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08/20/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Arron Asham to a one-year, $700,000 contract.
The 32-year-old posted 10 goals and 14 assists in 72 regular-season games for Philadelphia last season and then chipped in four goals and three helpers in 23 playoff contests.
Asham spent the last two seasons with the Flyers after a one-year engagement with New Jersey.
He was originally drafted by Montreal in the third round, 71st overall, of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft and broke into the NHL with the Canadiens in 1998-99. He spent his first four seasons with the league's marquee franchise before playing the next four campaigns with the New York Islanders.
For his career, Asham has recorded 82 goals and 97 assists in 648 regular- season games and added six goals and seven assists in 52 playoff games.
<< Snedeker ties Atwal for Wyndham lead
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Brandt Snedeker carded a
five-under 65 on Friday to tie Arjun Atwal for the 36-hole lead at the Wyndham
Championship.
Atwal, the first-round leader, had a 67 to match Snedeker at 12-under
<< A's place Jackson back on DL, recall Larish
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics have placed outfielder
Conor Jackson on the 15-day disabled list with a lower abdominal strain.
The 28-year-old outfielder was sidelined from July 1 through Sunday with a
strained r
<< Mountain West, C-USA work on path to BCS
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -The commissioners of the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA have spoken about staging a postseason game between their champions in hopes of securing an automatic berth to the Bowl Championship Series.C-USA comm
<< Demichelis walks out on Bayern Munich
Mainz, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Argentina defender Martin Demichelis refused
to attend Friday's Bundesliga season opener for club team Bayern Munich after
being left out of the starting lineup.
Bayern coach Luis van Gaal selected Daniel
Rockies designate Flores, recall Herrera >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies designated left-handed
reliever Randy Flores for assignment and recalled infielder Jonathan Herrera
from Triple-A Colorado Springs to fill his roster spot Friday.
Flores has pitched
Johnson tops in qualifying at Bristol >>
Bristol, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmie Johnson picked up his first pole of the
season by winning Friday's qualifying for the IRWIN Tools Night Race at
Bristol Motor Speedway.
Johnson, who won at Bristol for the first time in Marc
Stockton, Prouty join Grube for Seaforth lead >>
Seaforth, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brady Stockton fired an eight-under 63 and
Brian Prouty shot a 64 Friday to join Rob Grube in the lead after two rounds
of the Seaforth Country Classic.
Grube, the 18-hole leader, had a 67 to end the
Manuel: Bay likely to be sidelined the rest of the year >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel indicated
on Friday he does not expect Jason Bay to return to the team this season due
to the concussion he suffered in late July.
Bay has not resumed baseball activit
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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