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07/01/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenseman Zbynek Michalek to a five-year contract worth $4 million per season on Thursday.
Michalek will try to help Pittsburgh replace departed No. 1 defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who signed a three-year deal with Ottawa earlier on Thursday.
The 27-year-old spent the last five seasons in Phoenix after debuting as an NHLer with Minnesota in 2003-04. The undrafted Czech defenseman has recorded 115 points on 27 goals and 88 assists over 415 NHL games.
In 72 games for the Coyotes in 2009-10, Michalek posted 17 points on three goals and 14 assists and also had a plus-five rating for the season. He also recorded two assists in seven playoff games for Phoenix.
<< Mexico coach Aguirre quits
Mexico City, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mexico coach Javier Aguirre resigned on
Wednesday, just days after the Mexicans were eliminated from the World Cup.
Aguirre guided Mexico to second place in Group A in South Africa, but the team
was el
<< Flyers lock up Coburn for two years
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers re-signed
defenseman Braydon Coburn to a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but several sources indicate it is for
$6.4 millio
<< Sixers name assistants to Collins' staff
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers have
named Michael Curry as associate head coach and Aaron McKie, Brian James and
Quin Snyder assistants to head coach Doug Collins' staff.
Curry served as the Detr
<< Ghana trying to make history against Uruguay
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ghana will be trying to make
history at Ellis Park Stadium on Friday when it squares off with Uruguay in a
FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match.
A win for the Black Stars would not only put
Frostad has three for 151st Queen's Plate >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trainer Mark Frostad and Sam-Son Farm go after
a second straight victory in Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine
Race Course. The 1 1/4-mile race is the beginning a the Canadian Triple Crown.
Quee
Blues provide four-year extension for Steen >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues inked restricted free-
agent forward Alex Steen to a four-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 26-year-old native of Winnipeg and son of Jets franchise icon Thomas Steen
posted car
Six-run fourth carries Tribe to first sweep of Jays since '95 >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt LaPorta and Shelley Duncan hit back-to-
back home runs during a six-run fourth inning rally that carried Cleveland to
a 6-1 win and four-game series sweep over Toronto.
Trevor Crowe had three hits and
Phillies' skipper Manuel suspended >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie
Manuel has been suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount for his
aggressive arguing and inappropriate contact with an umpire during the 10th
inning
Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.
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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