Posted on 4/23/2008 2:06:40 PM

Entertainment Betting - American Idol – 6 Hopeful Idols

By Mike Rose

Its time for some more online entertainment betting and we were right on last week when we predicted both Brooke White and Kristy Lee Cook to be the last two standing, but we juiced out with KLC at –110 opposed to grabbing a nice pay day with Brooke at +600. After sitting through last week’s dreadful karaoke night of Mariah Carey tunes, I wasn’t too thrilled about listening to the remaining six tackle Andrew Lloyd Weber’s collection of classics. Once again, it wasn’t my cup of tea but I’ve been asked to cover the American Idol beat so I had to endure another hour of boredom. Still, the point of this all is to make money so let’s breakdown what the night brought to the table.

Syesha Mercado opened the torture fest up with her rendition of “One Rock & Roll Too Many” from Starlight Express, and I was pleasantly surprised with the way she carried herself throughout the tune. She’s by no means a novice at this Broadway stuff, and she put forth what I believed to be a highly entertaining performance. Randy thought it was her single best performance of the competition, while Paula thought she brought the house down. Simon thought it was her strongest performance so far, and believed her to be very sexy as well. Syesha deserves to move on simply because she didn’t let the night get too her, and she looked very comfortable performing the song that was chosen for her. Whether she stays out of the bottom three is another story, but she deserves to move on.

Next up was Jason Castro who tackled “Memory” from the musical Cats. When I heard he chose to perform this song the dollar signs kept spinning in my head. There’s no way he was going to pull this off, and of course, he didn’t. Randy called it a train wreck, and Simon called it the longest two minutes of both their lives. At +900 to get the boot this week, there’s no way I can not take a stab. This guys been getting by on his looks and quirky stage presence for weeks, and it’s about time he got served his walking papers.

The angelic Brooke White took the stage next looking to wow the audience with her cover of “You Must Love Me” from Evita. She certainly pulled the feat off, but it wasn’t the “wow” she was looking for. She screwed the beginning of the song up, and decided to stop and start all over again. It was almost impossible for me to listen to the rest of the song knowing she broke the cardinal rule, which states never to do that. She’ll no doubt be in the bottom three this week after the mishap, but I still don’t think she deserves to go even if it seems like she’s cracking under the American Idol pressure. Take a flyer on her at +450, but don’t be shocked if the voting public shows enough compassion to allow her to sneak into the next round. She’s built up a solid fan base.

David Archuleta became an underdog this past week for the first time since the final 12 was announced. I haven’t been impressed with this kid since he covered “Imagine”, and that was months ago. Randy and Paula loved his cover of “Think Of Me”, but Simon thought it was a bit forgettable. David would reel in a nice payday at 45:1 if he cashed an elimination ticket tonight, but this guy’s not going anywhere just yet.

After struggling with her first choice, Sir Andrew told her she’d be singing “Jesus Christ Superstar” and Carly nailed it. Randy didn’t call it her best, but he liked it while Paula loved what she did with the chorus. Simon said it was one of his favorite performances of the night. Carly avoided the bottom three last week, and I expect her to do the same tonight as well. She had fun with the song, and got Simon’s blessing forcing her to grab a t-shirt that stated “Simon loved me this week!”

David Cook, now the competition’s favorite, closed the show out performing “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera. I was taken aback by the way in which he performed it. He didn’t really make it his own, but I guess he wanted to prove he wasn’t a one-trick pony. Randy thought the performance was amazing, while Paula thought he proved how well rounded he is. Simon wasn’t blown away but thought he made the most of the song. With David now the man to beat in the oddsmakers’ eyes, don’t look for him to all of a sudden get voted off. He’s built up way too much of a fan base for that to happen now.

We’re finally getting down to the nitty gritty of this competition, which means the paydays will be less attractive as we move forward. This is the week we look to make a big return by taking flyers on two of the more popular contestants in the competition. White and Castro will find themselves in the bottom three, and whoever the third person is will be sent back to safety. These two put forth the worst two performances of the night, so we should see a return when either of them gets voted off this evening.

BetUS.com American Idol Odds to win it all:

David Cook -130

David Archuleta +110

Jason Castro +1500

Brooke White +3000

Syesha Mercado +4000

Carly Smithson +5000

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