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12/28/2008 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooks Laich and Alex Ovechkin scored two goals apiece to lead the streaking Washington Capitals to a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center.
Ovechkin upped his season total to 25 goals, tying him with Buffalo's Thomas Vanek for second in the NHL, one behind Philadelphia's Jeff Carter for the league lead. He helped Washington win its third in a row and eighth in its past nine. Jose Theodore made 23 saves in the win for the Capitals, on the night they retired Mike Gartner's No. 11 jersey.
Washington did so before the game, honoring the Hockey Hall of Famer who ranks second in Capitals history in goals (397), assists (392) and points (789). Gartner becomes the fourth player in Capitals history to have his number retired, joining Yvon Labre (No. 7), Rod Langway (No. 5) and Dale Hunter (No. 32).
Niklas Hagman scored the lone got for Toronto, which has lost three in a row and posted only four combined goals during that stretch. Vesa Toskala turned aside 25-of-28 shots for the Leafs.
Hagman got Toronto on the scoreboard first, tallying his 11th goal of the season with 5:37 left in the opening period. But two consecutive goals gave Washington the lead.
Laich netted a power-play marker with 7:06 remaining in the middle period, and with just 9.2 seconds left, Ovechkin beat Toskala during a 4-on-4 situation. Ovechkin had the puck while skating into the right circle, and snapped a shot around his defender, off Toskala's chest and into the net, his 24th of the season.
The game remained a 2-1 affair well into the third period, though about at the midway point of the final stanza, a Toronto shot bounced off the left post to prevent the equalizer. Then, with just 4:17 left in the contest, Laich put the puck past Toskala again, and Ovechkin scored on an empty net in the final minute to secure the win.
Game Notes
Washington forward Matt Bradley hit his head on the boards in the third period, after falling down on a missed check, and needed help from the trainers to skate off the ice...Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green each had two assists for the Caps, who play at Buffalo on Tuesday...The Leafs host Atlanta on Tuesday.
<< Sampson helps No. 23 Minnesota to lopsided win
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ralph Sampson III scored 17 points to lead
No. 23 Minnesota past High Point, 82-56, at Williams Arena.
Lawrence Westbrook added 13 points for the Golden Gophers (12-0), who are
three wins shy of tying
<< Ryan helps Ducks edge Blues
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Ryan scored the go-ahead goal with 7:11
remaining in the third period and Jonas Hiller made a key save with three
seconds left as the Anaheim Ducks edged the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, at Scottrade
Center.
<< NFL playoff times set
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Football League released the
times for next weekend's wild card round of the playoffs, and the NFC West
champion Arizona Cardinals (9-7) will get the slate started with a 4:30 p.m.
(et) ga
<< Report: Browns waste little time in showing GM Savage the door
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have reportedly fired
general manager Phil Savage following the club's 31-0 drubbing at the hands of
hated rival Pittsburgh on Sunday, capping a dreadful 4-12 season.
The change at th
Hornets hand Pacers another heartbreaking loss >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David West hit the go-ahead jumper with
2.5 seconds remaining, boosting New Orleans to a 105-103 win over the Indiana
Pacers.
West finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who have
Favre to have MRI on shoulder >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets quarterback Brett
Favre will have an MRI exam on his right shoulder on Monday, following the
club's season-ending 24-17 loss to Miami on Sunday.
Favre completed 20-of-40 p
Rutgers has no solution for Hansbrough, Tar Heels >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Hansbrough scored 26 points and
pulled down 10 rebounds to pace top-ranked North Carolina to a 97-75 win over
Rutgers.
Ty Lawson had 19 points and Danny Green contributed 18 points for the
Oilers light up Ellis, Nashville >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erik Cole finished with a goal and two
assists, as the Edmonton Oilers used a three-goal second period to topple the
Nashville Predators, 5-2.
Sam Gagner and Sheldon Souray each had a goal and an
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.
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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