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03/07/2010 - Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals announced Sunday that third baseman Alex Gordon is expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks with a broken right thumb, leaving his status for Opening Day unclear.
Gordon was hurt when sliding into second base on an attempted steal in the second inning of Saturday's spring training game against Texas.
Gordon underwent hip surgery last April and played in only 49 games. He finished the 2009 season with six home runs and 22 RBI while batting .232.
<< Djokovic propels Serbia past U.S. in Davis Cup
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic outlasted big John Isner in
five sets on Sunday to lift Serbia past the United States and into the 2010
Davis Cup quarterfinals.
The Serbs have an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five
<< Keane's double leads Celtic over Falkirk
Falkirk, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robbie Keane scored a goal in each half
and Celtic defeated Falkirk 2-0 on Sunday at Falkirk Stadium for its first win
over the struggling club in three matches this season.
Celtic settled for draws in
<< Nurnberg hands Leverkusen first loss
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored twice in
the closing minutes of the first half, Mikael Tavares added a goal 10 minutes
after the break, and Nurnberg held on to hand Bayer Leverkusen its first loss
of the
<< Jaguars sign Kampman
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars have
signed defensive end Aaron Kampman, the team announced Sunday. Terms and
length of the deal were not disclosed.
Kampman had spent all eight of his NFL seaso
Dodgers C Martin out 4-6 weeks >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin
will miss four to six weeks of action due to a pulled groin muscle.
The injury will sideline Martin for the remainder of Spring Training and
Opening Day.
Kentucky fends off Gators to wrap up perfect season at home >>
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darius Miller and Eric Bledsoe each scored
14 points, as third-ranked Kentucky held off Florida, 74-66, to complete a
perfect season at Rupp Arena.
Patrick Patterson added 13 points and John Wall ended
Xavier edges Charlotte to reach A-10 tourney final >>
Upper Marlboro, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyeasha Moss finished with 15 points,
as fifth-ranked Xavier held off Charlotte, 51-49, in a semifinal matchup in
the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Ta'Shia Phillips added 11 points, 14 rebounds and f
Second period blitz helps Wings down Chicago >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pavel Datsyuk's breakaway tally capped a five-
goal eruption in the second period and proved to be the game-winner, as
Detroit overcame an Andrew Ladd hat trick and held on to beat the Chicago
Blackha
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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