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07/28/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee slugged a pair of two-run home runs to back the solid pitching of Bud Norris in Houston's 8-1 win over Chicago to close a three-game set.
Lee had his 19th career multi-homer game for the Astros, who have taken two out of three in all four series between the teams this season.
Norris (3-7) yielded a lone unearned run on four hits while walking three and striking out seven over six innings for Houston, which has won four straight series over the Cubs for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Randy Wells (5-8) was charged with three runs on five hits and five walks, while fanning four, over 5 2/3 frames for Chicago, which has dropped three out of four.
<< Young powers offense as Twins complete sweep of Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Delmon Young hit a three-run homer and
Jason Repko added a solo shot, as the Twins completed a three-game sweep of
the Royals with a 6-4 win.
It wasn't the same result as the past two days, when M
<< Ducks sign first-round choice Fowler
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Cam
Fowler, their first-round draft choice, to a three-year entry-level contract.
Per team policy, no financial details of the deal were released.
The 18-year-old
<< Bengals sign Dunlap
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals have reportedly
signed rookie defensive end Carlos Dunlap.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Cincinnati's second round pick has
signed for four years.
Last season w
<< Cardinals option P Salas, promote P MacDougal
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals have optioned pitcher
Fernando Salas to Triple-A Memphis and recalled pitcher Mike MacDougal from
the same club.
Salas has bounced back and forth between the major and minor league
Formula One >>
Agreed on a 10-year contract to continue the Monaco Grand Prix.
Saints sign TE Graham, QB Ramsey >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints signed tight end
Jimmy Graham and quarterback Patrick Ramsey on Wednesday.
Graham, a third-round pick out of Miami-Florida, played in 13 games for the
Hurricanes last season
Clippers re-sign Butler >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have re-signed
forward Rasual Butler, the team announced Wednesday. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed.
Butler, 31, averaged a career-best 11.9 points in 82 games for th
Raptors acquire C Andersen from Houston >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors have acquired center
David Andersen and cash considerations from the Houston Rockets in exchange
for a 2015 protected second-round draft choice.
The Australian-born Andersen avera
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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