FC Porto acquires Lucho, Janko
Soccer Betting Lines
01/31/2012 - Porto, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FC Porto acquired Lucho Gonzalez and Marc Janko on Tuesday, as the Portuguese giants added a pair of reinforcements just days after its first loss of the season.
Lucho, 31, previously spent four seasons at Porto and returns to the club on a free transfer from French side Marseille. The midfielder has played 44 matches for Argentina, and played at River Plate and Huracan early in his career.
Janko, 28, joins from Dutch side Twente, where he scored 24 goals in 45 games. Capped 24 times for Austria, he has also played for Red Bull Salzburg and Admira Wacker.
Lucho was signed through the summer of 2014, while Janko joins on a 3 1/2-year deal.
Porto lost to Gil Vicente, 3-1, on Sunday, as its season-long 16-game unbeaten streak ended. Porto is second to unbeaten Benfica in the standings.
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts have continued the rebuilding of their coaching staff by bringing back Peyton Manning's first NFL quarterbacks coach. Bruce Arians, who coached the Colts' quarterbacks from 1998-200
<< Timbers acquire midfielder Renken
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers acquired midfielder and
U.S. youth international Charles Renken off MLS waivers Tuesday.
Renken, 18, has been a member of U.S. youth national teams since 2005 and most
recently participa
<< Sporting Gijon fires manager Preciado
Gijon, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sporting Gijon fired coach Manuel Preciado on
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Preciado was with Gijon for 5 1/2 seasons and led the club to the top
<< QPR completes Zamora signing
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - QPR made a late swoop on deadline day
Thursday to sign striker Bobby Zamora from Fulham for an undisclosed fee.
Zamora, 31, put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half year deal at Loftus Road to
link back
<< Patrick secures starting spot in Daytona 500
Kannapolis, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danica Patrick will be guaranteed a starting
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SHR and TBR announced
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benfica signed forward Yannick Djalo on a 4 1/2-year deal Tuesday. Djalo, 25, had been out of contract since the summer, but joins the Portuguese leaders for the second half of the season. He played for S
Arsenal completes deal for Eisfeld >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal completed the signing of midfielder
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Astros sign Hernandez to minor league deal >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros signed veteran pitcher Livan
Hernandez to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training
Tuesday.
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Padres avoid arbitration with Moseley >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres have agreed to a one-
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Blackburn signs defender Orr from QPR >>
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blackburn beat the deadline Tuesday to
make its third January addition, as Bradley Orr was acquired from QPR on a 2
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.