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01/20/2012 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Astros have agreed to terms with native Houstonian Chris Snyder on a one-year contract. The deal also includes a mutual option for 2013.
The 30-year-old catcher hit .271 with three home runs and 17 runs batted in for the Pirates last season before back surgery ended his campaign in June.
Snyder has a career batting average of .231 in 630 games for Arizona and Pittsburgh with 70 home runs and 273 RBI.
<< Steelers' Arians retires from coaching
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers announced Friday
that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is retiring from coaching.
"I appreciate his efforts over the past five years as the team's offensive
coordinator and
<< 76ers vie to bounce back vs. Hawks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers try to bounce back from their first
home loss of the season this evening when they welcome the Atlanta Hawks to
the Wells Fargo Center.
After opening the year with six straight home wins, the Sixers
<< Struggling Pistons entertain Grizzlies
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Many thought the Memphis Grizzlies would be in trouble
after Zach Randolph went down with a torn MCL, but that hasn't been the case.
The Grizzlies are 6-3 since the big man went down and will shoot for a fifth
straight win
<< Clippers hope to have CP3 back vs. Wolves
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Clippers hope to have Chris Paul back in the lineup
tonight when they welcome Minnesota to Staples Center.
Traditionally two of the league's doormats both the Clippers and Wolves have
made big strides this season
Pena returning to Rays >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Pena is a Ray once again.
The Tampa Bay Times reported Friday that the 33-year-old first baseman has
agreed to a one-year contract worth $7.25 million.
Pena played for the Rays from 2007-
Pepe sidelined by hamstring injury >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid defender Pepe will miss the next
two weeks of action after sustaining a hamstring injury in his team's 2-1
defeat against Barcelona on Wednesday in the first leg of their Cope del Rey
clash.
Celik secures Rangers switch >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers made its first signing of the
January transfer window on Friday, securing the services of Swedish midfielder
Mervan Celik.
The 21-year-old arrives at Ibrox as a free agent after leaving Swe
Betis adds Paulao on loan >>
Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Betis added to its defensive options on
Friday by taking St Etienne defender Paulao on loan until the end of the
season.
The Brazilian moved to France last summer from Braga but has been unable
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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