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01/27/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers signed free-agent veteran center Francisco Elson on Friday.
The signing provides the Sixers depth in the frontcourt as Spencer Hawes and rookie Nikola Vucevic have battled injuries over recent weeks. Hawes has missed six consecutive games with a strained left Achilles tendon while Vucevic has sat out the last two contests with a quad injury.
In 62 games with the Utah Jazz last season, Elson averaged 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Elson has averages of 3.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 467 career games with the Nuggets, Spurs, SuperSonics, Bucks, 76ers and Jazz.
<< Real Madrid goes for fifth-straight win vs. Zaragoza
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid welcomes Real Zaragoza to the
Bernabeu in La Liga action Saturday as the first-place club looks to secure
its fifth-straight league win.
The leaders enter the weekend with a five-poin
<< Trojans' Dedmon out with torn ACL
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Southern California head coach Kevin
O'Neill announced on Friday that forward Dewayne Dedmon was diagnosed with a
torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee as is likely out for the
remaind
<< Racing legend Foyt forced to skip Rolex 24 at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Foyt will miss this weekend's Rolex
24 at Daytona after being hospitalized due to complications from recent knee
surgery.
Foyt, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was scheduled to serve as G
<< Mets sign INF Tuiasosopo
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets signed free agent infielder
Matt Tuiasosopo on Friday.
Tuiasosopo, 25, played sparingly in three major league seasons for the Seattle
Mariners between 2008-10 and hit .176 with 15 runs batte
Dolphins hire new offensive and defensive coordinators >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Dolphins new head coach Joe Philbin chose
his coaching staff on Friday, naming Mike Sherman as offensive coordinator and
Kevin Coyle as defensive coordinator.
Sherman has spent the last four years as the
Browns hire Childress as OC >>
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns named former Minnesota
Vikings head coach Brad Childress offensive coordinator on Friday.
Childress becomes the first offensive coordinator under Browns head coach Pat
Shurmer.
Amon
Wade back after 6-game absence >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will make his return
to the lineup on Friday night against the New York Knicks.
Wade has missed the last six games with a right ankle/leg injury suffered in a
January 13 loss at Denve
Cremins taking medical leave of absence >>
Charleston, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - College of Charleston men's basketball coach
Bobby Cremins announced Friday that he is taking a medical leave of absence.
Per Cremins' request, associate head coach Mark Byington has been named
interi
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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