Here are a couple of paragraphs from a randomly selected website
on this subject.
Look-Ahead, Letdown and Sandwich Games
For the gambling newbie, the definitions of the above terms are
fairly self explanatory.
Look-ahead games are contests in which
one opponent may not be totally focused on their current game
because a bigger competition is on the horizon. Letdown games
are when a team may not be emotionally ready after playing one
of their biggest games of the year or perhaps following suffering
a heartbreaking loss, stunning win or any circumstance that can
have a team coming out flat.
Sandwich games are just that: a game
that is in between a letdown game and a look-ahead contest. They
are much more prevalent in college football and basketball at
least percentage wise. However in the five-game-in-seven-nights
drudge that can be the NBA, we’ve found under proper circumstances,
pro basketball situations present themselves too. Most importantly
because of the preponderance of games, those contests sneak under
the radar, visible only the sharpest of players.
Far and away the most common parameter
when an opportunity arises is a big favorite overlooking an inferior
team. Sandwich games in college football are generally the games
that most often hold true to expected form for the capper. A big
favorite coming off a defining victory and facing a watershed
game the following week is the exact set of circumstances that
we exploit most often, pouncing on the live dog.
Whether or not these ideas might apply to jai-alai is something
for each handicapper to consider for himself.
However, they are potentially high-value concepts because they
are definitely not discussed in jai-alai books, on websites, or
in the printed program. And are almost certainly not used by the
"simulator + ratings formula" types either.
I will not state any opinion just yet, but here are a few supporting
tidbits.
A - Jim has referred to programs that close with a "meaningless
singles games". This implies that to him, at least, some
games have more meaning than others.
B - Haitian Gary has spoken of games where some players have
"thrown in the towel". So someone who observes the game
closely believes that the intensity level is clearly not constant.
C - The frontons themselves designate some games as Doubles
Championship and Singles Championship.
D - Back in the days of Miami Jai-Lites, Big Dave Lemmon asked
Benny B, "Now if you are competing for the title in the Singles
Championship, does that mean that there is a tendency to overlook
the doubles game right before it?" (not the exact quotes
here - but words to that effect) and the response was, "Yes,
that can happen".
