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12/23/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams coming off shutout wins get together tonight, as the Florida Panthers play host to the Nashville Predators at BankAtlantic Center.
The Panthers began a three-game homestand on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Tomas Vokoun halted all 23 shots faced for his second shutout of the season and 27th of his career.
Brett McLean netted his first goal of the season and Richard Zednik also scored for Florida, which snapped a two-game skid but is still 7-2-1 over its last 10 outings. Bryan McCabe added an empty-net power-play goal to seal it.
The victory was just the Panthers' second in their last five home games, and they are 7-4-2 as the host this year. Florida wraps this three-game residency on Friday versus Tampa Bay.
Vokoun, who played eight seasons in Nashville, will likely try for his first career win versus the Predators tonight, as he lost his only other start against them by allowing four goals on 33 shots faced. However, he is 3-0-1 in his last six outings this year with a 1.91 goals against average.
Despite making eight fewer starts than Vokoun this year, Predators backup netminder Pekka Rinne posted his third shutout of not only his career, but this month in Saturday's 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders.
Rinne halted 23 shots in his first appearance since suffering his first loss of the season on December 8. He improved to 7-1-0 with a 2.31 GAA and .912 save percentage in 10 starts this year.
Vernon Fiddler scored the game's only goal in the first period with Martin Erat and Rich Peverley notching the assists. Nashville managed just one goal in a game for the fourth time in its last five contests, but is still 2-2-1 in that span.
Jason Arnott played in his 1,000th career game on Saturday and leads Nashville with 13 goals this season. However, he hasn't scored in any of his last eight contests and has just two assists in that span.
Nashville has lost its last three on the road and is 7-9-2 as the visiting club this year.
The Predators have won two straight over the Panthers, including last year's 3-2 home shootout victory. Nashville is 1-3 with a tie all-time in Florida.
Rinne stopped 24-of-26 shots faced in beating the Panthers this year in his only other career start against them, while Dan Ellis is also 1-0-0 all-time against them.
<< Caps visit Rangers in battle of first-place clubs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals will try to rebound from a lopsided
loss when they visit the New York Rangers for tonight's battle between first-
place teams at Madison Square Garden.
The Capitals, who lead the Southeast Division
<< Streaking Maple Leafs tangle with Stars
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly-hot Toronto Maple Leafs will aim for a sixth
victory in seven games when they welcome the Dallas Stars for tonight's
interconference matchup at Air Canada Centre.
The Maple Leafs earned their second straight b
<< Hoping to halt slide at 10, Isles host Thrashers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders will try to avoid a 10th
consecutive loss when they host the Atlanta Thrashers tonight at Nassau
Coliseum.
The Islanders, who are tied with Tampa Bay for last place in the Eastern
Conference, have y
<< Kings try to snap skid in road test with Blue Jackets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to avoid their fifth
consecutive loss tonight when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets for a
battle at Nationwide Arena.
The Kings have lost four straight on the heels of a two-game winning
Kiprusoff, Flames welcome Ducks to town >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a slow start to the season, Flames netminder Miikka
Kiprusoff is helping his team climb up the standings. Calgary will try to
rebound tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at Pengrowth Saddledome.
The Flames lost four of
Bulls open trek against Pistons >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Central Division rivals meet Tuesday in Auburn Hills when
the Chicago Bulls kick off a four-game road trip against the Detroit Pistons
at The Palace.
The Bulls come in on a winning note after Ben Gordon scored 26 p
'Canes resume swing in Minnesota >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes continue their four-game road trip
with a stop in Minnesota, where they will take on the Wild tonight at Xcel
Energy Center.
Carolina began the swing with a loss in Boston on Saturday and then allow
Lakers, Hornets square off in the Big Easy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Lakers conclude a
tough four-game road trip Tuesday when they arrive in the Big Easy to face the
New Orleans Hornets.
The Lakers improved to 1-2 on the trek Monday in Memphis
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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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