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07/15/2010 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers have signed defenseman Theo Peckham to a one-year contract.
Peckham, 22, has played in 31 career NHL games with the Oilers, including a 15-game stint during the 2009-10 campaign.
He recorded his only NHL point -- an assist -- on March 2 against Nashville and has also compiled 104 penalty minutes in his short career.
<< Nets ink first-round picks Favors, James
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets signed 2010 first-
round draft picks Derrick Favors and Damion James on Thursday.
The Nets selected Favors with the third overall pick after the 6-foot-10, 246-
pound forward aver
<< Davydenko ousted in Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko came up a
second-round loser Thursday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event.
Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver upended the speedy world No. 6 Russian star in
7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-1
<< Hurricanes to retire Brind'Amour's number
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rod Brind'Amour will have his No. 17 jersey
retired by the Carolina Hurricanes prior to a February 18, 2011 contest
against the Philadelphia flyers.
Brind'Amour announced his retirement after a 20
<< Cubs should stop pretending they're contenders
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been a typical summer along the North
Side of Chicago. The sun is shining, the bleachers and rooftops that surround
the incomparable Wrigley Field are packed to the gills, and the beer pours
endlessly fr
Unga, Price-Brent taken in supplemental draft >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL's supplemental draft took place on
Thursday and two players were taken -- running back Harvey Unga of BYU and
defensive tackle Josh Price-Brent of Illinois.
Unga was selected by the Chicago Be
All-UFA Team: The best of the leftovers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite his surprisingly deliberate search
for a new team, Ilya Kovalchuk is still gaining headlines as the top free
agent left on the NHL's open market.
While it's certainly shocking that we are two weeks
Islanders sign Kohn >>
Bridgeport, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders signed defenseman
Dustin Kohn to a one-year, two-way contract.
Kohn appeared in 22 games with the Islanders last season, his first in the
NHL. He totaled four assists in those
All eyes on Colangelo, Bargnani >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a hot summer in full swing, it's no
surprise that Bryan Colangelo has been busy working up a sweat.
After sending Chris Bosh to the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade deal that netted
the Toronto Raptors
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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