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07/04/2010 - Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power put on a dominating performance to win Sunday's IZOD IndyCar Series race, while his teammate, Ryan Briscoe, finished second to give Team Penske a 1-2 finish at Watkins Glen International.
Power, the pole sitter, overtook Briscoe for the lead just after the final restart with 17 laps remaining in the 60-lap event at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. He beat his Australian compatriot to the finish line by 1.2 seconds for his series-leading third victory of the season.
Briscoe passed Dario Franchitti on the final lap to take second, while Franchitti, the defending series champion, finished third. Raphael Matos and Mario Moraes rounded out the top-five.
Power widened his points lead to 32 points over Franchitti and 40 ahead of Franchitti's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who finished eighth.
All three of Power's IndyCar wins this season have come on street/road courses. He also gave team owner Roger Penske his first open-wheel victory at Watkins Glen since 1981 with driver Rick Mears.
<< Former Masters champ Mize wins in Montreal
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Masters champion Larry Mize fired an
eight-under 64 on Sunday to win the Montreal Championship for his first title
on the Champions Tour.
Mize, 51, is best known for holing a 140-foot chip shot to win t
<< Yankees top Blue Jays in extras
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Thames' RBI single in the bottom of the
10th inning lifted New York past Toronto, 7-6, in the finale of a three-game
set from Yankee Stadium.
Mark Teixeira finished with three hits and drove in two r
<< Hapless O's take one from BoSox thanks to Matusz, Markakis
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Matusz tossed seven strong innings and
Nick Markakis collected hits and drove in a run, as the Baltimore Orioles
stymied the Boston Red Sox, 6-1, to salvage the finale of a three-game series
at Fenw
<< Stubbs hits three homers as Reds pound Cubs
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Stubbs hit a career-high three home runs
and Paul Janish homered and drove in a career-high three runs as Cincinnati
belted seven long balls in a 14-3 triumph over Chicago to finish off a four-
game se
Bay and Pagan help Mets bounce Nationals >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Bay knocked in four runs, as the New
York Mets used an early surge to beat Washington, 9-5, in the finale of a
four-game set at Nationals Park.
Angel Pagan had three hits and drove in a pair f
Choi beats 3 Kims in playoff to win Jamie Farr >>
Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Na Yeon Choi made a short birdie putt Sunday
to win a four-way playoff at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, picking up
her third career LPGA Tour victory.
Her opponents in the playoff? Three players with t
Big Red Mike captures 151st Queen's Plate >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Big Red Mike, ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva,
went wire-to-wire to claim victory in Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at
Woodbine Race Course. The 1 1/4-mile race is the beginning of the Canadian
Triple
Rose hangs on to win AT&T National >>
Newtown Square, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A week after coughing up the final-round
lead, Justin Rose made sure it didn't happen again.
Rose parred his final seven holes Sunday to post an even-par 70 and win the
AT&T National at Aronimink Gol
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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