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08/04/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals recalled outfielder Allen Craig from Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday and optioned outfielder Nick Stavinoha to the Redbirds.
Craig has played in 15 games with the major league club this season, batting a mere .179 with one homer and seven RBI. In 77 minor league games this season, the 26-year-old is batting .322 with 14 homers and 76 RBI.
Stavinoha has made 60 appearances this season for St. Louis, batting .258 with two homers and seven runs batted in.
<< Astros activate Blum from DL
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros activated infielder Geoff
Blum from the 15-day disabled list in time to insert him into the lineup for
Tuesday's 18-4 win over St. Louis.
Blum didn't start, but was put into the game as a p
<< Blanco lifts Royals over A's
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregor Blanco drove in the winning run in the
ninth inning to lift Kansas City to a 3-2 win over Oakland in the middle
meeting of a three-game series.
Blanco's fielder's choice grounder plated Alex Gord
<< Roddick, Verdasco move on in Washington
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded American Andy Roddick and
third-seed Fernando Verdasco were second-round winners on Tuesday at the
$1.402 million Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a hardcourt U.S. Open Series event.
Roddi
<< Lilly solid in LA debut as Dodgers edge Padres
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ted Lilly was impressive in his Dodgers
debut, giving up just one run on two hits over seven innings, as Los Angeles
edged the San Diego Padres, 2-1, in the second test of a four-game series.
Lilly (
Jags rookie DT Smith may miss season >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacksonville Jaguars rookie defensive
tackle D'Anthony Smith may miss the entire 2010 season after suffering an
injury to his right Achilles' tendon.
According to The Florida Times-Union, Smith,
Mariners' Bedard to have surgery again >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oft-injured Seattle Mariners starting pitcher
Erik Bedard will have left shoulder surgery on Friday.
It will be the lefty's third surgery in as many years on his pitching
shoulder, and this procedu
Sabres cut ties with Kennedy >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres waived and will buy out
forward Tim Kennedy's contract after he was awarded a $1 million, one-year
deal from an arbitrator last Thursday.
The buyout is worth $333,333 over the next
Teammates say Favre texted them of plans to retire >>
MANKATO, Minn. (AP) -With everyone assuming Brett Favre was returning for a 20th NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings were enjoying a relatively calm and quiet training camp as they started preparations for another run at the Super Bowl.All that tranqu
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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