Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/16/2010 - Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Garrigus fired a seven-under 65 on Friday to join first-round leader Matt Bettencourt in a share of first after the second round of the Reno-Tahoe Open.
Garrigus and Bettencourt, who bogeyed his last two for a four-under 68, are knotted atop the leaderboard at 10-under 134 at the Montreux Golf & Country Club.
John Mallinger managed a five-under 67 and is alone in third at minus-eight.
Bob Heintz (68), Bill Lunde (68), John Merrick (68) and Kevin Stadler (67) are tied for fourth place at seven-under 137.
They are chasing a pair of co-leaders, both of whom have never won on the PGA Tour. This week provides a great chance for someone to break through for a first victory since the best players in the world are at St. Andrews for the British Open Championship.
Garrigus came very close to that maiden title earlier this year.
He famously held a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole of the St. Jude Classic, but made a disastrous triple-bogey, then lost a playoff to Lee Westwood.
When asked if it served as a learning experience, Garrigus responded, "Absolutely."
He broke into red figures at the second when he tapped in a short putt. Garrigus hit a spectacular second as the wind came up, much like it did this morning at St. Andrews.
"I kind of thought, 'Oh, it's kind of like the British Open,'" joked Garrigus. "The guys in the morning got no wind, and we're out here in the elements."
Garrigus braved those elements and continued his fine form with birdies at three and four. He played steady golf around the turn with a good save at nine and a narrowly missed birdie chance at the 10th.
Garrigus got up and down for a birdie from over the green at the par-five 11th. He knocked his tee ball to a foot to set up the easy birdie at the par- three 12th.
Garrigus once again left himself with a foot-long birdie putt, this time at the 15th. He missed a three-foot birdie chance at 16, but sank a 20-footer for birdie at the 17th. He got into the clubhouse at 10-under, then found himself tied for first when Bettencourt fumbled down the stretch.
"It was just one of those days that nothing was going wrong," said Garrigus. "I didn't make any bad swings. Not one bad swing today. It was great. Had a great day. Just one of those days, you know."
Bettencourt appeared headed toward one of those days as well.
He started on the 10th tee Friday and eagled the par-five 11th when he chipped in from off the green. Two holes later, Bettencourt stiffed his approach to a foot and kicked in the short birdie putt. He made it two in a row with a four- footer at No. 14.
Birdies at the second and fourth gave Bettencourt a fairly commanding lead. Garrigus started his run with late birdies, but Bettencourt came back to the field.
At the par-four eighth, Bettencourt landed in a bunker with his second, and the caddies in the group in front didn't rake the trap. He couldn't get on the green with his third and walked off with a bogey. Bettencourt bogeyed the par- five ninth when his four-foot save attempt stayed above ground.
"I'm fine. I'm just frustrated right now," said Bettencourt. "I don't need to work on anything. I just need to keep playing the way I'm playing and everything will be fine."
Chad Campbell, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 93, shot a three- under 69 and is tied for eighth place with Chris DiMarco, who had a one-under 71 on Friday. The pair is knotted at minus-six.
Tournament host Scott McCarron (69) and Todd Fischer (70) share 10th at five- under 139.
NOTES: Defending champion John Rollins shot an even-par 72 and is tied for 33rd at one-under par...The 36-hole cut fell at three-over 147 and 71 players made it to the weekend...Keith Clearwater, Parker McLachlin, Andrew McLardy and Jerod Turner withdrew on Friday.
<< Strasburg, Nats open second half on winning note
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Willingham hit a three-run double in the top
of the sixth inning, and the Washington Nationals beat Florida 4-0 in the
opener of a three-game series at Sun Life Stadium.
Washington rookie phenom Steph
<< Reds open second half by edging Rockies
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bronson Arroyo pitched into the eighth
inning and Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs, as the surprising Cincinnati
Reds opened the second half of the season with a 3-2 win over Colorado at
Great A
<< Glenn shines as Tiger-Cats batter Bombers
Hamilton, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Glenn threw for 336 yards and three
touchdowns to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a 28-7 victory over the Winnipeg
Blue Bombers at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
DeAndra' Cobb scored on both a rush and a rece
<< Romero bounces back to pitch Jays past Orioles
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricky Romero tossed seven solid innings en
route to his first victory in exactly one month, as the Toronto Blue Jays held
off the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Camden
Yards.
Wolf helps Brewers down Braves >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Wolf picked up a rare win against
Atlanta, backed by two RBI apiece from sluggers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder
in a 9-3 Brewers win at Turner Field.
Wolf (7-8) turned in six-plus solid frames,
Kouzmanoff, Gonzalez help A's top Royals >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in two runs and Gio
Gonzalez tossed seven innings of one-run ball, as the Oakland Athletics
handled the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, in the opener of a three-game series at
Kauffma
Mauer helps Twins hold off White Sox >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Mauer had two hits, including a big
two-run single in the eighth inning, as the Minnesota Twins held on for a 7-4
win over the Chicago White Sox in the continuation of a four-game series.
Francisco
Truck race at Gateway postponed due to power outage >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A power outage at Gateway International Raceway
just outside St. Louis forced NASCAR to postpone the 200-mile Camping World
Truck Series race until 1:30 p.m. (et) Saturday.
Shortly after Kevin Harvick won
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting