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05/15/2010 - Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Co-favorite Lookin At Lucky captured the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.
Lookin At Lucky, who went off at 2-1, was ridden by Martin Garcia and trained by Bob Baffert, who captured his first Preakness since 2002 with War Emblem.
First Dude finished second, and Jackson Bend third.
The illustrious Triple Crown will remain vacant for a 33rd consecutive year after Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver could not capture this race. Affirmed remains the last horse to accomplish the feat, in 1978.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
<< Rockies' Hammel back from DL; Young out with stress fracture
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies have reinstated pitcher
Jason Hammel from the 15-day disabled list and placed infielder/outfielder
Eric Young Jr. on the 15-day DL with a stress fracture in his right leg.
Hammel is
<< Federer and Nadal to meet in Madrid final
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Roger Federer outlasted Spain's
David Ferrer in Saturday's semifinal at the $3.6 million Madrid Open and will
meet rival Rafael Nadal in the final.
Federer earned a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over F
<< Leonardo leaves Milan a winner
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ronaldinho scored a pair of goals to help AC
Milan topple Juventus, 3-0, at the San Siro on Saturday in Leonardo's final
game as Milan manager.
It was announced earlier in the week that Leonardo would s
<< Indians place INF Marte on DL; recall OF Crowe
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians announced Saturday that
infielder Andy Marte has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a non-
baseball medical issue.
According to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Mart
Athletics activate Duchscherer from DL for Saturday start >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics reinstated pitcher
Justin Duchscherer from the 15-day disabled list.
Duchscherer was 2-1 with a 2.89 earned run average in five starts before being
placed on the DL May 7 with a
Padres reinstate Correia from bereavement list >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres on Saturday reinstated
pitcher Kevin Correia from the bereavement list and optioned pitcher Adam
Russell to Triple-A Portland.
The 29-year-old Correia was placed on the bereavem
Pettersen and Lincicome join Pak in first >>
Mobile, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lincicome joined
Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak atop the leaderboard after Saturday's third round of
the Bell Micro LPGA Classic.
Pettersen fired a seven-under 65, while Lincicome used
Lincecum remains unbeaten as Giants edge Astros >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum allowed only one run in
eight strong innings, and Juan Uribe hit a two-run homer, helping the San
Francisco Giants continue their recent dominance of the Houston Astros with a
2-1 win
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.
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