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01/18/2012 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Astros have signed outfielder Jack Cust to a one-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.
The deal is worth $600,000 and includes a club option for the 2013 season.
Cust, 33, spent last season with Seattle and hit just .213 with three homers and 23 RBI in 67 games. However, he did post a .344 on-base percentage.
Cust has played in 670 games in parts of 10 majors league seasons with Arizona, Colorado, Baltimore, San Diego, Oakland and the Mariners. He is a career .242 hitter with a .374 OBP, 105 homers and 323 RBI.
Houston will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster to make room for Cust.
<< Stamps DL Claybrooks retires, named defensive line coach
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Calgary Stampeders defensive lineman DeVone
Claybrooks announced his retirement on Wednesday, and was named the club's
defensive line coach.
"I want to thank the Calgary Stampeders organization for thre
<< Jonathan joins Parma on loan
Parma, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Parma has secured the services of defender
Jonathan on loan for the rest of the season from Inter Milan.
The 25-year-old moved to Inter from Santos over the summer but has only
managed to appear in
<< Milan's Boateng to miss four weeks
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng is
expected to miss the next four weeks because of a thigh injury, the club
announced on Wednesday.
Boateng sustained the problem in Sunday's 1-0 defeat to In
<< Ticats safety Barker retires
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hamilton Tiger-Cats revealed on Wednesday
that safety Dylan Barker was forced to retire due to a chronic back issue.
"I would like to thank everyone involved with my CFL career, especially the
Hamilton
Lille defender Basa to undergo shoulder surgery >>
Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lille will be without defender Marko Basa for
the next three months after he undergoes a shoulder operation set for
Thursday.
Basa sustained the injury in last Wednesday's Coupe de la Ligue defeat to
Ilgauskas joins Cavaliers front office >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zydrunas Ilgauskas is back with the
Cavaliers, who announced Wednesday that their former long-time center is
joining the front office as special assistant to the general manager.
Ilgauskas, 3
Utah kicks leading scorer off team >>
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah guard Josh Watkins, the leading
scorer on the men's basketball team, has been dismissed for an unspecified
violation of team rules.
Watkins had been suspended earlier this season for "conduc
Former Alcorn State QB Bridge lands at South Alabama >>
Mobile, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Some might have considered quarterback Brandon
Bridge to be a FBS-level talent when he played on the FCS level at Alcorn
State.
The Canadian import will be getting an opportunity to play at the higher
level.
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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