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08/09/2010 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicagoland Speedway will kick off the Chase for Sprint Cup championship in 2011. The speedway, located roughly 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, will hold its event on September 18.
Officials from the speedway and NASCAR, as well as drivers Kevin Harvick and David Reutimann, made the announcement from the 1.5-mile track on Monday.
"We could not be more excited," track president Craig Rust said. "I don't think there's a better location to kick off the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup than in Chicago."
Chicagoland has hosted a Sprint Cup Series race in July each year since 2001.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been the first race in the Chase since NASCAR began its 10-race playoff format in 2004. New Hampshire is expected to move to another date on the Chase schedule for next year. New Hampshire will publicly address its schedule for next season on Wednesday.
Chicagoland is the latest in anticipated major changes for the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule, which likely will be released within the next two weeks.
Last week, officials from Atlanta Motor Speedway announced that track will host only one Cup event, which will take place on Labor Day weekend. The loss of Atlanta's spring race paves the way for the long-awaited addition of Kentucky Speedway to the Cup schedule. Kentucky has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday.
More announcements are scheduled for this week, with Kansas Speedway expecting to announce it will have a second Cup date, starting next year. Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA reportedly is giving up their second season event, which is part of the Chase schedule, to make room for Kansas' additional date.
<< NL West: Division still up for grabs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It appears the National League West Division will be
decided by either San Diego or San Francisco. Just don't mention that to
anyone affiliated with the Rockies or Dodgers.
The Padres have been the top team
<< Red Wings ink veteran blueliner Salei
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings have signed
defenseman Ruslan Salei to a one-year contract.
No terms of the deal were disclosed.
Salei was limited to just 14 games because of a back injury last season
<< Mahan up to 12th in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hunter Mahan's victory Sunday at the WGC-
Bridgestone Invitational moved the American to 12th in this week's world golf
rankings.
Mahan moved up 19 spots this week after his biggest professional win.
<< Rematch between Blame and Quality Road not immediate
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's dramatic stretch drive between
Blame and Quality Road in the Whitney Handicap will have to satisfy race fans
for more than a month. The earliest the two four-year-olds will meet again
appears
This Week in Golf - August 12th through August 15th >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, Whistling Straits,
Kohler, Wisconsin - The season's final major championship is on tap this week
with the golf world slightly tipped on its side.
Tiger Woods had his worst profe
UTEP suspends two players for season opener >>
El Paso, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UTEP has reportedly suspended cornerback
Travaun Nixon for the season opener and wide receiver/kick returner Marlon
McClure for the first two games of the 2010 campaign.
According to the El Paso Ti
Cunningham double earns him MLS Player of the Week >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Dallas striker Jeff Cunningham was
voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 19, it was announced
on Monday.
Cunningham scored two goals, including the game winner, in the Hoops 3
92nd PGA Championship Preview >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This year's PGA Championship at Whistling
Straits is historic.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since 1997, it's impossible to
realistically see Tiger Woods contending for a major champions
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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