11/18/2008 - Coral Springs, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Morse posted a five-under 67 Tuesday to take a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament.
Morse split time between the PGA and Nationwide Tours in 2008 before playing in his first Champions Tour event at the Principal Charity Classic.
Mark W. Johnson, the 2005 Toshiba Seniors Classic winner, and Steve Thomas share second place at minus-four at the TPC at Eagle Trace.
Robert Thompson is alone in fourth at three-under-par 69, while Kirk Hanefeld and Mike San Filippo are tied for fifth at two-under 70.
Morse opened with a bogey on the first, but rebounded with birdies at four and six. He turned in minus-one, then moved up the leaderboard with consecutive birdies at 10 and 11.
The 50-year-old, who won once on the PGA and Nationwide Tours, parred five in a row from the 12th. Morse then birdied the 17th and 18th to grab first place after the first of four rounds.
Johnson played the back nine first. He notched two birdies and two bogeys over his first seven holes. He drained back-to-back birdie tries from the 17th and again from the fourth to move to minus-four.
After a bogey at six, Johnson bounced back to birdie the seventh.
Thomas birdied three of the first five holes, but faltered to a bogey at six. He recovered that lost stroke with a birdie on the eighth. Thomas parred nine of the last 10 holes to go with a birdie on 15 that got him to minus-four.
Three former winners on the PGA Tour - Jay Don Blake, David Ogrin and Russ Cochran - headline a group tied at one-under-par 71. They were joined there by Jon Fiedler, Jim Chancey, Juan Quiros, Jack Ferenz, Mitch Adams and Mark Balen.
James Mason and Ron Streck, both former winners on the Champions Tour, are among 10 players tied at even-par 72.
<< Scotland's Ferguson set to start against Argentina
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers captain Barry Ferguson will play
his first Scotland game for over a year when Argentina visit Hampden Park for
an international friendly on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old midfielder has started t
<< Worcester loans DaSilva to Phoenix
Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Worcester Sharks loaned Dan DaSilva to
Phoenix in the ECHL, the American Hockey league club announced on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old played in three games with the Sharks this season recording an
assist a
<< Villa coach O'Neill ignores rumors about Barry
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has
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Midlands club.
Barry was poised for an $27 million transfer to Liverpool in the s
<< Juventus goalie Buffon rejected Milan switch
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon has admitted
that he almost left the club following its relegation from Serie A just over
two years ago.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper, who is currently sidelined by a groi
Surgery will sideline Man City's Petrov 3-4 months >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City has admitted it doesn't
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March.
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Man City's Robinho eyes UEFA Cup glory >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brazil international Robinho remains
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Augus
AFC West: Broncos Impressive on Multiple Fronts >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heading into their game at Atlanta last week, the notion of
the Denver Broncos scoring only 24 points would have likely been met with
jubilation by Falcons fans.
The way Denver had played defense this season, there was gre
Rovers reportedly set to add Norway's Reginiussen >>
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reports suggest Blackburn Rovers will
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Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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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 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.
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