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06/04/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers benched forward Dan Carcillo and replaced him with forward James van Riemsdyk for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Carcillo played the previous two games and was a minus-one with two penalty minutes in each contest.
van Riemsdyk, who Carcillo replaced for the past two games, has two goals and two assists over 18 games in the playoffs, but was a minus-two in a 6-5 loss to Chicago in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Chicago leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1.
<< Briscoe edges Franchitti for Texas pole
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Briscoe won Friday's qualifying for the
Firestone 500k IZOD IndyCar Series race after beating Dario Franchitti by the
slimmest of margins at Texas Motor Speedway.
Briscoe from Team Penske earned his s
<< Another blow for Cleveland: Sizemore out for season after surgery
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady
Sizemore underwent surgery on Friday and will miss the rest of the regular
season.
Sizemore was expected to be sidelined 6-to-8 weeks following the procedu
<< Staten moves in front in College Park
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - B.J. Staten fired a seven-under 64 on
Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Melwood
Prince George's County Open.
Staten finished 36 holes at 11-under 131 and is one cl
<< Italy's Pirlo suffers calf injury
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo injured his calf
in Thursday's friendly against Mexico and could miss the World Cup.
Pirlo could miss up to three weeks with the injury and Italy starts defense of
its World Cup t
Braves disable Saito >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have placed reliever
Takashi Saito on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring injury.
Saito felt tightness while pitching in the ninth inning of Atlanta's 4-3 win
against th
Brewers make numerous roster moves >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers made a number of roster
moves on Friday, including reinstating infielder Mat Gamel from the 60-day
disabled list.
Gamel has not played a game in the majors this season due to an
Flyers have two-goal lead after one period in Game 4 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goals from Mike Richards, Claude Giroux
and Matt Carle were countered by a goal from Patrick Sharp as the Philadelphia
Flyers hold a 3-1 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks after 20 minutes of action
in Game 4 o
Broncos give OL Kuper six-year deal >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos made a number of moves on
Friday, including giving offensive lineman Chris Kuper a six-year contract.
Kuper, a fifth-round pick of Denver in 2006, has started 42 games in his
career.
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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