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02/11/2012 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao is out indefinitely after an MRI on Saturday showed a non-displaced fracture of the right wrist.
A timeline for his return to action will be established next week.
Varejao injured the wrist in Friday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks with 9:01 remaining in the third quarter.
The seven-year pro is averaging career highs in points (10.8) and rebounds (11.5).
<< Seguin, Bruins take down Predators in SO
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored in the
shootout and the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3, on Saturday
afternoon.
Bergeron, Daniel Paille and Milan Lucic had goals in regulation as the
<< Montpellier joins PSG at the top of Ligue 1
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montpellier scored three second-half
goals in the span of 14 minutes en route to a 3-0 win over Ajaccio at the
Stade de la Mosson on Saturday.
The victory moves Montpellier level on points wit
<< Panthers top Devils in Jersey
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils surely won't miss seeing
Florida's Kris Versteeg for the rest of the season.
Versteeg put the Panthers ahead in the second period with his fifth goal in
four meetings against New Jer
<< Callahan's hat trick helps Rangers beat Philly again
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Callahan's second career hat trick
helped the Rangers continue their winning ways against the Flyers this season,
as New York exited Philadelphia on Saturday with a 5-2 victory.
Marian Gaborik add
Martens lifts AZ to top of Eredivisie >>
Alkmaar, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A second-half brace from Maarten
Martens handed AZ Alkmaar a 2-0 win over Excelsior on Saturday, lifting AZ
into the top spot in the Eredivisie table.
A 6-0 win in midweek moved AZ level wit
Milan rallies to down Udinese >>
Udine, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan scored twice in the final 15 minutes
to claim a 2-1 comeback win at Udinese on Saturday, moving the Rossoneri two
points clear of Juventus at the top of Serie A.
Antonio Di Natale fired Udinese i
Hall lifts Oilers over Senators in OT >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Taylor Hall scored 17 seconds into overtime to
lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Magnus Paajarvi, Ben Eager and Shawn Horcoff also scored for the Oilers and
Horcoff
Senior joins Pavin in the lead in Boca Raton >>
Boca Raton, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Senior birdied the final hole Saturday
to join Corey Pavin atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Allianz
Championship.
Senior carded a four-under 68 in round two, while Pavin managed a two-under
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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