Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
08/25/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals outfielder Josh Willingham had successful knee surgery on Wednesday, which will effectively end his 2010 season.
Willingham, who is expected to be ready for spring training, went on the 15- day disabled list last week after suffering a medial meniscus tear in his left knee.
He batted .268 with a .389 on-base percentage, 16 home runs and eight stolen bases in 114 games this season.
<< Wells powers Blue Jays past Yankees
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vernon Wells finished a double shy of hitting
for the cycle and drove in four runs to power Toronto to a 6-3 win over New
York in the last of a three-game set.
Wells finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs s
<< Pirates beat Cardinals again behind McCutchen
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel McCutchen threw six strong innings
and Neil Walker hit a three-run triple as the Pittsburgh Pirates took a 5-2
win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a three-game set from PNC
Park.
<< Cahill continues Oakland's pitching prowess in win over Tribe
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Cahill pitched Oakland's 17th straight
quality start, and the Athletics shut down the Indians in a 6-1 win at
Progressive Field.
Cahill (14-5) continued his sensational season by pitching s
<< Ramirez, Marlins edge Mets
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hanley Ramirez went 4-for-5 and drove in a
run, as the Florida Marlins held on to edge the New York Mets, 5-4, in the
middle contest of a three-game series.
Logan Morrison added three hits, includin
Wozniacki, Dementieva land in New Haven quarters >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and former U.S.
Open runner-up Elena Dementieva were each second-round winners Wednesday at
the $600,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.
Denmark's
Wieters, Matusz lead Orioles past White Sox >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Wieters collected two hits and drove in
two runs in support of seven strong innings from Brian Matusz, as Baltimore
slowed down Chicago, 4-2, in the middle session of a three-game set.
Brian Roberts
Morehead State men's hoops placed on probation >>
Morehead, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Morehead State University announced on
Wednesday its men's basketball program has been placed on probation for two
years due to major violations in recruiting.
The violation, which is related to
Guerrero's homer lifts Rangers over Twins >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vladimir Guerrero's 430th career home run
leading off the sixth proved to be the difference, as the Texas Rangers beat
the Twins for the third straight day, 4-3, at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Guerre
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting