. You have to pick carefully though and do your research.

My sources are saying the following – Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen, the 2012 playoff participants, look good at 30-to-1, as does Graeme McDowell at 50-to-1. These are by no means locks, but as always the rewards in life go to those willing to take risks.

The Masters is one of the biggest opportunities to make money betting on Golf – not to mention an entertaining event to watch. This years event is from April 11-14, 2013 as always at the historic Augusta National Golf Club, in Augusta, Ga. For more information check out the official Masters Tournament website.

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You’ve checked the injury reports, combed through the statistics, even studied the weather forecast – now you’re ready to place your wager. You may be making a huge mistake. What’s the one thing you’re forgetting? Checking the Vegas Odds On Sports.

Let’s say your betting on the NFL. The fact is, Vegas Odds on Football change from minute to minute and can make a huge impact on your payouts if you don’t know the latest line. If you haven’t got the latest information, you may as well just go an play the lottery at your local convenience store.

Because of the lockout, Vegas Odds on Basketball will be incredibly important to check once the season begins. Players that spent the time off working out and those that spent it as a time to party will greatly affect the performance of their respecitve teams. How will you as on outsider know the impact his will have? I’ll tell you this, your local bookie isn’t going to give you any insights. The fact is that you have to check the Vegas odds. I know this sounds like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many people fail to take it to heart when it’s time to lay down a wager.

This week, Businessweek gives us a fascinating look inside a London-based sports bettting hedge fund. I highly recommend reading the entire article.

The Galileo Managed Sports Fund, which launched in April under the umbrella of the nine-year-old Centaur Group, is the world’s first sports-betting hedge fund. The idea has been knocking around for a while. Six years ago, Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the National Basketball Assn.’s Dallas Mavericks, proposed a similar fund, only to see his idea crash on the shoals of American prohibitionism. While the NBA forbids anyone involved with the league from betting on its games, there was a larger problem: Outside of Nevada, Delaware, and Oregon, betting on sports is largely illegal.

There are some interesting comments from a technical perspective over on Hacker News and there is a nice writeup of the financial dimensions at Hedge Fund Lounge.