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01/27/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies avoided arbitration with outfielder Hunter Pence on Friday, signing him to a one-year deal worth $10.4 million.
Pence, who was acquired from the Houston Astros on July 29, hit .324 with 11 home runs, 12 doubles and knocked in 35 runs in 54 games for the NL East- champion Phillies.
He led the club with a .394 on-base mark and .560 slugging percentage following the deal.
All told, the 28-year-old Pence batted .314 and collected 22 homers, 38 doubles and 97 RBI in 154 games.
In a five-game playoff loss to St. Louis, his first postseason venture, Pence hit a paltry .211 and knocked in four runs over 19 at-bats.
<< Report: Browns hire Childress as OC
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have hired Brad Childress as offensive
coordinator, according to a report.
Childress will become the first offensive coordinator under Browns head coach
Pat Shurmer, NFL.com reported Friday.
The f
<< Giants sign infielder Theriot
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants signed infielder
Ryan Theriot to a one-year, non-guaranteed major league contract.
The deal, announced Friday, is pending a physical.
Theriot, 32, played in 132 games for the W
<< AC Milan signs Lopez from Catania
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan announced Friday that it has signed
striker Maxi Lopez from Catania, possibly signaling the end of the Rossoneri's
pursuit of Carlos Tevez.
Milan appeared to be in the mix to land the want-away Manc
<< Bayern hopes to start new run against Wolfsburg
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich opened the second half of the
Bundesliga season the way it opened the first half, with a loss. But after the
setback to Monchengladbach in August, Bayern became invincible.
Well, at least for
Bucks' Bogut out with fractured ankle >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut will
miss the next 8-to-12 weeks with a fractured left ankle.
Bucks general manager John Hammond made the announcement on Friday through the
club's Twitter account.
Patriots' defense making the most of spare parts >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A year ago, Sterling Moore was taking in the Super Bowl as a
spectator, perched way up in the rafters of spacious Cowboys Stadium as a
college senior at nearby Southern Methodist University.
The rookie cornerback will have
Hannover gets first Bundesliga win since October >>
Hannover, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mohammed Abdellaoue scored his 10th goal
of the season and Hannover edged Nurnberg, 1-0, on Friday at AWD Arena for its
first Bundesliga win since October.
Hannover had six draws and two losses in its l
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
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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