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06/03/2010 - Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion colt Summer Bird has been retired from racing and will enter stud service. Trainer Tim Ritchey made the announcement Thursday at Delaware Park.
Ritchey said that the four-year-old has been retired because of an injury he suffered last year before a scheduled race in Japan. Summer Bird had a hairline fracture of his right front cannon bone which required surgery.
Owned and bred by K.K. and Vilasini Jayaraman, Summer Bird will begin stud service for the 2011 breeding season.
Summer Bird, winner of last year's Belmont Stakes, had been recuperating from surgery first at Oaklawn Park and most recently at Delaware Park. Early this year the colt was transferred from trainer Tim Ice to Ritchey.
Along with the Belmont in 2009 Summer Bird captured the Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup. The colt finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and fourth behind Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
His accomplishments led to him being voted the Eclipse Award as top three- year-old male of 2009. Last year he won four of nine starts for $2,323,040.
<< Rangers aim for rare road sweep of White Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers take aim at their first three-game sweep
in Chicago in 24 years this evening when they wrap up their set against the
White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.
Texas moved to the brink of a sweep on Wednesday
<< Mariners go for series win over Twins
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after the best player in the history of their
franchise called it a career, the Seattle Mariners will try for a series win
when they close out a four-game set against the Minnesota Twins tonight at
Safeco
<< Sizzling Braves head out west to battle Dodgers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League East-leading Atlanta Braves bring their
rags to riches story to the west coast and will begin an 11-game road trip
tonight with the first of four straight meetings with the Los Angeles Dodgers
at Chavez Ra
<< Astros try for series win over Nationals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros hope to post their second winning series
in more than a month when they close out a four-game set Thursday afternoon
versus the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park.
After losing the opener of this s
Ravens sign PK Graham >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens made it official
Thursday and signed kicker Shayne Graham to a one-year contract.
The 32-year-old had been with Cincinnati since the 2003 season and was a 2005
Pro Bowl selection
Former Hofstra coach Joe Gardi dies >>
Hempstead, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Hofstra University football coach Joe
Gardi died Wednesday following a stroke suffered last week. He was 71 years
old.
Gardi compiled a 119-62-2 record in 16 seasons at Hofstra from 1990 to 2005.
Both
Men's semis set for Friday in Paris >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The men's French Open semifinals will be
staged on Friday, as second-seeded Spanish star Rafael Nadal will take on
22nd-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer and fifth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling will
face 15th-seed
Raptors unraveling as stars plan departure >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A dreadful off-season continues to get
worse for the Toronto Raptors, their fans and general manager Bryan Colangelo.
Just a few weeks after being scorned by Chris Bosh and his Twitter scandal,
another hum
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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