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01/24/2012 - San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Giants and two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum have reached a verbal agreement on a two-year contract, avoiding arbitration.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported the deal on Tuesday, which will buy out Lincecum's final two years of arbitration eligibility, to be worth $40.5 million. According to the paper, the right-hander will earn $18 million this coming season and $22 million in 2013. He also receives a $500,000 signing bonus.
Lincecum, 27, had 2.74 earned run average and struck out 220 batters over 217 innings last season but still wound up with a losing record (13-14) because of the Giants' light-hitting offense. San Francisco was next-to-last in the league in runs with 570. Only Seattle (556) scored fewer than the Giants.
The Washington native owns a career record of 69-41 with a 2.98 ERA.
<< Arlington Million XXX on for August
Arlington Heights, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 30th running of the Arlington
Million has been scheduled for Saturday, August 18. The 1 1/4-mile turf stakes
is the centerpiece of Arlington Park's annual race meet.
Won in 2011 by Cape Blanc
<< Report: Tigers win Prince Fielder sweepstakes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have reportedly reeled in the biggest
remaining free agent on the market: Prince Fielder.
Multiple media outlets are reporting the first baseman agreed to a nine-year,
$214 million contract with the
<< Milwaukee's Bennett named MISL Player of Week
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Wave forward Ian Bennett was named the
Major Indoor Soccer League's Player of the Week on Tuesday for Week 12.
Bennett recorded 15 points in three games as the Wave maintained their lead in
the MISL Ce
<< PSG's Pastore to miss 3-4 weeks
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSG playmaker Javier Pastore suffered a thigh
muscle tear in Friday's Coupe de France win over Sable-sur-Sarthe and will be
out of action three to four weeks, the French club said Tuesday.
Pastore, 22, was t
La Russa to manage 2012 NL All-Star team >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The retired Tony La Russa will serve as the
manager of the National League All-Star team for the 2012 Midsummer Classic at
Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on July 10th.
The longtime manager of the St. Lo
Bobcats' Augustin to miss 4 games >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlotte Bobcats guard D.J. Augustin will
miss four games due to an inflammatory condition of the sesmoid bones that lie
in the flexor tendons on his right big toe.
Augustin was seen by Charlotte orthoped
Rays bring back Pena >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays signed first baseman
Carlos Pena to a one-year, $7.25 million contract on Tuesday.
Pena, 33, played for the Rays from 2007-10 before joining the Chicago Cubs
last season. He bat
Dolphins' Soliai added to AFC Pro Bowl roster >>
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Paul Soliai has
replaced Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata on the AFC Pro Bowl
roster.
Soliai had 27 tackles in 16 games (12 starts) this season. He will be play
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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