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02/03/2012 - Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrio scored in the second half as Borussia Dortmund downed Nurnberg, 2-0, on Friday to return to top of the Bundesliga.
Defending champion Dortmund broke a three-way tie on points with Bayern Munich and Schalke as it grabbed sole possession of the top spot ahead of the weekend matches.
Bayern entered the week with the top spot based on goal differential, and will return to the summit with a win Saturday at Hamburg.
Dortmund survived a couple scares early as Shinji Kagawa cleared Timmy Simons' cross off the line in the 11th minute, and then Tomas Pekhart launched an open chance well high from the edge of the 6-yard box in the 19th.
Robert Lewandowski had Dortmund's first opportunity in the 21st, but Nurnberg goalie Raphael Schafer made the first of four saves.
Kevin Grosskreutz wasted a second chance for Dortmund in the 26th, and Schafer made another fine save on Lewandowski in the 34th, before stopping a weak shot from Kagawa in the 36th.
Dortmund's breakthrough came early in the second half in frigid Nurnberg, as a final pass from Lukasz Piszczek was deposited by Kehl to the bottom left.
Nurnberg rarely threatened, and Dortmund poked a second past Schafer with just 8 minutes remaining as Barrios latched onto a rebound to score his first goal.
Dortmund's fifth straight win put pressure on Bayern as it heads to Hamburg on Saturday with concerns defensively.
Daniel van Buyten was lost to injury last month and Rafinha is banned, so Jupp Heynckes will likely be forced to move Luiz Gustavo or Anatoliy Tymoshchuk for cover in the backline, either at center back or right back.
"It's very irritating," Bayern's Jerome Boateng said, "to be without both Van Buyten and Rafinha."
Hamburg has been revived under Thorsten Fink, a former Bayern player. Hamburg was unbeaten in his first eight matches in charge, and the club has climbed to mid-table in 11th after a horrible start.
Although matches are being threatened through Europe due to extreme cold, five more fixtures are also slated for Saturday: Bayer Leverkusen hosts Stuttgart, Hertha Berlin hosts Hannover, Hoffenheim hosts Augsburg, Schalke hosts Mainz, and Wolfsburg hosts Monchengladbach.
On Sunday, Freiburg hosts Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern hosts Cologne.
<< Youzhny reaches Zagreb final four
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny
was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Friday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis
tournament.
Youzhny needed 2 hours, 42 minutes to stave off eighth-seeded massive-serving
<< Nicholls to play three FBS opponents
Thibodaux, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nicholls State University football
program is going heavy on the FBS opposition and light on the home games in a
2012 schedule announced on Friday.
The Colonels' first three games are against FBS opponent
<< United hope to end road Blues at the Bridge
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United are not accustomed to
long-standing droughts at many stadiums in England, but Stamford Bridge is
certainly one of the few exceptions.
The Red Devils square off against Chelsea in W
<< Rangers' Hamilton admits to another relapse
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton
confirmed reports Friday that he had a relapse with his alcohol abuse earlier
this week.
The incident, which was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, took
Youzhny, Baghdatis land in Zagreb final four >>
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny
and former champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus were a pair of quarterfinal
winners Friday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis tournament.
Youzhny needed 2 hours, 42
PSG tries to remain perfect under Ancelotti >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlo Ancelotti is perfect in four matches in
charge of PSG and the rebuilt French club hosts Evian on Saturday in search of
their sixth in their last seven games overall.
With more than $100 million spent on
Pats list Gronkowski as questionable >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England Patriots tight end Rob
Gronkowski is listed as questionable on the team's injury report for Sunday's
matchup against the New York Giants.
Gronkowski's left ankle has been the main inju
Magic suspend Glen Davis 2 games >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic suspended forward Glen Davis
two games for conduct detrimental to the team, general manager Otis Smith
announced Friday.
Davis, who was acquired during the offseason via a trade with
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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