Daily Sports Betting Preview 4/14/2020: Horse Betting and Table Tennis

• The Will Rogers Downs hosts multiple horse races today, with a head to head twist.
• In Race 6, Woods of Congaree is a -280 favorite over Poppy’s Oats at +220.
• The Ukrainian Setka Cup brings a lot of table tennis action to the betting slate today.

TULSA, Okla. - The Daily Sports Betting Preview is back, with two more sports betting events that are sure to fill up the betting slate for today.

First, in Oklahoma, the Will Rogers Downs horse racing track plays host to several horse race betting matchups. These matchups aren’t like the normal horse races, as they are head to head.

Then, in Ukraine, the Setka Cup brings a ton of table tennis betting action to today’s betting slate at many online sportsbooks, with games going on all day.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

Will Rogers Downs Horse Betting Preview

Today’s edition of the Preview has stumbled upon something that has not been covered on it before - head to head horse race betting.

These are just like normal horse races, except there are only two participants, making the odds a lot more clean.

This means that these are great opportunities for a new bettor to get involved in the horse betting world - there are no complex racing events happening, just head to head picking winners. This can be a lot easier to understand than wager types like trifectas and superfectas.

Of course, picking winners is still quite a difficult task and has a lot of skill and luck involved in it, as does any sports betting endeavor.

As an example, consider Race 4 from today’s races. Race 4 pits Abstract Painter against Concrete Finisher. What makes this race stand out is that the horses involved seem to be of equal quality.

Both Abstract Painter and Concrete Finisher have the same odds to win their head to head race at -115. This is literally a pick ‘em, but in head to head horse racing.

For a slightly more lopsided matchup, consider Race 6. In Race 6, Woods of Congaree takes on Poppy’s Oats.

Woods of Congaree is a massive favorite in this race, with -280 odds to win, while Poppy’s Oats clocks in as a significant underdog, with +220 odds to win.

The Will Rogers Downs’ head to head matchups should provide a fun and entertaining introduction to horse betting for those that are new to it, and some good variety for those that are veterans.

Setka Cup Betting

Ukraine’s Setka Cup is set for today, and brings an astounding amount of betting volume to the table as far as a table tennis betting event goes.

The Setka Cup today features matches that run through nearly the entire American workday, starting at around 9:25 a.m. EST and running through at least 3:25 p.m. EST.

One thing to keep in mind about head to head table tennis is that there are rarely enormous favorites. The largest favorite in the field today has -300 odds, the second largest has -206 odds, and the third-largest has -200 odds.

Those are some of the most interesting games, however, so the Preview will examine them in some detail.

The third-largest favorite of the day is Konstantin Kirsanov, who is favored at -200 to defeat Oleksandr Borodachev. This is Kirsanov’s only match today and he enters as one of the heaviest favorites in the entire day’s run of play.

The favorite barely that edges him out is Vladislav Litvinov, who has -206 odds to defeat Andrey Peretyatko. Litvinov has a huge edge over Peretyatko but only represents the second-largest favorite in the field.

The largest favorite in the field is Maksim Marchuk, in his match against Vladislav Litvinov. Marchuk is a gigantic favorite in terms of table tennis with -300 odds to win compared to Litvinov’s +240.

Marchuk plays multiple matches today and in none of them is he as favored as he is in his match against Litvinov.

This is a notably odd occurrence since Litvinov himself is the man with the second shortest odds in an individual match in this entire field.

One explanation is that they are benefitting from good matchups against their opponents, or that their opponents in the other matches are notably stronger.

However, it is also possible that the sportsbooks are missing something. If the COVID-19 quarantine has generated any experts on table tennis, this could be something to look into.