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06/19/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs have signed their top pick of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, pitcher Hayden Simpson, to an undisclosed contract.
Simpson, 21, was taken 16th overall in the first round.
The right-hander posted a 13-1 record with a 1.81 earned run average in 15 starts for Southern Arkansas University during his junior season. He struck out 131 batters in 99 1/3 innings.
<< Elson takes over first at Saint-Omer Open
Lumbres, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England's Jamie Elson shot a three-under 68
on Saturday to move atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Saint-
Omer Open.
Elson finished 54 holes at seven-under 206 and is one stroke clear at Aa S
<< LeBron makes dramatic appearance at Akron rally
AKRON, Ohio (AP) -With thousands of his hometown fans on hand, LeBron James made a dramatic - and very late - appearance at ``LeBron Appreciation Day.''A crowd estimated at 3,500 had already begun to depart Akron's InfCision Stadium on Saturday when
<< Llodra captures Eastbourne title
Eastbourne, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Llodra of France notched a
straight-set win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to claim the title at the
Aegon International.
The eighth-seeded Llodra earned a 7-5, 6-2 victory in Sat
<< Ten-man Australia holds on for draw vs. Ghana
Rustenburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australia had a player sent off
for the second successive match on Saturday, but it still managed to earn a
1-1 draw against Ghana in the second game of Group D play for both teams at
Royal B
Slovakia hopes for better result against Paraguay >>
Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Slovakia manager Vladimir Weiss
described a 1-1 draw against New Zealand as a "minor sporting tragedy," but on
Sunday, knows complete focus must switch to a crucial match against Paraguay.
Slova
Edwards captures pole at Road America >>
Elkhart Lake, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Edwards won the pole for Saturday's
inaugural Bucyrus 200 Nationwide Series race at Road America.
Edwards, currently second in points, recorded a lap of 108.076 m.p.h. around
the 4.048-mile, 14-t
Italy faces New Zealand without Buffon >>
Nelspruit, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both Italy and New Zealand enter
Sunday's Group F FIFA World Cup contest at Mbombela Stadium on the heels of
draws in their opening matches, but their emotions are quite different.
The Italia
Brazil, Ivory Coast clash in Group G >>
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The schedule gets no easier for
the Ivory Coast as it gets ready to face Brazil in its second Group G match at
Soccer City on Sunday in the FIFA World Cup.
A 0-0 draw against Portugal in the ope
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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