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07/28/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers signed forward Ben Eager on Wednesday. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Eager spent last season with the Blackhawks and posted seven goals and nine assists with 120 penalty minutes over 60 games. In the playoffs, he had a goal and two assists over 18 contests to help Chicago win the Stanley Cup.
Over five seasons in the NHL, which included a stint with the Flyers, he has 27 goals and 25 assists with 621 penalty minutes in 255 games.
<< Jones, Hudson lead Atlanta past Washington
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chipper Jones drove in two runs and Tim
Hudson was solid in 7 2/3 innings on the mound, as the Atlanta Braves took
down the Washington Nationals, 3-1, in the second test of a three-game set at
Nationa
<< Halladay goes distance again, Brown shines in MLB debut
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Outfielder Domonic Brown stroked an RBI
double on his first major league swing and Roy Halladay tossed his major
league-leading eighth complete game of the season, as the surging Philadelphia
Phillie
<< Mills picks up first MLB win as Blue Jays sweep O's
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Mills threw seven shutout innings for his
first career win as the Toronto Blue Jays continued their domination of the
Baltimore Orioles with a 5-0 win to cap a three-game sweep.
Mills (1-0) gave up
<< A's lose Sheets for the season
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics pitcher Ben Sheets will
miss the remainder of the 2010 season with a torn flexor tendon in his right
elbow.
Sheets was placed on the disabled list Saturday, retroactive to July 20, wi
Cahill helps Oakland down Texas >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Cahill allowed two hits over eight
innings in a dominant performance, and Kurt Suzuki homered and knocked in two
runs to guide Oakland in 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers in the middle contest
of a th
Report: Wizards re-sign F Josh Howard >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards have reached
agreement on a one-year deal with free agent forward Josh Howard.
According to TNT analyst David Aldridge, the deal could pay the veteran up to
$4 million if he
United dominates MLS All-Stars in front of record crowd >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major League Soccer All-Stars fell to
English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United, 5-2, on Wednesday night
in front of 70,728 fans at Reliant Stadium - the fourth-largest crowd to
witness
White Sox edge Mariners for 10th straight home win >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios singled home the go-ahead run in the
bottom of the seventh inning, and the Chicago White Sox came away with a 6-5
victory over Seattle in the third test of a four-game series at U.S. Cellular
Field.
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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