09/05/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Im posted a four-under 68 on Friday to stay atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Canadian Tour Championship.
Im finished 36 holes at 12-under 132 and is one ahead at National Pines Golf Club.
Marc Lawless fired a nine-under 63 to jump into second place at 11-under 133.
Graham DeLaet carded a four-under 68 and is alone in third at minus-10.
Wes Heffernan, who is second on the Canadian Tour money list, shot his second straight, four-under 68 and is tied for fourth place with Scott Gibson (69) and Tom Stankowski (70). The group came in at eight-under 136.
After the completion of the championship, the top-two players on the Order of Merit will get an exemption into the second stage of the PGA Tour National Qualifying School.
Im is third on the tour's money list with two wins this year. John Ellis is first thanks to three victories, but Ellis, who shot a 65 on Thursday, struggled to a one-over 73 on Friday and is tied for seventh with Dustin Risdon at minus-six.
Im began on the 10th tee Friday and started out well with four birdies in his first six holes. After the turn, he birdied the par-five first, but trouble loomed.
Im bogeyed four and six to fall to 11-under par for the championship. He only returned to the top spot on the leaderboard thanks to a birdie at the par-five ninth.
Mike Grob, Ryan Cairns and Dale Vallely each posted rounds of one-under 71 on Friday and are tied for ninth place at five-under 139.
The cut line fell at two-over-par 146 with 64 players advancing to the weekend.
<< Villegas leads BMW Championship
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Camilo Villegas fired a five-under 65 on
Friday to finally take the first-round lead of the BMW Championship, the third
FedEx Cup Playoff event.
Newly selected United States Ryder Cupper Steve Stric
<< NASCAR postpones Richmond races until Sunday
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Due to heavy rains and winds expected from
Tropical Storm Hanna, NASCAR has postponed all track activities at the
Richmond International Raceway until Sunday.
The outer bands of the storm reached t
<< Serena, Jankovic to meet in U.S. Open final
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Serena Williams and Serbian
Jelena Jankovic will square off in Saturday night's final at the 2008 U.S.
Open.
The fourth-seeded two-time champion Williams reached her fourth U.S. Ope
<< Boston activates trio, including Beckett
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox activated starting pitcher
Josh Beckett and infielders Sean Casey and Mike Lowell from the 15-day
disabled list Friday.
Beckett is scheduled to take the mound tonight against the
Rangers OF Byrd injures thumb >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd left
Friday's game with the Boston Red Sox after spraining his left thumb.
The injury occurred while Byrd tried to make a diving catch on Dustin
Pedroia's line drive in
Cards' Isringhausen to undergo elbow surgery >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jason
Isringhausen, currently on the 15-day disabled list with a right elbow strain,
will undergo season-ending surgery next week.
The procedure is slated for September
Nats' Hill has surgery; Belliard out with groin strain >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals pitcher Shawn Hill
underwent season-ending surgery on his right elbow Friday.
Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery on Friday and removed spurs in the
posterior elbow.
Hill
Jays down Rays, continue spoiler role with sixth straight win >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios hit a pair of home runs and Roy
Halladay threw seven effective innings, as the Toronto Blue Jays toppled Tampa
Bay, 6-4, in the first of three games with the Rays.
Halladay (18-9) gave up three
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 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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