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
08/27/2010 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester allowed two hits over seven strong innings and Victor Martinez hit a pair of home runs as Boston downed Tampa Bay, 3-1, in the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field.
Jed Lowrie drove in the other run for the Red Sox, who have taken five of their last six games.
Lester (14-8) held Tampa to one run while fanning 10 to erase an uncharacteristic five walks. His one wild pitch was also responsible for the Rays' lone run.
Jonathan Papelbon survived a shaky ninth to record his 33th save.
Jason Bartlett collected two hits for the Rays, who have dropped two in a row since winning four straight.
David Price (15-6) was charged with 10 hits and three runs over seven full frames, with eight strikeouts in defeat.
<< Eagles WR Jackson leaves Friday's game
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean
Jackson left Friday's preseason game against the Chiefs with an upper back
injury in the first quarter and will not return.
The third-year wideout was hurt o
<< Price fires 63 to lead Boeing Classic
Snoqualmie, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Price had two scoring bursts Friday en
route to a nine-under 63 and the first-round lead of the Boeing Classic.
Price, who has already won twice this season, posted his low round of the
year.
Tom Per
<< Pelfrey pitches Mets past streaking Astros
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Pelfrey worked eight scoreless frames as
the New York Mets took a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros in the opener of a
three-game set.
Pelfrey (13-7) gave up just six hits and two walks while striking o
<< Bruce's three-homer, five-RBI night leads Reds past Cubs
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Bruce slammed a career-best three home
runs and Chris Valaika also homered to back eight innings of one-run ball from
Johnny Cueto as Cincinnati crushed Chicago, 7-1, to open a three-game set at
Great A
Petrova, Wozniacki reach Pilot Pen final >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nadia Petrova and Caroline Wozniacki each
won their semifinal matches to reach the championship match at the $600,000
Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.
The world No. 2 and
LJ scores late to lift 'Skins over Jets >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard Bartel's 15-yard touchdown
pass to Larry Johnson late in the fourth quarter propelled Washington over the
New York Jets, 16-11, in exhibition play.
Graham Gano's three field goals were the
Indians throttle Royals behind power display >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Gimenez and Jayson Nix both clubbed a
three-run homer and knocked in four runs total, as the Cleveland Indians
pounded Kansas City, 15-4, in the opener of a three-game series at Progressive
Field.
Pujols, Garcia help Cardinals beat Nationals >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Albert Pujols hit career home run No. 401
and rookie Jaime Garcia picked up his 12th win of the season as the Cardinals
righted the ship with a 4-2 victory against the Nationals.
Matt Holliday also hom
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