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09/03/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff hopes of the Houston Dynamo continue to slip away as the club gets set to host the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday at Robertson Stadium.
Houston snapped a 10-game winless skid with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire, but the team suffered a 3-0 defeat against the Colorado Rapids last time out, thwarting any momentum they might have taken from the Chicago win.
"It is just the way the season's going, and we have to try and get some momentum back," Houston's Geoff Cameron told mlssoccer.com. "It was a disappointing result, especially with us thinking we could go there and get three points."
The Dynamo must now start to string a few wins together to get back into playoff contention, but they will be missing midfielder Lovel Palmer due to international duty with Jamaica, while forward Brian Ching suffered a calf injury in last weekend's game and could also miss the match.
San Jose will be without a few key players of its own as the team's leader in assists, Bobby Convey, serves a one-game suspension for yellow-card accumulation, while forward Ryan Johnson is away on international duty.
However, there is good news for coach Frank Yallop as he gets back defender Jason Hernandez from suspension, while Arturo Alvarez will be available despite getting called up to the El Salvador national team for a friendly on Tuesday.
Earthquakes Designated Player Geovanni could also find himself getting increased playing time as he continues to build fitness.
San Jose had a modest two-game winning streak snapped by Red Bull New York last time out, but they are only three points back of fourth-place Seattle in the Western Conference with two less games played, so a playoff berth is well within reach.
<< Columbus signs Peru forward Mendoza
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew signed Peru forward Andres
Mendoza on Friday.
Mendoza, 32, made his debut for Peru in 1999 and still plays for his country.
He has seven goals in 44 games. At the club level, Mendoza has p
<< Diamondbacks bring up veteran P Hampton
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks purchased the contract
of 15-season veteran Mike Hampton on Friday from Triple-A Reno.
Hampton was signed by the club on August 21 after making 21 starts for Houston
last season, going
<< NCAA reverses decision; Masoli to play for Ole Miss in 2010
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will
be able to play for the Ole Miss Rebels this season after the NCAA overturned
a previous decision that stated the signal-caller must sit out a year.
Masoli enro
<< Granderson, Yanks win seventh straight
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Curtis Granderson doubled twice and drove in
three runs, as New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, in the opener of a
three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Brett Gardner hit an RBI triple and scored
White Sox activate Thornton from DL >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox have activated reliever
Matt Thornton from the 15-day disabled list.
Thornton had been on the DL since August 18 with left elbow inflammation. He
is 3-4 with a 2.66 earned run average
Steelers start cuts, drop 10 players >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Steelers released 10 players on Friday,
getting an early start on personnel moves in advance of the NFL's 6 p.m. (et)
Saturday deadline to reduce rosters to 53 players.
The players released were tight
Boston's Pedroia has surgery >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia
has undergone successful surgery on the navicular bone of his left foot.
Pedroia had a screw inserted on Friday to promote healing of the fracture,
which occu
NHL approves new Kovalchuk contract >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Kovalchuk will finally join the New Jersey
Devils after his re-submitted contract was reportedly approved by the National
Hockey League.
Additionally, according to TSN of Canada, the league and the NH
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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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