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07/11/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Houston, 4-2, in the rubber match of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park.
St. Louis starter Blake Hawksworth (3-5) struggled in the first inning, yielding back-to-back RBI singles to Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence, but wound up pitching into the sixth inning.
The Cardinals head into the All-Star break with a 47-41 record, one game behind the upstart Cincinnati Reds for first place in the National League Central.
Holliday's blast was one of four hits given up by Houston's Wandy Rodriguez (6-11), who fanned six through six innings.
The Astros go into the break with a 36-53 mark.
<< Iniesta wins World Cup for Spain
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andres Iniesta scored in the
116th minute to help Spain claim its first World Cup title with a 1-0 win over
the Netherlands at Soccer City Stadium on Sunday.
Just minutes after Dutch defender
<< Quentin homers twice as White Sox pound Royals
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Quentin hit a grand slam and solo home
run, and Andruw Jones added his 400th career homer, as the Chicago White Sox
slugged their way to a 15-5 win over the Kansas City Royals.
The White Sox hit fi
<< Phils head into break with four-game sweep of Reds
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cole Hamels tossed 7 2/3 scoreless
innings, while Jose Contreras, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge finished off the
shutout and Philadelphia's four-game sweep of Cincinnati with another 1-0
decisio
<< Fish fights back to beat Rochus in Newport final
Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mardy Fish got his first title of the season
on Sunday, in a three-set victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus in the final at
the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Fish dropped the first set, but came bac
Bartlett's hit in 10th lifts Rays over Tribe >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Bartlett drove in the game-winner
in the 10th inning as the Tampa Bay Rays took a 6-5 win over the Cleveland
Indians in the finale of a four-game set.
With men on first and second and Kerry Wo
Dillon claims first truck win at Iowa >>
Newton, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Austin Dillon became a first time winner
in the Camping World Truck Series by taking Sunday's Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa
Speedway.
Dillon, the grandson of NASCAR multi-team owner Richard Childress, put
Creamer wins 1st major at U.S. Women's Open >>
Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer poured in back-to-back birdies
from the 14th hole in Sunday's final round and coasted from there to win the
U.S. Women's Open.
Creamer earned her ninth LPGA Tour title and first major championship
Hart's ninth-inning homer caps Brewers' sweep of Pirates >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Hart capped his All-Star first half
with a game-winning, two-run homer in the ninth, lifting the Brewers to a 6-5
win over the Pirates in the finale of a three-game series.
After Andrew McCutchen'
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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