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
01/07/2010 - Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa junior offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga announced Wednesday he will forego his senior season and declare himself eligible for the 2010 NFL Draft.
Bulaga was named the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year this season, and was also a first team All-Big Ten selection. The 6-6, 315-pound Illinois native earned those honors despite missing a number of games with an illness.
"This was not an easy decision since my Iowa experience has been very positive and rewarding," Bulaga said. "The illness I was faced with at the beginning of the 2009 season made me realize how important football is in my life and how quickly it can be taken away."
<< Central Michigan tops Troy in double-OT to win GMAC Bowl
Mobile, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrew Aguila made 5-of-6 field goals and kicked
the game-winning 37-yarder in the second overtime, as the 25th-ranked Central
Michigan Chippewas edged the Troy Trojans, 44-41, in the 11th annual GMAC Bowl
at Ladd
<< Miles helps Jazz to 11th straight win over Grizzlies
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - C.J. Miles scored a season-high 24
points, and the Jazz continued their dominance over the Grizzlies with a
117-94 victory, Utah's 11th straight win over Memphis.
Carlos Boozer added 20 poin
<< BYU holds off UNLV
Provo, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Noah Hartsock and Jonathan Tavernari scored 17
points apiece, as No. 25 BYU held off UNLV, 77-73, to open Mountain West
Conference play at the Marriott Center.
Tyler Haws donated 12 points in the victo
<< Nash helps Suns rally past Rockets
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash led the way with 26 points and 12
assists, as Phoenix rallied in the fourth to down Houston, 118-110.
Amare Stoudemire added 25 points and 11 rebounds, Channing Frye donated 22
points and nin
Heatley's OT goal helps Sharks extend Blues' slide >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dany Heatley scored the game-winner within the
last minute of overtime, as the San Jose Sharks edged the St. Louis Blues,
2-1, at HP Pavilion.
In the extra session, Heatley scored on a breakaway to giv
Henin, Ivanovic reach Brisbane semis; Hantuchova sent packing >>
Brisbane, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgian great Justine Henin and Serbian
Ana Ivanovic were quarterfinal winners while fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova
of Slovakia was ousted by Germany's Andrea Petkovic at the season-opening
Brisbane Intern
Pennetta breezes into Auckland semis >>
Auckland, New Zealand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta easily won
her quarterfinal match on Thursday at the 2010 season-opening ASB Classic, an
Australian Open tune-up.
The Italian Pennetta cruised past Slovakian Dominika C
Stepanek, Monfils reach Brisbane semis >>
Brisbane, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded and defending champion
Radek Stepanek and third-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils were a pair of
quarterfinal winners Thursday at the season-opening Brisbane International
tennis
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