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
07/19/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to a contract with free agent forward Craig Smith.
Smith averaged 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 16.4 minutes of action in 75 games last season for LA while hitting 57 percent of his shots from the floor.
He was originally acquired in a four-player swap last July that saw Quentin Richardson dealt to Minnesota.
A veteran of four NBA seasons, the 26-year-old Boston College product has produced per-game averages of 8.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 308 career games (49 starts) for the Timberwolves and Clippers.
<< Nowitzki re-signs with Mavs
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nine-time All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki signed
his contract with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
The deal, which is reportedly worth $80 million over four years, allows
Nowitzki to remain with the team
<< Mets activate Castillo from DL
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, who
has been out since June 2 due to a bruised right heel, was activated from the
15-day disabled list Monday.
Castillo is hitting .241 with 14 RBI in 44 games this
<< Kang leads U.S. Girls' Junior
Village of Pinehurst, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danielle Kang shot a five-under 67
on Monday to take the first-round lead at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.
Kang, 17, collected seven birdies against two bogeys at the Country Club of
Nort
<< Twins' Morneau to see specialist
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin
Morneau will see a specialist Tuesday, as he continues to deal with symptoms
of a concussion he sustained before the All-Star break.
Morneau is on the disabled
GM: Trade market quiet for White Sox >>
SEATTLE (AP) -General manager Kenny Williams says he doesn't see any deals on the horizon for the Chicago White Sox because the current market is limited.Williams spoke in the visiting dugout before Monday night's game at Seattle, 12 days before bas
Source: Babby to head Suns basketball operations >>
PHOENIX (AP) -A person with knowledge of the situation says the Phoenix Suns have hired agent Lon Babby to head the team's basketball operations.The person, who asked not to be identified because the official announcement has not been made, told The
Cardinals pound Kendrick, Phillies 8-4 >>
ST. LOUIS (AP) -Albert Pujols' two-run home run in the fifth inning began a barrage of four long balls in a span of six at-bats and Blake Hawksworth survived a rocky start in the St. Louis Cardinals' 8-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.Rookie
Rangers' Nippert takes line drive off head >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert was
drilled on the side of the head by a line drive off the bat of Austin Jackson
during Monday's game versus the Tigers at Comerica Park.
The right-hander tried in
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