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
06/14/2007 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Astros shortstop Adam Everett fractured his right fibula in Thursday's game against Oakland.
Everett suffered the injury after a collision with teammate Carlos Lee in the fourth inning. Everett was backpedaling through left field chasing a fly ball as Lee slid into him sending Everett tumbling to the ground.
Neither player caught the ball. Lee got up, but Everett remained on all fours until getting carted off the field.
Mark Loretta moved from third base to shortstop and Morgan Ensberg came on at third.
<< Sheets hits milestone, leads Brewers past Tigers
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Sheets pitched into the sixth inning,
recording his 1,000th career strikeout along the way, as the Milwaukee Brewers
edged the Detroit Tigers, 6-5, in the final installment of a three-game
interle
<< Pettitte helps red-hot Yankees rout Diamondbacks
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Pettitte hurled eight brilliant innings as
New York dumped Arizona, 7-1, to complete a three-game sweep of the
Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium.
Pettitte (4-4), who turns 35 on Friday, dazzled
<< Phillies' Garcia won't face surgery
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies right-handed
pitcher Freddy Garcia, currently on the 15-day disabled list with right
shoulder troubles, has been spared from surgery.
Garcia, who left his last start
<< Roddick sneaks into Queen's Club quarters
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time champion Andy Roddick needed
the help of instant replay in order to win his third-round match Thursday at
The Artois Championships, a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The second-seeded Ro
Rangers place McCarthy on DL >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers placed pitcher Brandon
McCarthy on the 15-day disabled list with a blister on his right middle
finger.
The move is retroactive to Sunday
McCarthy is 4-4 with a 5.90 ERA in
Lightning ink Hlavac >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning signed free agent forward
Jan Hlavac to a one-year contract on Thursday.
Hlavac spent the last three seasons playing in Europe following a five-year
NHL career. The 6-foot, 200-pound
Royals' Grudzielanek placed on 15-day DL >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals second baseman
Mark Grudzielanek was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June
13, Thursday with a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Grudzielanek, who suffered th
Browns sign defensive coordinator to two-year extension >>
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns signed defensive
coordinator Todd Grantham to a two-year contract extension on Thursday that
will keep him with the team through the 2009 season.
Grantham, who was a finalist
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