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08/20/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros placed infielder Jeff Keppinger on the 15-day disabled list with an injured big left toe.
Keppinger has been sidelined since Tuesday with the injury. He is batting .285 with five home runs, 46 RBI and a team-high 28 doubles in 108 games this season, his second in Houston.
To fill his spot on the roster, Houston recalled infielder Anderson Hernandez from Triple-A Round Rock. Hernandez has seen action in six games with Houston this year and has gone 2-for-13 at the plate with a walk.
<< Reds sweep Diamondbacks for sixth straight win
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Wood pitched 6 1/3 solid frames and the
red-hot Reds kept rolling, bringing out the brooms in a 9-5 pounding of
Arizona.
The southpaw Wood (4-1) was solid if not spectacular, giving up one ru
<< Cahill stars as Athletics edge Rays
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Pennington's two-run double in the bottom
of the sixth was the difference, as the Oakland Athletics edged Tampa Bay,
4-3, in the opener of a four-game series at the Coliseum.
Kurt Suzuki and Rajai D
<< Clijsters, Wozniacki into QFs; Dementieva upended in Montreal
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters was an easy
third-round victor, while defending Rogers Cup champ Elena Dementieva was an
upset victim Thursday at this $2 million Canadian event, a U.S. Open tune-up.
The
<< Indians overcome five errors to defeat Royals in KC
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's infield single drove home
the final run in a five-run eighth inning, as the Cleveland Indians overcame
shoddy defense to rally past Kansas City, 7-3, in the finale of a three-game
series
Ga. State starts new program in tough economy >>
ATLANTA (AP) -In his previous head coaching jobs, there were plenty of things for Bill Curry to worry about.Who's going to play quarterback? How does the defense look? Will these Alabama fans ever fully accept me?There were other issues that never c
Kingston titles at Selborne Golf Club >>
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Kingston managed an even-
par 72 on Friday to win the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf tournament at
Selborne Golf Club.
He won the championship by two strokes at 13-under 203.
Adil
Giants add former Eagle lineman >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have signed
offensive lineman Shawn Andrews, who was a two-time Pro Bowl selection with
the Philadelphia Eagles.
Andrews missed the entire 2009 season and played just
Swarbrick readies Notre Dame for the future >>
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Jack Swarbrick's comfortable and spacious office is flush with many reminders of Notre Dame's long history of athletic endeavors and excellence. For one, there's the picture of that 1913 team captained by an end named Knute Ro
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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