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
07/10/2010 - Coquimbo, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Czech Republic clinched a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals Saturday after a victory in the doubles rubber over host Chile.
Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek were 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winners over the Chilean tandem of Jorge Aguilar and Nicolas Massu, giving the Czechs an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Ivo Minar and Hajek had notched singles victories on Friday for the Czech Republic, which was the runner-up of this event in 2009 to reigning two-time champion Spain. However, Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup as France took a 3-0 lead. The Czechs captured their lone title back in 1980, led by the great Ivan Lendl.
Sunday's reverse singles tentatively have Massu facing Hajek and Paul Capdeville encountering Minar.
The Czech Republic will face the Croatia-Serbia victor in September's semifinals.
<< Creamer, Yokomine share U.S. Women's Open lead
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer and Sakura Yokomine shared the
lead with two rounds finally completed at the U.S. Women's Open.
Creamer posted a second-round, one-under 70 Saturday, while Yokomine managed
her second straigh
<< TFC tops Colorado to stay unbeaten at home
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fuad Ibrahim's 61st-minute goal was enough to
lead Toronto FC to a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids at BMO Field on
Saturday.
The goal was Ibrahim's first of the season and it allows Toronto to exten
<< Petro headed to Nets
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have reached an
agreement in principle with free agent center Johan Petro.
Terms of the deal weren't announced, but The Star-Ledger reports it's for
three years and worth $1
<< Clippers ink two first-round picks
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers signed two first-
round draft picks on Saturday - rookie forward Al-Farouq Aminu, the eighth
overall selection and rookie guard Eric Bledsoe, the 18th pick.
Aminu, who played
Heat meet with Derek Fisher >>
MIAMI (AP) -Free agent point guard Derek Fisher has met with the Miami Heat on the day after the team lavishly introduced LeBron James and Chris Bosh as Dwyane Wade's newest teammates.Fisher has been part of all five Los Angeles Lakers' championship
Khedira's late goal helps Germany claim third place >>
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sami Khedira's goal eight
minutes from time capped a 3-2 Germany win over Uruguay in the third-place
match of the FIFA World Cup at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
Khedira brok
Maver's last-second FG sends Stamps past Hamilton >>
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rob Maver knocked through a 23-yard field goal
with 10 seconds remaining to give the Calgary Stampeders a thrilling 23-22 win
over the Hamilton Tigercats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Maver nailed all three of his
Hornets agree with G Head >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hornets have reached an agreement to
sign free agent guard Luther Head, according to New Orleans general manager
Jeff Bower.
Bower told the Times Picayune that the two sides agreed to a two-year c
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