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01/29/2012 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Banham had 20 points as Minnesota took down No. 9 Ohio State, 76-65, in Big Ten action.
Kiara Buford donated 15 points and seven assists for the Golden Gophers (12-11, 4-5 Big Ten), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
It was the first win over a ranked opponent for Minnesota since defeating Notre Dame in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on March 22, 2009.
Tayler Hill had 26 points and five assists and Samantha Prahalis added 25 points for the Buckeyes (20-2, 7-2), who had won five straight following a loss at Michigan on January 7.
Minnesota held Ohio State to just 22.9 percent shooting in the first half to take a 34-38 lead into the break and added to the lead in the second half.
<< Chelsea's Ramires out up to four weeks
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea midfielder Ramires will be out for
up to four weeks after sustaining a knee injury in his team's 1-0 FA Cup win
over QPR on Saturday.
Scans after the match revealed that the Brazilian had suffere
<< Buckeyes down Wolverines to move atop Big Ten
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lenzelle Smith, Jr. finished with 17 points
and 12 rebounds, and No. 4 Ohio State pulled away for a 64-49 victory against
20th-ranked Michigan.
The teams had been tied atop the conference standings, but th
<< Irish escape Connecticut for third straight win
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It wasn't pretty, but Notre Dame extended its
winning streak to three with a 50-48 victory over 24th-ranked Connecticut at
the XL Center.
The Fighting Irish (14-8, 6-3 Big East) started their run by kn
<< Monchengladbach topples Stuttgart to keep pace
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monchengladbach remained within one
point of the Bundesliga summit on Sunday after a 3-0 win at Stuttgart.
Mike Hanke's first-half goal gave the visitors a halftime lead before Marco
Reus and Igo
No. 6 Kentucky downs Alabama >>
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keyla Snowden had 14 points to lift No. 6
Kentucky to an 82-68 win over Alabama in an SEC battle.
A'dia Mathies scored 13 points and Bria Goss added 11 for the Wildcats
(20-2, 9-0), who have won n
Ajaccio leaves it late to escape relegation zone >>
Valenciennes, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Christian Kinkela scored 3 minutes
into stoppage time as 10-man Ajaccio edged Valenciennes, 2-1, on Sunday at the
Stade du Hainaut to climb out of the relegation zone in France's Ligue 1.
Ajaccio w
Malaga holds off Sevilla to snap skid >>
Malaga, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Malaga held off Sevilla on Sunday to snap its
six-game winless skid, even though Isco was sent off 11 minutes from time in a
2-1 win at the Estadio La Rosaleda in Spain's La Liga.
Weligton and Sebastian Fer
Algorithms finds winning formula for Holy Bull Stakes >>
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Algorithms, ridden by Javier
Castellano, overtook a tiring Hansen down the stretch to capture Sunday's
$400,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The 5-2 second choice covered
the mil
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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