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07/12/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edoardo Molinari collected his first European Tour win Sunday at the Scottish Open and in the process, moved inside the top 20 of the world rankings.
Molinari moved up 22 places to 19th this week.
Tiger Woods, who heads to St. Andrews Thursday as a two-time British Open champion at the Old Course, stays in first, followed by Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood.
Steve Stricker's impressive victory Sunday at the John Deere Classic didn't move him anywhere in the rankings. Stricker remained in fourth, while Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey once again completed the top 10.
U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell leapt up two places to 11th, while the injured Anthony Kim and Martin Kaymer both dropped one. Robert Allenby and Padraig Harrington kept the 14th and 15th spots, respectively.
Justin Rose and Camilo Villegas came in Nos. 16 and 17. Zach Johnson moved up one to 18, followed by Molinari and Retief Goosen, who sank two to No. 20.
Players Champion Tim Clark fell out of the top 20.
<< NL Pitcher Gets All-Star Snub
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For those of you still wrapped up in Strasburg-
mania, I have to regretfully inform you that he's not the pitcher referred to
in the above headline. As impressive as the Nationals' rookie has been, and as
much as
<< Two horse race continues in NTRA Poll
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following a one week break from voting in the
NTRA National Poll, the same two horses remain on top of the tabulation.
Champion mare Zenyatta holds a narrow lead over four-year-old colt Quality
Road.
<< Young replaces Beltre on AL All-Star team
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers third baseman Michael Young
became the latest injury replacement for the All-Star Game, named Monday to
take the spot of Boston's Adrian Beltre on the American League roster.
American Le
<< Creamer up to No. 7 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer finally earned her first
major championship on Sunday at the U.S. Women's Open and the victory moved
her back into the top 10 of the world rankings.
Creamer vaulted up six places to se
Hanescu ousted in Stuttgart >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth seed and 2009 runner-up Victor
Hanescu was an opening-round upset victim Monday at the Mercedes Cup tennis
event.
The Romanian Hanescu was knocked out by Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (7-4), 6
Chivas USA's Braun earns MLS Player of Week >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA forward Justin Braun was
voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 15 of the 2010
season on Monday.
Braun scored both of his club's goals in its 2-0 win over th
Three advance in Prague >>
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A trio of unseeded women, including
Slovenian Polona Hercog, posted first-round wins Monday at the $220,000 Prague
Open tennis event.
Hercog humbled German Tatjana Malek 6-4, 6-2 on the red clay at
Henry to New York exactly what MLS needs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In one of the worst-kept secrets in soccer, French striker
Thierry Henry will be announced as Red Bull New York's second designated
player at a press conference on Thursday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.
What
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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