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02/19/2012 - Pacific Palisades, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Haas holed an unlikely 43-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley and win the Northern Trust Open.
After a pair of incredible birdie putts from Mickelson and Bradley on the 18th hole at Riviera forced the playoff, Haas made the long birdie try for his fourth PGA Tour title.
The reigning FedExCup champion shot a two-under 69 in Sunday's final round to get in at seven-under 277. Mickelson, who was going for back-to-back victories after his win at Pebble last week, and PGA Champion Bradley both had even-par 71s.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
<< Tomko inks minor league deal with Reds
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds have signed pitcher
Brett Tomko to a minor league contract, the team announced Sunday.
A 14-year major league veteran, Tomko began his career with the Reds in 1997,
amassing a 29-26
<< Schalke GK Unnerstall suffers shoulder injury
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Schalke goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall
suffered a shoulder injury Sunday, and the Bundesliga club will likely have to
turn to Timo Hildebrand in upcoming matches.
Unnerstall, who was filling in for in
<< Valencia's Banega run over by his own car
Valencia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Valencia midfielder Ever Banega fractured
his tibia and perone bones Sunday when his own car rolled over his foot at a
gas station and is expected to be out six months, the La Liga club said.
The 23-yea
<< De Graafschap fires coach Ulderink
Doetinchem, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - De Graafschap, which is buried at
the foot of the Eredivisie standings, fired coach Andries Ulderink on Sunday.
De Graafschap sits at the bottom of the standings with just 13 points from 21
games
Yankees-Pirates finalize Burnett trade >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have officially traded
right-handed pitcher A.J. Burnett to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a pair of
minor leaguers -- relief pitcher Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones.
The
Raonic defends title in San Jose >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milos Raonic successfully defended his 2011
SAP Open title with a straight-set win over Denis Istomin in Sunday's finale.
The third-seeded Canadian fired seven aces and never offered a break
oppor
Rivers, Curry lead Duke over Boston College >>
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke's starting backcourt of Austin
Rivers and Seth Curry combined to score 34 points as No. 5 Duke routed Boston
College, 75-50.
Curry netted 18 while Rivers scored 16 to go with seven rebounds f
Mr. Bowling returns for Risen Star Stakes >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lecomte Stakes winner Mr. Bowling heads a
field of 11 three-year-olds for Saturday's $300,000 Risen Star Stakes at
Fair Grounds Race Course. The 1 1/6-mile race is a prelude to the $1 million
Louisia
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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