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
09/05/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday belted the game-changing three- run home run in the sixth inning to lead St. Louis to a much-needed 4-2 win over Cincinnati in the last of a three-game series.
Holliday finished 2-for-4 while Colby Rasmus added two hits and a run scored for the Cardinals, who took two out of three to move to within seven games of the NL Central-leading Reds.
Chris Carpenter (15-5) continued his season-long domination of the visitors after allowing two runs on six hits while striking out a season-high 11 without walking a batter for the Redbirds, who took the season series, 12-6.
Homer Bailey (3-3) suffered the loss after allowing all four runs on five hits while walking one and fanning four over six frames.
Orlando Cabrera doubled home both runs and finished 2-for-4 for Cincinnati, which has won seven out of ten.
<< Turkey and Slovenia win to reach quarterfinals
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points and
Sinan Guler added 18 as Turkey subdued France, 95-77, to advance the
quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
Turkoglu connected on 6-of-10
<< Dolphins add four, cut three
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins were awarded four players on
waiver claims Sunday and also cut three players.
Awarded to the team were defensive ends Clifton Geathers and Robert Rose and
offensive linemen Jeremy Parnell a
<< Kisner gets 1st win at Mylan Classic
Canonsburg, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kisner shot a four-under 67 to capture
his first Nationwide Tour win Sunday at the Mylan Classic.
A former All-American at the University of Georgia, Kisner finished four
rounds on the Southpointe cour
<< Cousins' hit lifts Marlins over Braves in extras
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Cousins' pinch-hit single -- his first big
league hit -- in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Emilio Bonifacio, as the
Florida Marlins got by the Atlanta Braves, 7-6, in the rubber match of a
three-g
Zimmerman, Nats beat up Pirates >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman went 2-for-5 and drove in
four runs, as the Washington Nationals handled the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-1, in
the rubber match of a three-game set at PNC Park.
Adam Dunn added a solo homer and
Gordon's homer lifts Royals past Tigers >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Gordon hit a go-ahead home run leading
off the sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals posted a 2-1 victory over
Detroit to salvage the finale of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
The blas
O's hold on to edge Rays >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Patterson homered and drove in three
runs and Nick Markakis went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs batted in to lead
Baltimore to an 8-7 win over Tampa Bay in a back and forth affair to close a
three-g
Blue Jays bomb their way past Yankees >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill both knocked in three
runs to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat New York, 7-3, and salvage the
finale of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Wells hit a two-run homer in th
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