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05/08/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Temple Owls forward Lavoy Allen has withdrawn his name from the 2010 NBA Draft and will return to school for his senior season.
Allen averaged 11.5 points and 10.7 rebounds last season and was named to the Atlantic 10 first team. He helped Temple to a 29-6 record and a third consecutive conference championship.
<< O'Neill vows to stay at Aston Villa
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has
vowed to remain at Villa Park beyond the end of the season and hopes to have
ended continuing rumors about his future with the club.
O'Neill has led his side to
<< Markakis, O's take first game of doubleheader over Twins
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Markakis went 2-for-4 with three RBI
and a run scored to help Baltimore take a 7-3 win over Minnesota in the opener
of a doubleheader at Target Field.
Julio Lugo went 3-for-5 with an RBI while Cesar
<< Montanes ousts Federer in Estoril semis
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Albert Montanes will
have a chance to defend his title at the clay-court Estoril Open after ousting
top-seeded and world No. 1 Roger Federer on Saturday in the semifinals.
The fourth
<< Penguins F Guerin returns for Game 5
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bill Guerin
will return to action for Game 5 of his club's Eastern Conference semifinal
series against Montreal on Saturday.
Guerin did not play in the previous two contests wi
Nats edge Marlins >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Renyel Pinto hit Adam Dunn with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the eighth to force in the go-ahead run, which held up
as the Washington Nationals took a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins in the
middle
Blanco's HR in 11th gives Mets second straight late-inning win >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Blanco's first home run as a Met gave
New York a 5-4 win over San Francisco in 11 innings, the club's ninth
consecutive win at Citi Field.
Blanco ended 3-for-5 in place of starter Rod Bara
Sizemore, Tigers take opener of shortened series with Tribe >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Sizemore knocked in three runs and
Miguel Cabrera contributed two RBI as Detroit dispatched Cleveland, 6-4, in
the opener of a truncated series.
Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch each collected
Diamondbacks activate OF Jackson >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks activated outfielder
Conor Jackson from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday and optioned
outfielder Gerardo Parra to Triple-A Reno.
Jackson had been on the DL since Apri
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.
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