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08/30/2010 - West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich announced the signing of Paul Scharner on a two-year contract on Monday.
The 30-year-old Scharner joined on a free transfer after leaving Wigan at the end of last season, and Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo believes that he will bring valuable Premiership experience to his newly-promoted side.
"I'm delighted to welcome Paul to the club," Di Matteo told the official West Brom website. "He is exactly the type of player we've been looking to bring in because he is a proven Premier League player, having performed consistently well for the past four-and-a-half years.
"Paul is a powerful, competitive player who is good on the ball, excellent in both boxes, can play in numerous positions and also chips in with goals."
Scharner can play in defense or as a midfielder, and he reportedly received interest from Aston Villa, Liverpool and Sunderland.
<< Wie up to seventh in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie's victory Sunday at the
Canadian Women's Open vaulted the 20-year-old up to No. 7 in this week's world
rankings.
Wie, who collected her second LPGA Tour win, moved up five spots this wee
<< Ibrahimovic completes Milan move
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic completed
his season-long loan move to AC Milan on Monday after passing a medical.
Ibrahimovic will spend the upcoming season with Milan, which will then have
the option
<< Monty did fine, though Ryder Cup system is flawed
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monty couldn't win.
There were five players vying for three spots on the European Ryder Cup team.
Technically, there might have been six golfers for three spots, after Colin
Montgomerie himself floated Ber
<< Ronaldo to miss three weeks with ankle injury
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is
expected to miss the next three weeks because of an ankle problem, the club
confirmed on Monday.
The 25-year-old Ronaldo sustained the injury in Real's 0-0 dr
Missouri running back charged with sexual assault >>
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suspended Missouri running back Derrick
Washington has been charged with deviate sexual assault.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that official charges were filed Monday.
Washington had been suspen
Silvestre joins Bremen on two-year deal >>
Bremen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Werder Bremen announced on Monday that the
club has completed the signing of French defender Mikael Silvestre on a free
transfer.
The 33-year-old Silvestre was left without a club after he departed Arsen
Richard's Kid joins top 10 with Pacific Classic win >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard's Kid's second straight win of the
Pacific Classic catapulted him into 10th place in this week's NTRA National
Thoroughbred Poll. The five-year-old had not received one vote the previous
week.
Clijsters wins U.S. opener >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Kim Clijsters was a
straight-set opening-round winner Monday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Clijsters got past Hungarian Greta Arn
6-0, 7-5 at the USTA Billie
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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