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08/19/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Michigan International Speedway was postponed due to rain. The 3M Performance 400 has been pushed back until Monday and the green flag is scheduled to drop, weather permitting, at 12 p.m.
When the flag drops, series points leader Jeff Gordon will lead the 43-car field. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the last qualifier on the track on Friday and stole the pole from Greg Biffle's grasp.
Row two will consist of Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Jimmie Johnson (seventh), Denny Hamlin (eighth), Clint Bowyer (ninth), Carl Edwards (13th), Jeff Burton (19th) and Tony Stewart (35th).
Just four races remain until the cutoff for the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." Following an eventful Sunday in upstate New York, the picture is becoming clearer as to who is a contender and who is just a pretender.
The race for the final position in the "Chase" appears to be coming down to Kurt Busch, his Penske teammate Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle.
Biffle, with his second-place starting position and great history at MIS, should make some headway this week, but still has a long road. He is 15th in the standings and 212 points out of the "Chase." But at MIS Biffle owns two wins and six top-10s in nine career starts.
After Michigan, the series travels to Bristol, California and Richmond where the 12 drivers who make the "Chase" will be decided.
<< Hamburg wins again; Bechmann double carries Bochum
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael van der Vaart converted a penalty
kick in the second half to help Hamburg to a 1-0 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen
while Tommy Bechmann scored a pair of goals to lead Bochum to a 2-1 victory
over En
<< Mets' Easley placed on DL
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets placed infielder Damion
Easley on the 15-day disabled list with a Grade 3 left ankle sprain.
Easley left the Mets' 7-4 victory against the Washington Nationals Saturday
in the sixth i
<< Ilonen claims second win of '07
Stockholm, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikko Ilonen birdied the par-three 18th
Sunday, then watched as Martin Kaymer closed with a double-bogey.
Kaymer's closing double handed Ilonen his second win of the season. Ilonen
completed the eve
<< Miller's double allows Celtic to slip past Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kenny Miller scored two goals in the
game's final five minutes to give Celtic a 3-1 win against Aberdeen at
Pittodrie Stadium on Sunday.
The two teams were deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the
Teixeira homers twice in Braves win over Arizona >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Teixeira blasted two home runs and
drove in four runs, and John Smoltz hurled eight solid innings as Atlanta
downed Arizona, 6-2, in the finale of a three-game set at Turner Field.
Smoltz (11
Mets swat Nats to complete sweep >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Beltran went deep twice and knocked
in four runs as the New York Mets pulled away late to down the Washington
Nationals, 8-2, and complete a three-game sweep at RFK Stadium.
Shawn Green and Ma
Flanagan headed to PGA thanks to comeback win in Rochester >>
Rochester, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Flanagan roared from behind Sunday with
a seven-under 63 to overtake James Driscoll and win the Xerox Classic.
Flanagan ended the tournament at 10-under-par 270, one stroke clear of
Driscoll, w
Snedeker earns first PGA Tour win >>
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandt Snedeker fired a nine-under 63 on
Sunday to come from behind and win his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham
Championship.
He finished the shootout at 22-under-par 266 and won by two over th
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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