Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
01/26/2007 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs released pitcher Glendon Rusch on Thursday after a blood clot in his left lung cut short his 2006 season.
The left-hander, 32, was 3-8 with a 7.46 earned run average in 25 games, including nine starts last season.
Rusch said he felt pain in his chest in September while working out on the treadmill and was immediately taken to the hospital. He was then diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism blood clot in his lung, which usually originates in the lower leg and travels to the lung.
The condition was potentially life threatening, but was caught in time. He will be on blood thinning medication for the next three-to-six months.
He has a 60-94 career record with a 5.01 ERA in 296 appearances -- 211 starts -- spanning nine seasons with Kansas City, New York Mets, Milwaukee and the Cubs.
<< Gordon, Bulls down Mavs
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Gordon had 30 points, six rebounds and
five assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 96-85 win over the Dallas
Mavericks at the United Center.
Luol Deng donated 21 points and grabbed nine boar
<< No. 8 LSU rolls past Arkansas
Baton Rouge, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quianna Chaney had 15 points to pace
eighth-ranked LSU past Arkansas, 70-53, in a Southeastern Conference clash at
Maravich Center.
Sylvia Fowles added 13 points and 13 rebounds for LSU (19-2, 5-1
<< Purdue routs Northwestern
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton scored 17 points
as 12th-ranked Purdue demolished Northwestern, 72-30, at Mackey Arena.
Erin Lawless had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Purdue (19-3, 8-0 Big Ten),
which has
<< Lady Vols hold off Vanderbilt
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Spencer poured in a career-high 26
points and grabbed seven rebounds as fourth-ranked Tennessee held off 15th-
ranked Vanderbilt, 67-57, in a SEC clash.
Candace Parker scored 19 points and pull
No. 9 Stanford downs Arizona >>
Tucson, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooke Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10
rebounds as ninth-ranked Stanford held on to beat Arizona, 86-76, to remain
perfect in the Pac-10 standings.
Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel each scored 18
Sessions, Nevada rout Louisiana Tech >>
Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ramon Sessions dropped in 21 points on 8-of-12
shooting to guide No. 18 Nevada past Louisiana Tech, 84-67, at Lawlor Events
Center.
Sessions also had seven rebounds and six assists while Nick Fazekas scored
Sun Devils roar past Cal >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jill Noe poured in a season-best 19 points and
added seven rebounds to pace 10th-ranked Arizona State past No. 20 California,
66-54, at Wells Fargo Arena.
Emily Westerberg scored 15 points and Briann January
Washington upends No. 7 Oregon >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Dentmon scored 24 points and dished out
six assists as Washington toppled seventh-ranked Oregon, 89-77, at Bank of
America Arena.
Ryan Appleby donated 16 points while Spencer Hawes ended with 1
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.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting