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06/04/2010 - Sion, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba could miss the 2010 World Cup after he reportedly suffered a broken arm in a 2-0 friendly win over Japan on Friday.
Drogba left the field in the 15th minute after a challenge from Japan's Marcos Tulio Tanaka, and according to French newspaper L'Equipe, scans have revealed a broken arm that will likely force him to miss this summer's tournament.
The 32-year-old Drogba led the English Premiership with 29 goals for league champions Chelsea, and if he is forced to miss the tournament it would be a huge blow to the Ivory Coast, which will face Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in a tough Group G.
<< Soderling reaches second straight French Open final
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's runner-up Robin Soderling
needed all five sets to win his semifinal match and reach his second straight
French Open final.
The fifth-seeded Soderling outlasted 15th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych,
<< Rays make a stop in Arlington
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays take aim at their third straight win
this evening when they visit the Texas Rangers in the first of three games
between the division leaders at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Tampa comes into t
<< Tigers bring hot bats into Kansas City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the focus of Detroit's game over the last few days
has been on its pitching, and more specifically Armando Galarraga, Miguel
Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez have made sure the offense gets its due as well.
The d
<< Angels resume trip with stop in Seattle
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim haven't been over the
.500 mark since late April and vie to do so tonight in the first of three
consecutive contests against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
The Angels won three of f
England's Ferdinand suffers training injury >>
Rustenburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England captain Rio Ferdinand left
a South Africa hospital on crutches after picking up a knee injury in training
on Friday.
Fabio Capello's team was taking part in its first training session
Mihajlovic named new Fiorentina manager >>
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fiorentina have named Sinisa Mihajlovic as
their new coach after Cesare Prandelli confirmed that he will be succeeding
Marcello Lippi as Italy's manager.
The Serbian resigned from his position as Ca
Stosur, Schiavone will decide French Open champ on Saturday >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventh-seeded Aussie Samantha Stosur
and 17th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone will be the surprising
combatants in Saturday's ladies' final at the 2010 French Open.
Stosur and Schia
Wooden 'resting comfortably' in hospital >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Legendary basketball coach John Wooden is
resting comfortably at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to a
release from the UCLA athletics department.
The medical update said Wooden, 99, s
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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