Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
03/12/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Western Conference division leaders face off tonight in the Motor City, where the reigning Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings will attempt to maintain their recent mastery of the slumping Calgary Flames.
Although Calgary presently owns an eight-point advantage over second-place Vancouver in the Northwest Division, the club isn't heading into the season's stretch run with much momentum. After opening up a current seven-game road trip with a pair of victories, the Flames have been dealt three straight regulation losses.
Calgary was more competitive in its most recent setback, a 3-2 defeat to Atlantic Division front-runner New Jersey on Tuesday in which the team outshot the Devils by a 37-31 count. Prior to that game, the Flames suffered lopsided losses at Carolina (6-1) and Atlanta (5-2).
On a positive note, newcomer Olli Jokinen scored his third goal in four games since being acquired by Calgary in a trade-deadline deal with Phoenix on March 4. Fellow Finland native Miikka Kiprusoff wasn't as productive in Tuesday's loss, however, as the standout goaltender allowed three New Jersey goals on 28 shots before being removed early in the third period.
The Flames, who own a 17-14-2 road record for the season and will also visit Toronto on this trek, will attempt to get back on track versus a Detroit squad it has had trouble against in the past. The Red Wings have won five of the last six regular-season matchups between the clubs, including both previous battles in 2008-09, and Calgary has lost eight in a row -- including three playoff defeats in 2006-07 -- at Joe Louis Arena.
Calgary's last victory in Detroit came on December 1, 2005.
The Red Wings also sport one of the best home marks in the NHL this season, a 25-5-3 ledger, and added to that win total with Tuesday's overtime decision over visiting Phoenix. Johan Franzen scored with 1:25 remaining in the extra session to lift Detroit to a 3-2 triumph over the Coyotes, the team's third victory in its last four games.
Both Franzen and Valtteri Filppula finished with a goal and an assist to help the Red Wings rebound from an ugly 8-2 home loss to Columbus on Saturday. Ty Conklin did his part as well, with the journeyman goaltender stopping 23-of-25 shots on the night.
With Tuesday's win, Detroit kept pace with San Jose in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Both teams enter tonight's play with a league- best 96 points.
<< Slumping Suns welcome LeBron, Cavs to desert
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now is not the time for the Phoenix Suns to play poor
basketball as they try to make a push towards a playoff berth.
Tonight the Suns will resume a three-game homestand versus MVP candidate
LeBron James and t
<< Big West: Spurs host Lakers in Alamo City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southwest Division-leading San Antonio Spurs will wrap
up a four-game homestand Thursday against the Western Conference-powerhouse
Los Angeles Lakers at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs have won the first three tests
<< Big East quarterfinals pits Panthers against Mountaineers
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers begin
defense of their Big East Tournament title tonight, as they battle the West
Virginia Mountaineers in the quarterfinal round at Madison Square Garden. The
team that come
<< Tigers begin quest for fourth straight C-USA crown
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fourth-ranked Memphis Tigers start their
journey for a fourth straight Conference USA Tournament championship tonight,
as they host the Tulane Green Wave in the quarterfinal round at the
FedExForum. The winner
Lightning slide into Toronto >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning are hoping a matchup with the
Toronto Maple Leafs will enable them to break out of their current slide. The
team aims for its fourth straight win over the Leafs when it visits the Air
Canada Centre thi
Playoff-hopeful Sabres, Panthers clash in Buffalo >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A key battle in the Eastern Conference playoff race is on
tap tonight in Buffalo, as the struggling Sabres host the Florida Panthers
tonight at HSBC Arena.
The Panthers are currently last among the eight playoff seeds in t
Devils welcome Coyotes to Garden State >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place New Jersey Devils will face one of the
bottom teams in the Western Conference tonight, as they host the Phoenix
Coyotes at Prudential Center.
With 89 points, the Devils have a seven-point lead over Philadel
Gainey and Habs try to build momentum against Isles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A sudden coaching change produced an instant boost for the
Montreal Canadiens. The embattled club will now try to build off that
encouraging victory when the New York Islanders invade the Bell Centre this
evening.
Just on
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting