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07/16/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics are reportedly set to re-sign guard Nate Robinson.
According to the Boston Herald on Friday, Robinson will ink a two-year, $8 million deal with the club that traded for him last season.
Boston acquired the three-time NBA Slam Dunk champion in a five-player deal with the Knicks in February, and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound sparkplug proved vital off the bench for the Eastern Conference champions.
Though his minutes went down considerably following the trade, Robinson donated 6.5 points and 2.0 assists in 26 regular season games as a backup to Rajon Rondo.
The 26-year-old netted three double-digit scoring games in the postseason, including a 13-point effort in a series-clinching win over Orlando in the conference finals.
Robinson spent the first four-plus years of his career in New York. Over 338 career games, the Washington product has averaged 12.0 points and 2.7 assists per contest.
<< Sun Belt Conference showdown - Troy vs. Middle Tennessee
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Troy has either won or shared the Sun
Belt football title the last four years, but that string could end in 2010 as
Middle Tennessee is primed to take over the top spot. Regardless of which team
wins the tit
<< Soderling advances at Swedish Open
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Swedish stalwart Robin Soderling
survived a scare from Italian Andreas Seppi to advance to the semifinals of
the Swedish Open.
Soderling, the reigning Bastad titlist and two-time French Op
<< Stars sign veteran D Lukowich, two others
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars signed veteran defenseman Brad
Lukowich and two others to one-year, two-way contracts on Friday.
Lukowich, 33, has registered 23 goals and 90 assists in 653 regular season NHL
games with six
<< Barca set to add Adriano from Sevilla
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sevilla wing back Adriano is poised to
join Barcelona after the two clubs agreed to a fee for the Brazilian.
The 25-year-old has been with the Rojiblancos since January 2005, making just
over 200 appe
Szavay moves on in Prague; Garrigues ousted >>
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last week's Budapest titlist
Agnes Szavay advanced to the semifinals of the $220,000 Prague Open tennis
event with a straight set win over Slovenian Polona Hercog.
The seventh-seeded Sza
Sunderland's Gordon to miss start of new season >>
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon will
miss the start of the upcoming Premiership season after he fractured a bone in
his arm.
Gordon sustained the injury in training on Thursday after he fell awkwar
Lightning re-sign Szczechura >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed forward Paul
Szczechura to a one-year contract on Friday.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Szczechura appeared in 52 games last season for the Lightning, rec
Montanes into semis in Stuttgart >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Albert Montanes of Spain rolled over
second-seeded Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup tennis
event on Friday.
Montanes, seeded fifth, cruised over the second-seeded
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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