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06/01/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quality Road, fresh off a victory in the Met Mile, has closed the gap with Zenyatta in the latest NTRA Thoroughbred Poll. Holding on in third is Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky, who also remains first in the three-year-old poll.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Quality Road won the Met Mile on Memorial Day by 1 1/2-lengths over Musket Man and was rewarded with five additional first-place votes from last week.
Zenyatta, who will start in the Vanity Handicap on June 13, has 13 first-place votes and 184 points. She leads Quality Road by 14 points, 12 fewer than the last poll.
Lookin At Lucky is third with 116 points followed by Rachel Alexandra (67), Blind Luck (63), Misremembered (61), Blame (51), Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (50), Unrivaled Belle (37) and Tuscan Evening (35).
In the NTRA Three-Year-Old Poll, Lookin At Lucky received 16 first-place votes and 187 points. His lead over Super Saver increased by five points. Super Saver garnered two first-place votes and 157 points.
Ice Box, second in the Run for the Roses, is third with 148 points and will start in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
Kentucky Oaks champ Blind Luck is fourth with 96 points followed by First Dude with 95 points. Although retired, Eskendereya still received one first-place vote and 58 points to move up to sixth.
Coming in seventh is Jackson Bend with 55 points followed by Paddy O'Prado (50), Evening Jewel (39) and Sidney's Candy (36).
<< De Foy, Weber honored with media awards
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League Hall of Fame
announced Marc de Foy will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for
hockey journalism and Ron Weber will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award
for out
<< Eastern Kentucky's home opener pushed back
Richmond, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eastern Kentucky's home opener against
Division II Kentucky State has been pushed back one week to Oct. 2 due to a
scheduling conflict.
The starting time has yet to be announced for the game originally schedul
<< Pirates trade for P Eveland
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired left-hander
Dana Eveland from the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday in exchange for minor
league pitcher Ronald Uviedo.
The 26-year-old Eveland compiled a 3-4 record with a
<< Houston, New York aiming for consistency in mid-week clash
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo travel to take on Red Bull
New York in a mid-week Major League Soccer fixture between two teams that have
taken decidedly different paths to their current .500 records.
The Dynamo have b
Astros RP Sampson hits disabled list >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros placed pitcher Chris Sampson
on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with tendinitis in his right rotator
cuff.
In 22 relief appearances for Houston this season, the right-handed Sampson ha
Rangers F Anisimov has surgery >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Rangers forward Artem Anisimov
underwent successful surgery to remove a bone chip in his right wrist on
Tuesday.
Anisimov suffered the injury during the just-completed World Champions
CHL, IHL merge to form 'AA' level super league >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Central Hockey League (CHL) and the
International Hockey League (IHL) have entered into a letter of intent to form
a "AA" level super league beginning in the 2010-11 season, the leagues
announc
Perfect game allows Halladay to claim NL weekly award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off throwing the 20th perfect game in
major-league history, Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay was named the
National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 30.
Last Saturday, Ha
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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