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07/16/2010 - Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A power outage at Gateway International Raceway just outside St. Louis forced NASCAR to postpone the 200-mile Camping World Truck Series race until 1:30 p.m. (et) Saturday.
Shortly after Kevin Harvick won the pole for the CampingWorld.com 200, the outage occurred around the 1.25-mile track. The race was scheduled to begin just after 9:00 p.m. (et), but after a two-hour delay, NASCAR and track officials made the decision to postpone the event.
The Nationwide Series is scheduled to run a 250-mile race at Gateway Saturday night. Nationwide teams will practice in the morning and then qualify late in the afternoon.
Harvick claimed his first career truck pole after posting a lap of 133.325 m.p.h. The Sprint Cup Series regular has already won two truck events so far this season.
<< Kouzmanoff, Gonzalez help A's top Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in two runs and Gio
Gonzalez tossed seven innings of one-run ball, as the Oakland Athletics
handled the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, in the opener of a three-game series at
Kauffma
<< Wolf helps Brewers down Braves
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Wolf picked up a rare win against
Atlanta, backed by two RBI apiece from sluggers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder
in a 9-3 Brewers win at Turner Field.
Wolf (7-8) turned in six-plus solid frames,
<< Swisher's late heroics help Yankees overcome Rays
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Swisher hit the game-tying home run in the
eighth inning and singled in the winning run in the ninth, lifting the New
York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on an emotional night at
Yankee
<< Garrigus joins Bettencourt in first in Reno
Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Garrigus fired a seven-under 65 on Friday
to join first-round leader Matt Bettencourt in a share of first after the
second round of the Reno-Tahoe Open.
Garrigus and Bettencourt, who bogeyed his l
Astros' Moehler hits DL with groin strain >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros placed right-hander
Brian Moehler on the 15-day disabled list Friday with a strained right groin.
In addition, fellow righty Felipe Paulino had his right shoulder tendinitis
flare
Molina, Cardinals hit Dodgers again >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yadier Molina belted a two-run homer and
drove in four runs as St. Louis again used an offensive display to beat the
Los Angeles Dodgers, this time by an 8-4 count at Busch Stadium.
Tyler Greene and
Twins snap White Sox's nine-game win streak >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Mauer had two hits, including a big
two-run single in the eighth inning, as the Minnesota Twins held on for a 7-4
victory and snapped Chicago's nine-game win streak.
Francisco Liriano (7-7) pitche
Zito sparkles, Giants blank Mets again >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Giants starter Barry Zito tossed eight
brilliant innings to outduel fellow southpaw Jonathan Niese, as San Francisco
blanked the light-hitting New York Mets again, 1-0, at AT&T Park.
Zito (8-4)
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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