Don’t tell anyone, but this is my favorite time of year – the time after Dec. 25, when the madness stops and I can start looking forward to what surely must be a better year than the last. And that’s the attitude you need if you want the most bang for your betting buck. Here are five bets that, win or lose, you can enjoy laying a dollar on in 2008.

The Chicago Cubs to win the World Series: It has to happen eventually – and there’s still lots of room on the bandwagon.

David Blaine to not stay awake for more than 11.5 days (+225): Maybe he’ll accidentally watch one of the presidential debates.

Wladimir Klitschko (-500) to beat Sultan Ibragimov: Study Rocky IV to get Ivan Drago’s accent just right.

Nadia Comaneci (13-1) to win Celebrity The Apprentice: See Klitschko.

Juan Pablo Montoya (50-1) to win the 2008 Sprint Cup: “My name is Juan Pablo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Magic tricks are nice and all that. But David Blaine is putting his body (and his reputation) on the line by testing the limits of human performance in a very real way. His latest endeavor is to break the world record for staying awake the longest. The record: 11.5 days.

This attempt hasn’t been officially announced yet; Blaine will only confirm that he has a new stunt lined up for May. However, New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams spilled the beans a couple of weeks ago. Betting on Blaine to succeed in breaking the record opened at +800, but has since been bet down to +200.

This is some serious stuff Blaine is messing with. Sleep deprivation is a torture technique. Excuse me, “alternative interrogation” technique. But Blaine has already proved his endurance through such death-defying bravery as standing on a 105-foot pillar for 35 hours, and dating Madonna.

I’ll leave you with a video clip of David Blaine performing street magic for paid actors posing as civilians…wow.

You might find it strange for us to recommend betting on the Detroit Red Wings. Statistically, they’ve yet to do handicappers any favors this season at 11-15 against the spread and minus-1.48 units on the moneyline. But that’s old news in Hockeytown.

Actually, so is the key to Detroit’s vault. The goaltending battle between Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood is making its second Motown appearance, and this time, Osgood is coming out on top with a 13-1 record in 16 games and a .924 save percentage. Hasek’s mobility is limited by a bad hip, therefore his .864 save percentage and 5-5 record.

The Red Wings already boast by far the league’s best goal differential at 0.92 goals per game. Picking them in games where Osgood gets the nod seems like an easy route to the bank. They have some pesky teams this week in Montreal, Minnesota and Carolina; two out of three should still get Detroit some profit.

If you only have a dollar, the best slots for you to play are the penny slots. Playing the dollar slots with only one dollar gives you only one spin. Stretch out your dollar and search out a good penny machine. Look for ones with random jackpot bonuses on top of the regular bonus for the machine. This will increase your playing odds somewhat.

You should also play all the lines on your penny slot. This increases your odds because it will qualify you for more jackpots. You don’t have to play the max bet on each line, just play each line. Find games with 15-25 lines and your cost will be low per spin.

Rags to Riches is a 20-line progressive slot from Cryptologic. One bet per line is enough to qualify for the 500,000 EURO jackpot. Another one is the 20-line Lotto Madness Video Slots from Playtech.

Any self-respecting basketball fan knows the Boston Celtics have started the season a perfect 7-0. However, a winning record doesn’t always translate to big profits for bettors wagering on the spread. Until now, as the Celts are also a perfect 7-0 ATS.

The Celtics haven’t exactly been knocking off the best teams in the league, though. In fact so far Boston has had it pretty easy with six of their seven games against teams from the East. The only Western Conference squad the Celtics have faced so far this season is the Denver Nuggets, whom they easily dispatched 119-93 as a 6-point favorite.

Next up on the Celtics’ schedule looks like another easy cover, versus the 1-7 Miami Heat. Their biggest test may come right after they cool off the Heat, when they face the current second-best team in the East, the Orlando Magic. If the Celtics can keep covering against Orlando the only eventual roadblock might be the elite teams from the West. Boston doesn’t play Dallas until January and San Antonio until February.

When I’m placing a $1 bet, I want a big bang for my buck. I want some entertainment value, the kind you can only get by bragging at the water cooler about how you picked some ridiculous long shot that paid off. Nobody needs to know how much the bet was for, of course. Looking at this week’s NFL slate, I’m eyeing the moneyline on the Washington Redskins to beat the Dallas Cowboys straight up.

This ‘Skins team is a tough nut to crack at 5-4 SU (2-5-2 ATS). Three losses were against quality opposition, and they split a pair with the Eagles. The running and defense are there, in theory, to keep the score close – although the last four games have gone over. And developing QB Jason Campbell is capable of pulling a big game out of his hat, like his three-TD performance this past Sunday against Philly. Dallas could have a fight on its hands.

The weekend is upon us. Time to loosen up that tie and blow off some steam with a $1 bet just for the hell of it.

Check out the business props and you’ll find this gem: When will the price of oil surpass $100 a barrel? The price of light sweet crude was US$95.46 a barrel at Thursday’s close, up from about $50 in January.

The futures markets at Intrade don’t seem too keen on the price topping the $100 mark before year’s end. At press time, there was no trading on any contract on or over $85, and the last price on that contract was $40 – suggesting a 40 percent chance.

This aforementioned $100-a-barrel prop includes choice of “Dec 28th or later” at 9-1 odds. Considering the over/under for the closing price on Dec. 31 is $102.75, with either side priced at –120, the 9-1 bet seems like an absolute bargain. I’ll buy that for a dollar.

Craps is a game where you get a little more for you buck. The game offers near-even odds if you stick to pass line bets, and has a variety of other odds bets if you so desire. The game provides you with a way to earn bets at near-even odds while at the same time giving you numerous opportunities to hit bigger-odd bets you can really cash in on. This puts you into situations where you can have numerous bets where certain rolls will pay you multiple times.

The game also offers an excitement level that’s unrivalled on the casino floor. A busy craps table on a streak of good rolls is the loudest spot in the house. There’s just something about the attitude of the game that no other game provides. Craps is by far the most exciting game to win at in any casino.

Dollar slots can be the way to go if you like the one-armed bandits. It depends on the size of your bankroll but if you have enough money, dollar slots will often pay out at a higher percentage than other machines. Every slot machine has a set payout percentage which varies from machine to machine. Depending on the structure of the game the machine will pay out differently. These percentages are usually around 99%, but some progressive machines can pay out at percentages exceeding 100% when the jackpot grows big enough.

The dollar slots will often pay out at a higher percentage because the casino makes revenue faster with the higher betting level. Attracting players to this faster revenue is best achieved by setting the machine at a higher payout. The machine pays out more but still makes more profit than a quarter machine with a tighter payout percentage.

The NFL lines for Week 8 were fresh out of the oven at press time, and several of them looked golden brown to handicappers.

The Patriots, for example, are 17-point home favorites against Washington. It’s one thing to beat up on the Miamis of the NFL, but the ‘Skins are a pretty good team: 4-2 SU and 2-2-2 ATS, with one of the best defenses in the league.

We’ve also got the Bengals getting four points at home against the Steelers. This is exactly the same situation the Broncos were in this past Sunday when they upset Pittsburgh. We might have to re-evaluate the Steelers, but Cincinnati is still a bad team at 2-4 SU and 3-3 ATS.

My personal favorite, off the cuff at least, is Philly as a pick ‘em at Minnesota. Each team is 2-4 SU, but the Eagles are playing at a significantly better level. They’ll run out of new ways to lose eventually.