Posted on 3/12/2008 10:09:12 PM

Entertainment Betting - American Idol's 12 Hopeful Idols

By Mike Rose

We got back to the grand scheme of things last night with the remaining 12 contestants vying to become the next American Idol. Last week, we hammered the books again as we correctly chose both men to leave (Luke Menard & Danny Noriega) and hit one of the two ladies to leave (Kady Malloy). The dismissal of Asia’h Epperson came as a bit of a surprise since I felt Kristy Lee Cook or Ramiele Malubay deserved walking papers more than her. That said, let’s move onto last night’s show.

David Archuleta entered Tuesday night’s telecast the prohibitive favorite to win AI 7 at –140, while Carly Smithson was next in line at +450. Look for those odds to change just a bit after the performances they put forth last night. Carly nailed “Come Together” big time, while David struggled terribly with “We Can Work it Out”. He even forgot some of the words, and if this were later in the contest I would have no problem betting him to leave Wednesday night regardless of his chalk status. That said, with only one contestant leaving tonight, there were plenty of other performances worse than his.

Syesha Mercado’s opening act was alright, not her best, but she’s cute and owns a powerful voice that should see her survive “Beatle’s Week”. The best performance of the night no doubt came from Chikezie Eze who belted out his own little version of “She’s a Woman”. The big boisterous one was found parading around the stage like a little kid, and he flat out owned the song. All the judges were thoroughly impressed, and they all believe he’d start to shine if he made it to the final 12. Well, he did, and he did!!!

I thought Ramiele Malubay deserved to go last week since she put forth another dull performance. Last night was no different as she put us all to sleep singing “In My Life” Each of the judges had the word “boring” in their remarks, and a bold Simon stated, “I was bored to tears”. That doesn’t bode well for this emotional little package, and I certainly recommend buying Ramiele at 25:1 odds to get voted off tonight. If she doesn’t go tonight, she’ll no doubt be voted off over the next couple weeks if she doesn’t change her tune. Jason Castro followed her up with another boring act covering “If I Feel”, and I got to tell you, I felt like reaching through the TV and grabbing this kid by his dreads and lofting him into the crowd. Jason pulled off a marvelous tactic last week by covering a religious tune. Simon thought he was brilliant then, but not now. However, he did say it was a good enough performance to get him into next week so wait for a better situation to present itself to off Mr. Castro.

David Cook’s odds to win American Idol plummeted this week from +4000 to +1500 after his sensational cover of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello”. He didn’t do value seekers any justice this week either after his solid performance of “Eleanor Rigby, and I foresee his odds going even lower at next weeks release. Simon believes he can win this contest if it stays a talent competition and avoids being a popularity contest. The squeaky clean Brooke White followed Dave up with a very emotional performance of “Let It Be”. The song had a profound influence on her, and she was all choked up at the end of it. That said, it was another solid performance and Simon stated it was her third in a row of this caliber. Brooke isn’t going anywhere just yet. Amanda Overmyer and Michael Johns put forth better than average performances that got mixed reviews from the judges, but I foresee them as being safe to move on to the next round.

David Hernandez and Kristy Lee Cook absolutely put forth the worst two performances of the night. Hernandez’ cover of “I Saw Her Standing There” had me shaking my head the entire time, and Kristy Lee Cook’s bluegrass/country version of “8 Days a Week” was simply disturbing. Simon felt David’s performance was “Corny verging on desperate”, and thought Kristy’s act was Horrendous and that she sounded like Dolly Parton on helium. You can’t go wrong fading either of these two tonight with Kristy a +225 underdog and David ringing in at a lofty +550.

Many of tonight’s performers showed their vulnerability to a bigger stage and lack of knowledge of the material. This is a younger overall group, and songs from the Beatles might not be the best type of music to showcase their talents. That said, I would take a flyer on Malubay, Hernandez, and KL Cook to vacate the premises after tonight’s show. You’re guaranteed a profit if you keep your bets amongst these three, but if you really want to get crazy, throw a unit on Archuleta who at 80:1 not to get voted off would bring home a spectacular payday. He was flat out awful last night, and did the one thing the judges always stress not to do. He Forgot the Lyrics!!! At this stage of the competition, it shouldn’t happen, but America seems to be too enamored with this tongue smacking kid to vote him off now.

Until next week…..

Additional sports and entertainment odds can be found in the BetUS.com Sportsbook, in Futures/props, under Entertainment Props.