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
02/16/2012 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana's Paul George, Minnesota's Derrick Williams, Houston's Chase Budinger and Iman Shumpert of the Knicks will vie for the dunk title as part of festivities at the 2012 All-Star weekend.
The Slam Dunk contest will take place on February 25 at Amway Center in Orlando, one day before the All-Star Game.
Last year's champion, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, decided against participating.
A new format will be implemented for this year's competition. The contest will consist of only one round and each competitor will execute three dunks.
Fan voting will open after all four players have completed their first dunk. Previously, the dunk contest consisted of two rounds, with the first round scored by a panel of judges which determined two finalists.
Beginning this year, only fan voting will be utilized in determining the winner and voting also will expand to social media. For the first time ever, fans will be able to cast votes on Twitter by posting a corresponding letter assigned to each dunker. Since 2008, fans have determined the winner through texting and voting on NBA.com.
<< Dynamo reacquire Ching from Impact
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Ching's stay in Montreal is over before
he even played a match for the expansion Impact.
Just three months after losing him in the expansion draft, the Houston Dynamo
reacquired the forward Thursday f
<< Red Sox sign Ohlendorf, Gomez to minor league deals
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox inked pitcher Ross Ohlendorf
and first baseman Mauro Gomez to minor league deals with invitations to spring
training on Thursday.
Ohlendorf went 1-3 with an 8.15 earned run average in ni
<< Marseille's Remy to miss three weeks
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marseille striker Loic Remy suffered a
hamstring injury in Wednesday's Coupe de France win over Bourg-Peronnas and
will be sidelined three weeks, the Ligue 1 club said Thursday.
The 25-year-old Remy
<< Dortmund's Kagawa tears ankle ligament
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund's Japanese midfielder
Shinji Kagawa tore a ligament in his left ankle in training and will be out at
least two weeks, the Bundesliga club announced Thursday.
The 22-year-old was injur
Vancouver signs Scotland midfielder Robson as DP >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC's second season in MLS
should be much better than their expansion year.
Vancouver acquired Scotland international midfielder Barry Robson on Thursday
as the club's newest Designated P
Azarenka, McHale reach Doha QFs >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Belarusian stalwart Victoria
Azarenka and rising American teenager Christina McHale were among Thursday's
third-round winners at the $2.168 million Qatar Open.
The Australian Open champion
Burke placed on administrative leave >>
Emmitsburg, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mount St. Mary's men's basketball coach
Robert Burke has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The school did not divulge details, saying the action was requested by Burke.
Assistant coach Matt
Timbers sign Cameroonian midfielder Songo'o >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers signed Cameroonian Franck
Songo'o, a former Barcelona youth player, on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Songo'o, capped one time by Cameroon, left Barca in 2005 and
began his pro career in the
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