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09/14/2007 - Edinburgh, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heading into the Scottish Premier League season, many thought that if any team could compete with Celtic and Rangers, it would be Hearts.
However, through five matches, it appears that Hearts is falling short in the pre-season predictions. The club, which faces Rangers at Tynecastle on Saturday, only has one victory and sits fourth from the bottom on the table.
"Hearts haven't had the start they wanted, but there is nothing like a game against the Old Firm to bring us into focus," said Rangers manager Walter Smith.
Hearts picked up its sole win in its last outing, close to two weeks ago against Motherwell.
"Hearts have a number of good players and it's surprising they've had that start to the season," said Smith. "It is a very dangerous game for us."
Smith's squad will try to keep the top spot in the league, heading into the match with a two-point edge over second-place Celtic. Rangers has won all five of its outings, outscoring its opponents, 18-3, this season.
Between league matches, the Champions League and League Cup games, Rangers will be starting its busiest stretch of the year on Saturday with seven games in the next three weeks.
"We are fighting on a few fronts and how we use our pool of players will determine how successful we'll be," said Smith.
For the most part, Rangers has been able to stay healthy so far. The one causality for Saturday's match is former Hearts player, Andy Webster. Webster has an ankle injury and is expected to miss a week.
Celtic will also play on Saturday, with hopes of taking over first place. The defending champs will be hosting Motherwell at Celtic Park trying to stay undefeated on the season. Celtic's only blemish this season was a scoreless draw with Kilmarnock on opening weekend, but has since posted four straight victories.
In other matches on Saturday, Aberdeen seeks its second win when it welcomes Motherwell to town, Gretna is still looking for its first victory when it hosts Kilmarnock and Hibernian could take over the second spot with a win over Gretna.
The league will finish up on Sunday as St Mirren will try to move to .500 with a victory over fourth-place Dundee United.
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its return to Serie A this season, winning its first two games and scoring
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Annika Sorenstam and Maria Hjo
<< Hanescu ousts Starace in Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hometown favorite Victor Hanescu
toppled third-seeded Italian Potito Starace in Friday's quarterfinal action at
the $400,000 Romanian Open.
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Rams Stand Between Niners, 2-0 Mark >>
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The 49ers have a chance t
Seahawks open NFC West slate in Arizona >>
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Cardinals.
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Pats-Bolts Duel Highlights Week 2 >>
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Denver Broncos
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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