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07/30/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals on Friday agreed to terms with pitcher Seth Blair.
Blair, who was the club's supplemental first round pick, 46th overall, in last month's draft, will report to Single-A Batavia in the New York-Penn League.
The 21-year-old was 12-1 with a 3.64 earned-run average over 18 starts at Arizona State this year. He struck out 108 while issuing just 29 walks and earned Pac-10 pitcher of the year honors.
<< A's sign first-round selection Choice
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics have signed their top
pick of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, outfielder Michael Choice, to a
minor league contract.
Choice was taken 10th overall in the first round.
He was
<< Yankees appear set to acquire Berkman from Astros
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees are reportedly set
to acquire Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros.
A story from MLB.com cites a source in reporting the impending deal, adding
that Berkman gave general manag
<< Stewart tops in qualifying at Pocono
Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart claimed the pole for Sunday's
Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 after posting the quickest lap in qualifying
at Pocono Raceway.
Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, turned a lap of
<< Twins send P Blackburn to minors, place INF Punto on DL
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins demoted pitcher Nick
Blackburn to Triple-A Rochester on Friday to make room for newly acquired
reliever Matt Capps.
Blackburn, who received a four-year, $14 million contract la
Overton shoots 62 for Greenbrier Classic lead >>
White Sulphur Springs, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Overton fired an eight-under
62 on Friday to take four-shot lead midway through The Greenbrier Classic.
Chasing his first PGA Tour win, Overton had eight birdies in a flawless round
and fini
Lions president Lewand suspended, fined >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand has been
given a 30-day suspension and $100,000 fine following his drunken-driving
arrest last month.
Lewand was arrested June 25 after a charity golf tournamen
Blackhawks ink former first-rounder Leddy >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks on Friday signed
defenseman Nick Leddy to a three-year contract.
Leddy came over from Minnesota on February 12 in the trade that sent Cam
Barker to the Wild. He was taken 16
Detroit P Galarraga leaves game >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Tigers starter Armando Galarraga left
Friday's game with the Boston Red Sox due to an apparent right ankle injury.
Galarraga was struck by a line drive off the bat of Boston's Kevin Youkilis
with two o
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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