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03/13/2010 - Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler will be sidelined at least a week with a high right ankle sprain.
Kinsler suffered the injury in pre-game warmups on Friday and did not play in the proceeding exhibition tilt against the Padres.
He stated in a report on the team's website that he will be back on the field before Opening Day.
The 27-year-old appeared in a career-high 144 games last year in Texas, his fourth season with the club. He has been on the disabled list in each year as a result of a strained left hamstring (2009), a sports hernia ('08), a stress fracture in his left foot ('07) and a dislocated left thumb ('06).
Even still, Kinsler has hit .279 with 83 home runs and 273 RBI during his career, including a 31-homer, 86-RBI campaign last year.
<< Twins sign OF Span to five-year contract
Fort Myers, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins announced the signing of
outfielder Denard Span to a five-year, $16.5 million contract on Saturday.
The deal also includes a $9 million club option for the 2015 season.
Span hit .311 i
<< Bobcats sign Larry Hughes
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats have signed guard Larry
Hughes.
Hughes appeared in 31 games for the Knicks this season, then was dealt to
Sacramento at the trading deadline and subsequently waived without playin
<< Berkman sidelined 2-4 weeks after knee surgery
Kissimmee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman
underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Saturday morning.
The Astros said the procedure involved removing loose cartilage debris from
the knee. There w
<< Rockets kick off homestand vs. Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The chances of the Houston Rockets making the playoffs seem
to fade by the day. Tonight they'll have to get past the woeful New Jersey
Nets at the Toyota Center in the opener of a four-game homestand and hope for
some help ar
Tottenham reaffirms CL ambitions >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham took another step towards a top-
four finish on Saturday as the club downed Blackburn, 3-1, at White Hart Lane
behind two goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Jermain Defoe put Spurs in front righ
Vermont takes America East title with win over BU >>
Burlington, VT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marqus Blakely scored 24 points, grabbed 18
rebounds and handed out five assists, leading Vermont back to the NCAA
Tournament with an 83-70 victory over Boston University in the championship
game of
Dortmund moves into top four >>
Bochum, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of late goals from Lucas Barrios
helped Borussia Dortmund claim a 4-1 win at Bochum on Saturday, helping the
team move into the top four in the Bundesliga table.
An own goal from Bochum's Mar
Qualifying at Sao Paulo postponed >>
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Poor track conditions forced Indy Racing
League officials to postpone qualifying for the IZOD IndyCar Series season-
opener on the streets of Sao Paulo until Sunday morning.
Officials made the decis
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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