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05/01/2009 - Westwood, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Breakers forward Kelly Smith was named the Women's Professional Soccer Player of the Month for April on Friday.
Smith becomes the league's first-ever monthly award recipient. She scored goals in all three of the games she played in April, leading the Breakers to a 2-1-0 record.
The English national team forward was an automatic nominee for the award after claiming the WPS Player of the Week award in Week 3. Smith beat out Los Angeles Sol forward Marta and goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, who finished second and third, respectively, for the monthly honor.
The England international is tied for the league lead in goals scored with Los Angeles' Marta. Smith has finished as a finalist to Marta, the three-time reigning FIFA Womens World Player of the Year, in two of the past three years.
The following are the 2009 WPS Player of the Month winners:
April: Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers)
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Zimmerman has been the lone diamond in the rough for
the lowly Washington Nationals and will try to get his club back on track
tonight in the second installment of a four-game series versus the St. Louis
Cardinals at Nat
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A bitter NL East rivalry commences this evening in South
Philadelphia, where the Phillies will host the despised New York Mets for
the first of three straight games at Citizens Bank Park.
In each of the past two years, the
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins rookie pitcher Graham Taylor will try to
keep the ball rolling this afternoon, when he takes the mound against the
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The NL East-leading
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners shoot for their seventh straight win
over the Oakland Athletics tonight when the AL West foes start a three-game
set at Safeco Field.
These teams met earlier in the season at Oakland, where the Ma
Real ready to reel in Barca in El Clasico >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid is unbeaten in 17 straight, a run
that includes 16 wins, and finally has a chance to reel in once runaway leader
Barcelona on Saturday in the El Clasico.
Real last lost in La Liga in December t
Celtic begins final push >>
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Scottish Premier League season
enters its final stretch this weekend as Celtic travels to Pittodrie Stadium
on Saturday to meet Aberdeen with a one-point lead on second-placed Rangers.
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Milan still believes in title chances >>
Catania, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When AC Milan travels to Catania on Sunday
they will be doing so with the belief that they can still catch leaders Inter
Milan at the top of the Serie A table.
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Canadiens legend Lafleur convicted of obstruction of justice >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Montreal Canadiens forward Guy Lafleur
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Lafleur's son, Mark, violated his bail conditions when he sta
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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