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07/20/2010 - Edmonton, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July 25. Race: Honda Indy Edmonton. Site: City Centre Raceway. Track: 1.96-mile, 14-turn temporary street/airport course. Start Time: 6:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 95. Miles: 186.2. 2009 winner: Will Power. Television: VERSUS. Radio: IMS Radio Network/SIRIUS XM Satellite.
For the second straight week, the IZOD IndyCar Series runs in Canada with the Honda Indy Edmonton at City Centre Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. This will be third year the series competes at the 1.96-mile, 14-turn temporary street/airport course.
After his victory in last Sunday's race at Toronto, Team Penske's Will Power increased his lead to 42 points over Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver and defending series champion Dario Franchitti. Power also won earlier this month at Watkins Glen, NY.
Once again, Power will have the opportunity to win a series record-tying third consecutive race. The Australian driver won the first two races this season -- Sao Paulo, Brazil and St. Petersburg, FL. If Power takes Edmonton, he will join Kenny Brack (1998), Dan Wheldon (2005) and Scott Dixon (2007) as those drivers who recorded three consecutive victories.
"I believe if you're put in that position, you should be winning," Power said. "You're given the equipment to win. I've been given a full-time ride in one of the best teams in the series. To repay them, you've got to win."
Power notched his first career IndyCar win in last year's race at Edmonton. He started on the pole and led 90 of 95 laps, relinquishing the top position only when he pitted. Power held a one-second lead over his teammate Helio Castroneves before the race ended under caution for an incident involving Tomas Scheckter with less than two laps remaining.
All four of Power's wins this year have come on road/street courses. After Edmonton, the Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, CA road courses are the next two races on the schedule before the series concludes its season with Chicagoland, Kentucky, Motegi, Japan and Homestead, FL -- all of which are 1.5-mile ovals.
"I know it's going to be a tough championship to win," Power said. "I was aware coming into the season that I had lack of experience on mile-and-a-half ovals. I think the only place it really showed was Kansas, where I was very cautious and just finished the race [12th]. Everywhere else, I felt like I could have challenged for the win.
"I want to win an oval race before the year's out. I've been knocking on the door, so I think that may come."
Dixon won the inaugural race at Edmonton in 2008, the same year he clinched his second series title. The Ganassi driver currently sits third in points (-78).
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Mora, Francis help Rockies rout Marlins >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Melvin Mora finished a triple shy of the cycle
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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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