posted May 14, 2008 at 14:59 in Other Articles

And then there were three! The phenomenon otherwise known as American Idol is coming to a close. This online betting affair reeled us in another nice money-line winner last week when Jason Castro got eliminated and cashed our +160 tickets in the process. That leaves us with the two David’s, Cook and Archuleta, and Syesha Mercado, the last female standing, competing for the right to become the next American Idol. There’s still two weeks left to get your Entertainment bets in, so scroll down and find out where our money’s going.

Without further ado, let’s see how each of these contestants fared during Tuesday night’s telecast.

David Archuleta opened the competition with a very safe rendition of “And So It goes” by Billy Joel chosen by Paula Abdul. Randy stated he was in it to win it after he concluded, while Paula thought it was a pure and stunning performance. Simon thought it was good, but not outstanding. For his second song, David finally took a risk and chose the upbeat song “With You” by Chris Brown. The entire performance just looked weird, and it sounded off as well. Randy applauded him for trying something new, but didn’t buy into it. Paula thought he did a great job, while Simon compared the performance to a Chihuahua trying to be a tiger. “It looked awkward, and it wasn’t really you.” The AI staff chose his final song, “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg. Randy thought the performance was hot, while Paula thought it was lovely. Simon felt it was strong enough to advance him to the finals. Overall, I just wasn’t that impressed with any of Archuleta’s performances. He’s really brought nothing new to the table the last three weeks, and he usually takes the safe route. That said, when singing solo, he sounds very good.

Syesha Mercado has really stepped her game up over the last month of the show to beat out all the other ladies in the competition. She’s gone the Broadway/musical route of late, and has tackled a number of divas along the way. Her first song of the night, “If I Ain’t got You” by Alicia Keys was chosen by Randy Jackson. While listening to her, I realized she’s a whole lot better to look at than to listen to. Randy thought she did an amazing job and feels she’s peaking at the right time. Paula applauded her for taking on Alicia, and Simon thought it was great. Her next tune was a sexy little number by Peggy Lee called “Fever”. The performance was ok, but Syesha looked sexy hot! Paula felt the song didn’t show her what Syesha Mercado was all about, while Simon felt it was a lame cabaret performance. Her final song “Hit Me Up” was in the movie Happy Feet and was chosen by the AI staff. Unfortunately, the performance all but sealed Syesha’s fate. It didn’t do anything but show she can’t perform a fast paced song while dancing without becoming breathless after a couple seconds. Nothing was memorable about the song, and it will be the reason why she’s voted off Wednesday night. Don’t feel too bad for Syesha though as this knockout has a very lucrative career ahead of her.

We’re not going to dig too deep into any of David Cook’s performances on Tuesday night. Let’s just say he was the best of the night by a landslide. His ability to tackle old/new songs and make them his own is uncanny, and is the main reason why he was installed the favorite at –140 to win the entire competition coming into last night’s show.

With only three contestants left, online bookmakers decided not to release elimination odds for this week, and instead post odds to win it all. Cook’s a –140 favorite as already mentioned, and you can get David Archuleta for even money at +100. Syesha Mercado is a hefty 14:1 underdog to win it all, but you might as well make a check out to me instead of your bookie if you think America will let her beat out the two David’s. My advice to you all would be to buy up as much David Cook as you can get now as the line will most certainly rise after his brilliant performances last night. Syesha will be voted off tonight, and we’ll be left with the battle the AI staff has clamored for since the Final 12 was announced.

BetUS.com American Idol Odds to win it all:

David Cook -140

David Archuleta +100

Syesha Mercado +1400

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