Wagering on Rio: Your Guide to Vegas' Wrestling Odds

Gambling on sports, whether with gentlemen's bets between friends, or with cash money plonked down at properly licensed and fully legal sports books, almost

Aug 12, 2016 by Andrew Spey

Wagering on Rio: Your Guide to Vegas' Wrestling Odds

Gambling on sports, whether with gentlemen's bets between friends, or with cash money plonked down at properly licensed and fully legal sports books, almost always enhances the spectating experience, and the Summer Games of the 31st Olympiad are no exception. There's just no simpler way to leverage your sports enjoyment than a well placed wager.

To assist everyone in ratcheting up their Rio watching experience, I've scoured the web for the the best odds available for the Greco-Roman, Men's Freestyle and Women's Freestyle tournaments. Below you'll find at least one amateur punter's pick for each day of competition.

But first a couple quick caveats. Many of the sports books I found had odds for wrestlers who will not be competing at Rio. I'm guessing the books just pulled the names and results from the 2015 World Championships and never bothered to double check the Rio entries. So don't be surprised if all bets get voided as a result.

Second, as I mentioned, I am a rank amateur. If you suffer pecuniary hardship as a result of my advice, well, bettor beware and so forth. However, if you do realize any windfall profits, I would appreciate a taste. I'm not greedy, mind you, just enough to wet my beak is all.

With that out of the way, here's how I'd spend my 100 betting units on the 2016 Olympic wrestling tournaments.

Day 1
Sunday, August 14th
Greco-Roman 59kg & 75kg

The Wager: 75kg Kim Hyeon-woo KOR for gold
The Book: sportsbook.ag
The Odds: +700

75 kilos is a crazy field, where upsets occur so regularly that they are becoming increasingly difficult to recognize. Russia's Roman Vlasov is still the favorite but he is far from unbeatable, and South Korea's Kim is as talented as anyone else in the weight class. He scored a gold in the last quadrennial, and +700 offers a solid value. Additionally, if you're looking for another longshot payout, America's own Andy Bisek is listed at +950, and may be worth a flyer.

The Bet: 5 units

Day 2
Monday, August 15th
Greco-Roman 85kg & 130kg

The Wager: 130kg Riza Kayaalp TUR for gold
The Book: pinnacle.com
The Odds: +280

Besides being the best member of the Wu-Tang Clan (after Ghostface and Raekwon), the Riza is the defending 130 kilogram greco-roman champion. At +280, the implied probability of the Turkish giant winning gold is a mere 26%. Too low to pass up, even if the favorite, Cuban Mijain Lopez, will be there and will be on a mission for a 3rd consecutive Olympic yellow medal.

The Bet: 5 units

Day 3
Tuesday, August 16th
Greco-Roman 66kg & 98kg

The Wager: 98kg Artur Aleksanyan ARM for gold
The Book: sportsbook.com.au
The Odds +120

The only man to beat Aleksanyan the Armenian in this last Olympic cycle is Russia's Nikita Melnikov, who will be sitting out competition in Rio in favor of Islam Magomedov. With that obstacle out of his way, I have the living, breathing, He-Man action figure that is Artur as the favorite, and +120 is a great line on which to pounce. By the way, anyone looking for The Lean Mean Dancing Machine, AKA Azerbaijan's Rasul Chunayev, is out of luck. He wrestled 71kg at the last world championship and is thus nowhere to be found in the sports books.

The Bet: 15 units

Day 4
Wednesday, August 17th
Women's Freestyle 48kg, 58kg & 69kg

The Wager: 58kg Petra Olli FIN for gold
The Book: pinnacle.com
The Odds: +405

Petra Olli is, determined, delightful and tough as nails. Standing in her quest for glory is the formidable, Kairo Icho, of Japan, a 13X world champ (THIRTEEN!?!). But none of that matters because this Finnish pugilist has me enthralled and I will be wagering on her regardless. Also, Icho lost at the Yarygin Tournament last January, so she is not totally invincible.

The Bet: 5 units

Day 5
Thursday, August 18th
Women's Freestyle 53kg, 63kg & 75kg

The Wager: 75kg Adeline Gray USA for gold
The Book: sportsbook.com.au
The Odds: +125

It's Gray all day as these foolish touts are practically begging us to take their money. Furthermore, if you are so inclined, sportsbook.ag has the field against Gray at +160, so feel free to bet the max on both those lines and harvest that sweet sweet arbitrage money. Or just bet on Adeline because she is going to win. Also of note, there are no lines on fellow American Helen Maroulis, as she wrestled up at 55kg at the last World Championship.

The Bet: 20 units

Day 6
Friday, August 19th
Men's Freestyle 57kg & 74kg

The Wager: 57kg Viktor Lebedev RUS for gold
The Book: 5dimes.eu
The Odds: +595

This is the villain play. The Shameful Lebedev is the biggest heel in wrestling right now, and if you appreciate all that is good and decent in sports, you should root for him to lose. That is why I am betting on him, so if he does somehow win (probably by cheating [allegedly]), I will at least get something out of it.

The Bet: 5 units

The Wager: 74kg Jordan Ernest Burroughs USA the field against him for gold
The Book: pinnacle.com
The Odds: -116

This is the hero play. The Virtuous Burroughs is one of the greatest champions of wrestling right now, and if you appreciate all that is good and decent in sports, you should root for him to win. That is why I am betting against him, so if in the lamentable event that he does lose, I will at least get something out of it.

The Bet: 5 units

Day 7
Saturday, August 20th
Men's Freestyle 86kg & 125kg

The Wager: 86kg Abdulrashid Sadulaev RUS for gold
The Book: sportsbook.com.au
The Odds: -175

The Russian Tank Sadulaev is a one man wrecking crew, demolishing everyone he's sunk his tenacious under and over hooks into over the last two and a half years. We should be expecting a Dan Gable 1972 like performance. The Saj Man is as big of a lock as you'll see at the Games, and -175 is a pretty good value that you would be wise to scoop up.

The Bet: 20 units

The Wager: 125kg Geno Petriashvili GEO for gold
The Book: 5dimes.eu
The Odds: +467

Geno the Georgian will not be the favorite at heavyweight (that would be Taha Akgul of Turkey, whose best odds of -110 can be found at sportsbook.com.au), but he is just 22 and already has 2 world bronze medals, racking up numerous elite wins along the way. Geno911 is worth taking at this price.

The Bet: 10 units

Day 8
Sunday, August 21st
Men's Freestyle 66kg & 97kg

The Wager: 65kg Toghrul Asgarov AZE for gold
The Book: 5dimes.eu
The Odds: +900

Asgarov the Azeri won gold in London at 60kg at a mere 20 years of age, so he is still young enough to make another run at Olympic gold in Rio at 65kg. Unfortunately for Asgarov, there are about a dozen legit gold medal threats in this wide open weight class. Fortunately for you, +900 is quite a handsome payoff for a gold medal contender.

The Bet: 5 units

The Wager: 97kg Khetag Gazyumov AZE for gold
The Book: 5dimes.eu
The Odds: +450

Like the rest of America, I'll be rooting for the young warrior Kyle Snyder to take home the gold. But if it's not Snyderman, I hope the ageless wonder fighting out of Azerbaijan takes the top prize. Gazyumov took home bronze at the last two Olympics, and one has to assume this will be his last cycle. At the ultimate wrestling tournament of the Olympics, I like the Gaz Man at these odds.

The Bet: 5 units

That concludes our Olympic wagering run down. Did I miss any good wagers? Let me know! Good luck and enjoy the wrestling!