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02/16/2012 - Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jasmine Robinson scored 17 points and pulled down six rebounds as Alabama upset No. 7 Kentucky, 77-75, at Foster Auditorium.
Meghan Perkins added 14 points and a block and Kyra Crosby contributed 10 for the Crimson Tide (12-15, 2-11 SEC), who knocked off a top-10 ranked opponent for the first time in 12 years.
Mathies A'dia led all scorers with 26 points, Samarie Walker dropped 13 and Bria Goss donated 12 for the Wildcats (21-5, 10-3), who have dropped three straight to conference opponents after beginning SEC play 10-0. Kentucky lost at Tennessee on Monday and at LSU on February 5.
Alabama shot 53.7 percent from the field while holding Kentucky to 46.5 percent.
<< St. Louis wins it for Tampa Bay in OT
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin St. Louis scored a pair of goals,
including the game-winner with 32.8 seconds left in overtime, as the Tampa Bay
Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks, 6-5.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assi
<< Hill's shooting leads Ohio State over Indiana
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tayler Hill went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc
and ended with 27 points, leading No. 9 Ohio State to a 75-54 victory over
Indiana.
Amber Stokes had 14 points and seven assists for the Buckeyes (23-3, 10-3
<< Maryland handles Virginia
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tianna Hawkins had a double-double with
a career-high 26 points and 14 rebounds, as the eighth-ranked Maryland
Terrapins dominated the Virginia Cavaliers, 73-56.
Alyssa Thomas added 16 points an
<< Flyers score seven straight to rout Sabres
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wayne Simmonds and Maxime Talbot both
scored a pair of goals, as the Flyers finished strong to down the Sabres, 7-2,
on Thursday.
Scott Hartnell had a goal and three assists, Jakub Voracek notched a
Blues take down Isles >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - T.J. Oshie had a goal and two assists and
Brian Elliott made 26 saves, as the Blues downed the Islanders, 5-1, on
Thursday.
Jason Arnott, Kevin Shattenkirk, Andy McDonald and David Perron all score
Kane leads Jets past Wild in shootout >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evander Kane scored twice in regulation and
the winner in the shootout to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-3 win over the
Minnesota Wild.
In the fourth round, Dany Heatley was stopped by Chris Mason and
Boozer and Bulls rally over Boston >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer scored 23 points, grabbed 15
rebounds and dished out five assists, and the Chicago Bulls utilized a late
12-0 run to take down the Boston Celtics, 89-80, at United Center.
Luol Deng and
Duke rallies past NC State >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke is becoming quite good at this comeback
thing.
Seth Curry scored 26 points and Austin Rivers added 16, including the go-ahead
three-pointer with 2:26 to play, as No.5 Duke rallied from a double-dig
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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