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06/20/2010 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmie Johnson benefited from Marcos Ambrose's mistake during a caution period in the closing laps to win Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
Ambrose, who was attempting to win his first career Sprint Cup Series race, held the lead during a caution on lap 104, but the Australian driver did not maintain his running position after he shut off his engine and slowed on the track in an effort to conserve fuel.
According to NASCAR rules, drivers must maintain the caution speed in order to keep their running spot.
That allowed Johnson to reclaim the lead for good with six laps remaining. He then pulled away from second-place runner Robby Gordon on the final restart and beat Gordon at the finish by three seconds for his first NASCAR road course win.
Johnson, who led a race-high 54 laps, recorded his fourth victory of the season and the 51st of his Cup career.
Kevin Harvick, the points leader, finished third, while Kasey Kahne, the defending race winner, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five.
Ambrose wound up finishing sixth.
<< Padres storm back to rout Orioles, take series
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Venable homered and tied a career-
high by driving in four runs to help Jon Garland overcome a shaky start and
lead San Diego to a 9-4 win over Baltimore in the last of a three-game
interle
<< Johnson loses lead at U.S. Open
Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Johnson played his first four holes
Sunday at six-over par to surrender his lead at the U.S. Open.
Johnson made a triple-bogey at No. 2 when he duffed two shots, including one
he struck left-hande
<< New No. 1 Miyazato wins at the shore
Galloway, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ai Miyazato collected her fourth LPGA Tour
title of the year on Sunday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and the victory moved
her to No. 1 in the world rankings.
Miyazato fired a seven-under 64 on Sunday to co
<< Brewers score five in the ninth to avoid sweep
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rickie Weeks' two-run double jumpstarted a
five-run ninth inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers salvaged a game from this
three-contest set with Colorado by beating the Rockies, 6-1.
Weeks, Corey Hart and
McDowell makes turn with 3-shot lead >>
Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Graeme McDowell held a three-shot lead
when he made the turn Sunday during the final round of the U.S. Open.
The 30-year-old from Northern Ireland had one birdie and one bogey in his
first nine holes and w
McDowell wins U.S. Open for 1st career major >>
Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Graeme McDowell tapped in for his last par
and exhaled.
He had every reason to.
McDowell survived a brutal final round to win the U.S. Open by a shot on
Sunday, closing with a three-over 74 to become th
Buchholz, Red Sox complete sweep of Dodgers >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clay Buchholz pitched effectively into the
seventh to pick up his 10th win of the season, and the Red Sox shut down the
Dodgers, 2-0, to complete a three-game interleague sweep.
Buchholz (10-4) yielded
Oklahoma survives South Carolina in rain-soaked affair >>
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caleb Bushyhead and Garrett Buechele both homered
for Oklahoma, leading the Sooners to a 4-3 win over the South Carolina
Gamecocks in the rain-soaked opening round of the 2010 College World Series.
Origin
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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