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02/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Los Angeles Kings are all but out of this year's playoff race, they will get an opportunity to put a damper on some other team's chances as well.
This past weekend, the Kings managed to split a home-and-home series with the Pacific-leading Anaheim Ducks. Both games went to a shootout with the Kings' win coming on the Ducks' home ice Sunday.
Los Angeles also posted a win over the conference-leading Nashville Predators last Saturday and over the next two weeks will face Vancouver, which currently leads the Northwest Division, and a Colorado squad fighting for its playoff lives. The Kings will also again play Anaheim and Nashville in that span.
All four of those tilts will be at home for the Kings where they are 11-12-8 as of Tuesday. Los Angeles, though, has lost six in a row at home with its last win at the Staples Center coming on January 6 against Detroit.
The Kings are just 7-14-3 in divisional games this year, but if they can score some wins over the Ducks and Sharks, the teams currently first and second in the Pacific respectively, it will create some nice rivalries within the standings and give the Kings some confidence and momentum heading into division play next year.
Los Angeles also made a move to help its team out in the long run as they inked 33-year-old center Derek Armstrong to a two-year contract extension last Wednesday.
Armstrong has 10 goals and a career-high 30 assists in 55 games so far this year and is a stabilizing force on the ice with a plus-16 rating. His veteran knowledge should help the Kings' young players develop as the club rebuilds.
Armstrong has played in 327 career games with the Kings, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders, scoring 58 goals and picking up 115 assists.
On the injury front, captain Mattias Norstrom missed his first game of the season when he sat out Sunday's win over the Ducks with a knee injury. The defenseman has just two goals and seven assists in 60 games and is a career- worse minus-17 on the season.
<< This Week in Auto Racing February 23 - February 25
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<< Pennsylvania Derby purse increased to $1 million
Bensalem, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Park Racetrack has announced that
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Bears promote Babich to defensive coordinator >>
Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears named Bob Babich the
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Babich has been an assistant coach in Ch
Robredo, Ljubicic win first-rounders in Rotterdam >>
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Tommy
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Champions League Roundup: PSV carry first leg lead to London >>
Eindhoven, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven
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MISL, VERSUS to partner for national coverage of league >>
Westport, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and
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The coverage of th
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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