The Los Angeles Angels: a healthy team for the most part. Maicer Izturis is day-to-day with a thumb injury and Mike Napoli’s shoulder is still questionable, but that’s about it.

For the Milwaukee Brewers, Yovani Gallardo is still out following major knee surgery but don’t bet on him to make a return anytime soon.

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the mend with Chris Carpenter back and Adam Wainwright soon to follow. The Chicago Cubs have had pitching problems, but closer Kerry Wood is slated to make a return over the weekend. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Florida Marlins have also been plagued by injuries…and don’t even get me started on the New York Mets.

For a more complete look at all the MLB baseball injuries.

What is it about roulette that draws such a faithful following? It’s easy to learn and fun to bet.

“You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.” — Albert Einstein

In a nutshell, here’s how roulette works: A croupier first spins the roulette wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction. The ball eventually stops and lands on one of 37 (in European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. If you can correctly pick which number the ball will land on, you win. It’s that easy. Well…sort of. There are different types of bets when it comes to playing roulette. There are inside bets and outside bets. How you bet will determine how much money you win.

For more on how to play roulette (including lots of info on the essential roulette betting strategy and tactics), read this article.  

“Having UPS riding with us on Saturday is a tremendous honor, and we look forward to cheering on our horse in one of the greatest sporting events in the world,” said Richard Schiavo, co-president and CEO of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Inc., which owns IEAH Stables.

In most sportsbooks Big Brown is the 5/2 odds on favorite to win the Kentucky Derby.Horse racing expert Steve Davidowitz lists Big Brown as his top pick. Here’s what Davidowitz has to say about the UPS sponsored thoroughbred: “Undefeated, freakishly fast colt who won from post 12 in the Florida Derby has a history of hoof problems, but worked smoothly twice since that race at Palm Meadows training track. Chances were helped by War Pass going to the sidelines with small leg fracture.”

Unlike soccer, poker betting tactics are fairly straight forward.

With poker the rules are simple: You can either bet, check, fold, call or raise. But there are a few poker betting tactics that you may want to keep under your hat:

Re-raise: If someone else raises you but you’re confident that you’ve got a superior hand, you can re-raise your opponent to force him to place another bet.

Check-raise: Let’s say you have a great hand and you really want to clean up. That is to say, you want more than just one bet from your opponent. So you check, your opponent then bets, you then raise him. In this case he calls and if your hand is as good as you think it is, well it looks like you just pocketed two bets from one opponent. But if he checks or re-raises you because he think he has the better hand then it’s a different story.

Check-call: In this example let’s say you have a pretty good hand but your intuition tells you that he may have a better hand. In this case you can avoid raising and in instead check and call.

Ready to try your hand at online poker? Here are a few reputable online poker rooms: Bodog Poker, Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker.

Seems the Patriots aren’t so perfect after all…not since Patriots QB Tom Brady has been spotted hobbling around with cast on his leg. Actually, the rumor started with it being a leg cast, then it was updated to an ankle cast and now it’s a foot cast.

Big deal, right? Wrong. Most Vegas boards opened with the Patriots as 13 1/2 point favorites but by Tuesday afternoon the line had dropped to 12 points. Now, one reason could be the sudden support for the Giants…but another reason (and it’s one that I’m leaning towards) could have something to do with the Tom Brady injury rumor.

Scare tactic, bet tactic…or the real deal? Whatever the case may be you can be sure that any type of story will only bring more bettors to throw down some money on Super Bowl XLII.

Ever wonder who places their Super Bowl bets early?

“The early wagers are from the professionals,” said Ken White, chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sports Consultants. “The line is overinflated, due to the success of the New England Patriots this season.

“The general public will not wager until a couple of days before the game, which represents 80% of the money,” White added. “Look for the line to go back up to 13 or higher.”