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01/02/2012 - Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seven possible Kentucky Derby contenders have been entered in Saturday's $150,000 Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct. The mile and 70 yard race is the first of New York's preps leading to the Wood Memorial in April.
Alpha, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, will carry the Godolphin Racing banner in the Count Fleet. The three-year-old colt will start from post five with Ramon Dominguez getting the mount.
Second to Union Rags in the Champagne, Alpha was 11th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile won by Hansen with Union Rags second. With one win in three starts Alpha has banked $90,000.
The front running Il Villano will break from the rail with Jose Flores riding. The colt is trained by Susan Crowell for Chuck Russo.
Il Villano won the Lord Henribee Stakes at Aqueduct in November and the following month captured the Southampton Stakes at Parx Racing. He has three wins in four starts for $125,300.
Here is the full field for the Count Fleet in post position order: Il Villano, Jose Flores; How Do I Win, Cornelio Velasquez; Whistleblower, Ariel Smith; Stephanoatsee, Junior Alvarado; Alpha, Ramon Dominguez; Speightscity, David Cohen and Shkspeare Shaliyah, Jose Valdivia Jr.
Post-time on Saturday will be 3:37 p.m. (et).
<< Report: Steelers RB Mendenhall has torn ACL
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard
Mendenhall has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will
be placed on injured reserve, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Mendenhall
<< Spurs assign Neal to rehab assignment
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs have assigned guard
Gary Neal to the Austin Toros of the NBDL for a medical rehab assignment.
Neal underwent an appendectomy on December 12, 2011.
Neal averaged 9.8 points and 2
<< Texas Southern to introduce Asberry
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Southern University will introduce new
head football coach Darrell Asberry in a news conference on campus Tuesday.
Asberry was named the 15th head coach in the Southwestern Athletic Conference
program's h
<< Ryan on the Jets: 'We all made mistakes'
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan said he
was among many that made mistakes during a season in which the team finished
8-8 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time during his three-year
tenure.
Conroy sends Michigan State over Georgia in Outback Bowl >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michigan State's Dan Conroy made a pair of field
goals in a triple-overtime thriller, lifting the 12th-ranked Spartans to a
33-30 victory over the 18th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the Outback Bowl.
Michigan
Utah's Howard fined >>
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah Jazz forward Josh Howard has
been fined $25,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two in Utah's 104-89 loss to the San
Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
The fine was announced by Stu Jackson -- NBA Execut
Nash leads Suns over Warriors >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash netted 13 of his game-high 21 points
in the fourth quarter to go with nine assists, as the Phoenix Suns topped the
Golden State Warriors, 102-91 at US Airways Center.
Markieff Morris finished with
Lundqvist seals Winter Classic win for Rangers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rangers scored three unanswered goals
against backup goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Henrik Lundqvist stopped a
penalty shot in the final minute Monday, lifting New York to a 3-2 win over
Philade
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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