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03/12/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Devoe Joseph scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds, as Minnesota upended 11th-ranked Michigan State, 72-67 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
Blake Hoffarber made four three-pointers to finish with 14 points for the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers (20-12), who will face Purdue in the semifinals on Saturday.
Raymar Morgan poured in 23 points to pace the third-seeded Spartans (24-8), who had won eight consecutive games against Minnesota.
Michigan State's shoddy performance at the foul line played a big part in the loss. The Spartans converted just 18-of-34 free throws.
<< Kings reach 40 wins with shootout victory over Dallas
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jarret Stoll tallied the lone goal in the sixth
round of the shootout, as Los Angeles topped Dallas, 2-1, at American Airlines
Center.
After Jamie Benn's shot to open the round found its way into the sliding
<< Aztecs shock Lobos, gain berth in MWC final
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy White scored 28 points, as San Diego
State ended New Mexico's 15-game winning streak with a 72-69 victory over the
eighth-ranked Lobos in the Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinals.
Kawhi Le
<< Bynum's 20 assists keys Detroit's win over Wizards
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Bynum provided a spark with a career-
best 20 assists, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Washington Wizards for a
sixth straight time, 101-87, at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tayshaun Prince, Jonas
<< Salmons, Bucks drop Jazz to continue hot streak
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Salmons scored 24 points and hit a pair
of important free throws with less than 20 seconds to go, and the Milwaukee
Bucks continued their impressive homestand with a 95-87 win over the Utah
Jazz.
Rinne posts another shutout against the Ducks >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pekka Rinne stopped 31 shots for his fourth
shutout of the season as the Nashville Predators downed the Anaheim Ducks,
1-0, at the Honda Center.
Shea Weber scored the lone goal off assists from Ja
Wildcats set up rematch with Kansas in Big 12 title game >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacob Pullen scored 26 points, and ninth-
ranked Kansas State gained a spot in the Big 12 championship game with an
82-75 victory over No. 21 Baylor.
Denis Clemente added 24 points and dished out s
Blake, Nalbandian advance at BNP Paribas Open >>
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of former top-five players in
American James Blake and Argentine David Nalbandian were a pair of easy first-
round winners Friday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour
Masters
Roy leads Blazers to rout of Kings >>
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy poured in 28 points and finished
10-of-13 from the field, leading Portland to a 110-94 rout of the Sacramento
Kings.
LaMarcus Aldridge tacked on 18 points as the Trail Blazers remained in t
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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