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01/14/2012 - Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oaklawn Park's series for three-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail will get underway on Monday with the running of the $100,000 Smarty Jones Stakes. The mile event was won last year by eventual Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile champ Caleb's Posse.
Topping the field of 12 for the Smarty Jones is On Fire Baby, the only filly entered in the race. On Fire Baby, owned by Anita Cauley, will start from post 10 with Joe Johnson getting the call again. .
Trained by Gary 'Red Dog' Hartlage, On Fire Baby has won three of four starts including victories in the Pocahontas and Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs. After winning in her first career start at Ellis Park in August, the filly finished fifth at 40-1 in the Alcibiades Stakes in October at Keeneland.
On Fire Baby has earned $227,329 in her four starts.
Here is the complete field for the Smart Jones in post-position order: Laurie's Rocket, Brian Hernandez Jr.; Junebugred, Joe Bravo; Prince Cheval, Greta Kutzweiler; No Spin, Channing Hill; Fastestwhogetspaid, Israel Ocampo; Optimizer, Terry Thompson; Copus, Julio Felix; Jake Mo, Cliff Berry; Hard Nosed, Richardo Santana Jr.; On Fire Baby, Joe Johnson; King Corral, Gabriel Saez and Reckless Jerry, Shane Laviolette.
The Smarty Jones Stakes is named for the 2004 champion three-year-old colt who won the Arkansas Derby along with the Run for the Roses and Preakness Stakes.
<< Broncos S Dawkins out against Patriots
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos safety Brian Dawkins will miss
tonight's playoff game against the New England Patriots due to a neck injury.
The veteran has missed three of the team's last four games.
Broncos long snapper L
<< Taylor, No. 10 Kansas get past Iowa State
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyshawn Taylor's all-around performance of
28 points, six assists and four steals helped No. 10 Kansas pull out an
82-73 victory against Iowa State.
Thomas Robinson ended with 11 points and 14 reb
<< San Diego State ousts UNLV on Franklin's game-winner
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamaal Franklin hit the game-winning basket
with 0.3 seconds left, lifting No. 22 San Diego State to a thrilling 69-67
victory over No. 12 UNLV on Saturday.
UNLV's Brice Massamba had made 1-of-2 free
<< Saints RB Thomas leaves with head injury
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saints running back Pierre Thomas left
Saturday's divisional round game at San Francisco with a head injury after
taking a helmet-to-helmet hit.
Thomas caught a short pass from Drew Brees on the
49ers beat Saints in wild finish >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - "I don't know what you would call this
one," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said of the instant-classic play. "The throw-
and-catch?"
How about "The Clutch."
When Vernon Davis hit the ground with Alex
No. 4 Stanford thumps Colorado >>
Boulder, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joslyn Tinkle netted a game-high 20 points
leading the fourth-ranked Stanford Cardinal to an 80-54 drubbing of Colorado
on Saturday.
Chiney Ogwumike finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Toni
Syracuse cruises to 19-0, tying school record >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoop Jardine scored 10 points and dished out
nine assists to lead No. 1 Syracuse over Providence, 78-55, on Saturday.
Kris Joseph paced the Orange (19-0, 6-0 Big East) with 13 points, while Dion
Waiters a
Nieminen trumps Benneteau in Sydney final >>
Sydney, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jarkko Nieminen posted a 6-2, 7-5
victory over France's Julien Benneteau on Sunday to capture the $434,250 Apia
International Sydney, a tuneup for the Australian Open, which begins on
Monday.
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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