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
07/24/2010 - Stockholm, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sweden's own Richard S. Johnson posted a two-under 70 on Saturday to join second-round leader K.J. Choi in first place after the 54 holes of the Scandinavian Masters.
Johnson and Choi, who had a one-under 71, are knotted at 10-under 206 at Bro Hoff Slott Golf Club.
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, less than one week from his epic major triumph, bogeyed the last for a two-under 70. He fell into third place at minus-nine.
Mark Brown (67) and Rafa Echenique (72) share fourth place at seven-under 209.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
<< Red Sox shoot for third straight win against battling M's
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox try to make it three straight wins this
evening when they continue their four-game set against the Seattle Mariners at
Safeco Field.
The Red Sox will turn to Jon Lester to keep them in the win column, as
<< Twins send Baker to hill in Baltimore
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Struggling to keep pace with the White Sox and Tigers in
the AL Central, the Twins will try to solve their road woes when Minnesota
battles the Baltimore Orioles in the third installment of a four-game set this
evening at Cam
<< Oswalt toes the hill for Astros against Reds
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran right-hander Rot Oswalt makes what could be one of
the last starts of his Houston career tonight when the Astros meet the
Cincinnati Reds in the middle test of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park.
Oswalt, a Hou
<< Bumgarner takes aim at fourth straight win at Chase Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Madison Bumgarner shoots for his fourth straight win this
evening when the San Francisco Giants continue their four-game set against the
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Bumgarner has been sensational over his winning
Bacsinszky beats Meusburger in rainy Austria >>
Bad Gastein, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland beat
Austrian crowd favorite Yvonne Meusburger in the semifinals of the Gastein
Ladies tennis tournament on Saturday.
The second-seeded Bacsinszky rallied for a 1-
Buchholz returns for Rockies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies have activated
pitcher Taylor Buchholz off the 60-day disabled list.
Buchholz has not pitched in the majors since September 9, 2008. He sat out all
of last season because of e
Yankees activate Mitre; Gardner hospitalized >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have activated pitcher
Sergio Mitre off the 15-day disabled list to start Saturday's game against the
Kansas City Royals.
Mitre had been sidelined since early June with a strained
Melzer to face Golubev for Hamburg crown >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Kazakhstan's
Andrey Golubev will square off for the title at the German Open after both won
semifinal matches on Saturday.
The third-seeded Melzer blitzed Italy's Andreas Se
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