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02/08/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Since their heart-to-heart meeting among players and coaches following a loss at Milwaukee last week, the Miami Heat haven't suffered defeat and hope to continue that trend tonight against the Orlando Magic in the opener of a six-game road trip.
Miami has won three in a row and 11 of its last 13 games since a season-worst three-game slide and posted its sixth straight win in South Beach with Tuesday's 107-91 over LeBron James' former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. James had 24 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 26 points. Chris Bosh tacked on 15 points and nine boards for Miami, which got 14 points from both Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem.
"We (the Miami Heat) just understand that no game is over until it is over," Wade said. "We know teams are going to fight against us because they have a lot of pride. We did a good job of really locking in defensively and turning up the engine."
Wade has scored 20-plus points in a season-high five consecutive games, and in six of his last seven contests. The Heat's 19-6 record is the best 25-game start in franchise history. The previous best was 18-7 (three times).
The Heat are 7-4 away from home this season and are scheduled to make other stops in Washington, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Indiana and Cleveland.
Orlando had won three in a row since a four-game slide, but fell back into the loss column with Monday's 107-102 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in the opener of a three-game homestand.
Magic point guard Jameer Nelson returned from a five-game absence due to concussion-like symptoms and registered 15 points and a season-high 12 assists. The Magic, who went 3-2 without Nelson in the lineup, received 33 points and 14 rebounds from Dwight Howard.
"The only thing I fault our guys for was the start of the third quarter. The first six minutes, we came with no energy whatsoever. The rest, it's on me," Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said.
Orlando is playing eight of 10 games at home and owns an 8-5 record at the Amway Center this season.
The Magic and Heat split four meetings a season ago and the last eight matchups overall. Miami has lost eight of 10 games in central Florida. James averaged 30.0 ppg last season against Orlando, while Howard had averages of 18.5 points and 14.8 rebounds. Howard is averaging 16.8 points and 12.5 boards in 28 career games in this series. James is posting 28.4 ppg in that same amount of games lifetime against the Magic.
Van Gundy served as the Heat's head coach for two-plus years from 2003-05, compiling a 112-73 (.605) record.
<< Sharks, Flames clash in San Jose
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Staring at a two-week long road trip, the San Jose Sharks
would love to pick up four big points before leaving the friendly confines of
HP Pavilion.
They'll look to accomplish step one of that plan this evening and extend
<< Spurs continue Rodeo Road Trip in Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs were able to get their annual Rodeo
Road Trip off to a promising start, but must face a pesky Philadelphia 76ers
squad that hasn't backed down from any team tonight at Wells Fargo Center.
San Antonio
<< Skinner, Hurricanes begin trip in Anaheim
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner is starting to find his
groove again after missing time with a head injury. Hopefully the club's
cross country road trip won't derail his momentum.
Carolina begins its three-game journey ton
<< Bucks and Raptors meet at ACC
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks try to avoid a fourth straight loss
this evening when they open a brief two-game road trip against the Toronto
Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The Bucks played hard on Tuesday to no avail, as they overcam
Pistons and Nets kick off home-and-home set in Jersey >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Only one of Detroit's six wins this season has come on the
road and the Pistons would like to change that as early as tonight, when they
pay a visit to the New Jersey Nets in the opener of a home-and-home set.
The Pistons
Bulls hope to have Rose in New Orleans >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The best from the NBA's Eastern Conference meets the worst
from the West when the Chicago Bulls resume their grueling nine-game road trip
against the lowly Hornets in New Orleans.
The Bulls won their third straight con
Mr. Lin goes to Washington >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Linsanity has officially hit New York.
Tonight Jeremy Lin tries to continue his amazing play when the New York Knicks
go after a third straight win against the Washington Wizards at the Verizon
Center.
After netting
Call of the wild: Wolves, Grizzlies clash in Memphis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The much-improved Timberwolves will aim to win for the
second time in as many nights without All-Star Kevin Love when they take on
the Grizzlies in Memphis tonight.
Love, who leads the Wolves in both scoring (25.
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football 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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