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07/16/2010 - St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South African Louis Oosthuizen carded a five-under 67 Friday to move to the top of the leaderboard in the early stages of the second round at the British Open.
His two-round total of 12-under-par 132 matched the low 36-hole score for the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Nick Faldo and Greg Norman both posted 132 in 1990.
Oosthuizen mixed seven birdies and two bogeys in his round.
After four straight pars to start his round, Oosthuizen ran off three consecutive birdies from the fifth.
Around the turn, he birdied the 10th, but gave that stroke right back with a bogey on 11. Oosthuizen again traded a birdie for a bogey from the 12th.
Oosthuizen birdied the par-five 14th for the second straight day to move back to 11-under. He parred his next three holes before converting a 15-footer for birdie at the last.
"Everyone plays to play in a major and the final round on Sunday, I'm just really glad the way I dealt with my nerves around the course," Oosthuizen stated. "We started in the rain and the first nine was not that easy, but it got a bit better from 14 on."
The South African has won five times on his home tour, the Sunshine Tour, and was victorious for the first time earlier this year on the European Tour.
However, this is uncharted territory in the major championships for Oosthuizen.
Prior to this, Oosthuizen had made the cut just once in eight previous starts in the four majors. The only cut he made in a major was at the 2008 PGA Championship, where he finished last for those who made the cut.
At the time he walked off the course, Oosthuizen led by three strokes over first-round leader Rory McIlroy, who wasn't scheduled to tee off for another two hours.
<< Twins put Morneau on DL
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin
Morneau was put on the 15-day disabled list following Thursday's 8-7 loss to
the White Sox due to a concussion.
The move is retroactive to July 8. Morneau suffered the i
<< Pineiro beats former team, Angels down Mariners
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro threw seven solid innings to win
his seventh straight decision and the Angels got three RBI apiece from Erick
Aybar and Bobby Abreu in a 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners to start the post
All-Sta
<< Lincecum blows out candles, blows away Mets
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum shut out the Mets, becoming
the second-fastest Giants pitcher to win 50 games, as San Francisco posted a
2-0 victory in the opener of a four-game set at AT&T Park.
It took the hard-th
<< ChiSox win ninth straight, edge Twins
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gordon Beckham hit a solo home run and
drove in two as the Chicago White Sox took an 8-7 win over the Minnesota Twins
to begin the second half of the season.
Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 with an RBI and tw
Redick stays in Orlando >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Magic have matched the Chicago Bulls' offer
sheet for J.J. Redick, meaning the shooting guard will remain in Orlando for
the foreseeable future.
The Bulls had given Redick, a restricted free agent, a r
Closing birdie saves Mickelson >>
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the wind picking up, the cut
line will likely climb through Friday afternoon, and possibly into Saturday
morning, at the British Open.
Phil Mickelson birdied the 18th hole Friday to post
Tigers, Scherzer open set with Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Max Scherzer goes after his fifth straight winning decision
this evening when the Detroit Tigers start the second half of their season in
the first test of a four-game set against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive
Field.
Reds, Rockies get second half started in Cincinnati >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two potential National League playoff teams square off
tonight when the Cincinnati Reds host the Colorado Rockies in the opening
contest of a three-game weekend series at Great American Ball Park.
The Reds enter the season
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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