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03/06/2010 - Duluth, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alyssia Brewer scored a game-high 15 points with seven rebounds to help fourth-ranked Tennessee defeat the Vanderbilt Commodores, 68-49, to move to the final of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Angie Bjorklund added 12 points and Shekinna Stricklen chipped in with nine for the Lady Vols (29-2), who improved to 19-8 all-time in semifinals of the conference tourney.
Hannah Tuomi paced Vandy (22-10) with 12 points, while Merideth Marsh logged 11.
Tennessee shot a respectable 46 percent from the field, while Vandy made just 31.7 percent of its field goals. The Lady Vols outrebounded the Commodores 42-27.
<< Sun Belt Conference Tournament Recaps
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Sherrer hit a jumper with four
seconds left to lead the ninth-seeded South Alabama Jaguars to a 52-51 victory
over the eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls in the first round of the Sun
Belt Co
<< Packers retain OT Clifton
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers have re-signed
offensive tackle Chad Clifton, keeping the stalwart lineman that has started
for the team since 2000.
Terms were not released, but the deal was originally repo
<< Real Madrid joins Barca on top
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Van der Vaart's stoppage-time goal
gave Real Madrid a 3-2 comeback win over Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu on
Saturday, while Barcelona could only manage a 2-2 draw with Almeria, leaving
the two
<< Stanford finishes off perfect Pac-10 slate
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kayla Pedersen had 23 points and Nnemkadi
Ogwumike scored 22, as No. 2 Stanford beat California, 63-48, to wrap up their
first undefeated Pac-10 season since 2002.
Ogwumike added 14 rebounds and Pederse
Couples cruises to lead at Toshiba Classic >>
Newport Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fred Couples fired a seven-under 64 on
Saturday to move to the top of the leaderboard after two rounds of the Toshiba
Classic.
Couples finished 36 holes at 12-under 130 and missed Rodger Davis' 2003
Cardinals acquire S Rhodes from Jets >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals have acquired safety Kerry
Rhodes from the New York Jets in exchange for two draft picks.
The Jets will receive Arizona's fourth-round selection in 2010 and seventh-
round selection in 2
Jags sign WR Osgood >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars signed wide
receiver Kassim Osgood to a reported three-year contract on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Osgood has played mostly on special teams since breaking into
the NFL as an
Wild forward Boogaard suspended again >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wild forward Derek Boogaard was suspended for
two games on Saturday by the National Hockey League for an incident during
Minnesota's game against Edmonton on Friday.
In the first period of Friday's cont
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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