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02/01/2012 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday signed pitcher Juan Cruz to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
The 33-year-old right-hander went 5-0 with a 3.88 earned run average in 56 relief appearances for Tampa Bay last season.
Cruz has compiled a 37-35 record with a 4.13 ERA during his 11-year major league career. He has also played for the Cubs, Braves, Athletics, Diamondbacks and Royals.
<< Wilshere suffers another injury setback
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal and England midfielder Jack
Wilshere will spend further time on the sidelines after developing a stress
fracture in his right foot.
The 20-year-old has been out of action since June a
<< Penguins claim F O'Reilly off re-entry waivers
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed forward Cal
O'Reilly off of re-entry waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old has registered two goals and four assists in 27 combined games
with Nashvi
<< Isles center Tavares named top NHL player for January
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Islanders center John Tavares has
been named the NHL's First Star for the month of January.
Tavares led the league in points last month with nine goals and 13 assists
while registering a plu
<< No arguing with Patriots' (tight) end results
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the 2007 NFL season, the New England Patriots reached the
Super Bowl on the strength of an extraordinarily explosive offense that
contained a record-setting quarterback, a wide receiver with over 100 catches
and another wi
Buddle makes Galaxy return >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Galaxy announced Wednesday that
it has signed Edson Buddle on a free transfer after the American striker
spent one season in Germany with FC Ingolstadt.
Buddle previously featured for the
Alpha goes after first in Withers >>
Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alpha, winner of the Count Fleet Stakes,
heads a field of seven for Saturday's $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. The
1 1/16-mile event is part of the track's stakes series for three-year-olds
leading
In the FCS Huddle: Best class? Put up your Dukes >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The axiom for college recruiting is for a
particular university to keep the top high school players from its state at
home in its signing class.
The Virginia-laden roster of James Madison University footba
Mariners sign Guillen >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners signed infielder Carlos
Guillen to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training
Wednesday.
The 14-year veteran spent the first six seasons of his career wit
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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