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07/01/2010 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres filled one vacancy on defense Thursday, signing free-agent Jordan Leopold to a three-year deal.
Leopold split last season between Florida and Pittsburgh, racking up 11 goals and 26 points in 81 contests but was a minus-two.
A former second-round choice of Anaheim back in 1999, the 29-year-old Minnesota native has produced 40 goals and 135 points in 436 NHL games with the Flames, Avalanche, Panthers and Penguins since breaking into the league in 2002.
The signing was the first step in offsetting the departures of Toni Lydman, who left for a three-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks and Henrik Tallinder, who fled to New Jersey.
<< Rangers' acquire Molina from Giants
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have acquired catcher Bengie
Molina and cash from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for pitchers Chris
Ray and Michael Main.
Molina will join the Rangers on Friday when they open a
<< Maple Leafs ink Armstrong
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs signed free
agent forward Colby Armstrong to a three-year contract on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Armstrong, who had been with Atlanta since coming over from
Pittsburgh bef
<< Missouri State completes coaching staff
Springfield, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Missouri State has completed head football
coach Terry Allen's 2010 staff by naming Gerald Davis and Wayne Chambers as
assistant coaches.
Davis was a running back for four seasons at Missouri State, includi
<< Spain's Martinez injured in training
Potchefstroom, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain midfielder Javier
Martinez left practice Thursday after injuring his ankle and could miss
Saturday's FIFA World Cup quarterfinal against Paraguay.
Spain released a statement
Thrashers get Ladd from Blackhawks >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers acquired forward Andrew
Ladd from the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday in exchange for defenseman Ivan
Vishnevskiy and a second-round pick in the 2011 NHL Draft.
Ladd had spent the las
Lightning bring in goaltender Ellis >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning continued their moves on
the free-agent market Thursday by signing goaltender Dan Ellis to a two-year
contract.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the St. Pete Times reported it i
Ducks bring back Koivu >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks have signed center Saku
Koivu to a two-year contract.
As per team policy, no terms of the deal were announced.
The 35-year-old Koivu netted 19 goals and added 33 assists over 71 games for
t
Stars agree to terms with Burish, Raycroft >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars have agreed to terms
with center Adam Burish and goaltender Andrew Raycroft on two-year contracts.
Burish's deal is worth $2.3 million, while the first year of Raycroft's deal
is a
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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