Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Understanding point spreads

By Simon M Skinner

sports that people bet on have a point spread or line associated with them.

People new to betting may not understand the point spread system Point spreads make the sport more interesting and increase understanding of the teams because sports analysts on TV often refer and compare teams' skills by discussing point spreads. Of course one must remember that although point spreads are widely discussed, betting is not legalin all US states.

If you want to add a little spice to your understanding of the game and to your betting enjoyment then a good understanding of point spreads will certainly help.

If you understand sports betting in general then you will be able to grasp the concept of point spreads more easily. All major sports have some form of point spread. Point spreads change regularly as they are determinged on a game by game basis.

For instance if the University of Texas is playing the University of Oklahoma then a point spread will be associated with that particular game as these are 2 major college football teams.

Any two sports teams are never equal in skills, playing ability and competition experience. One team will always have a chance of being winning the game and this difference is represented by a poiint spread.

In a game between UT and OU, then the point spread will not be a large number because the 2 teams are comparable in skills and experience.

Because it is often obvious that there is one team that is much better than another, there is the point spread. If you were allowed to simply bet on the better team, then 50% of the time all bettors will win. The point spread means that the team has to win the game by a certain number of points.

Another example would be if OU is favored by 10 over UT, then OU would have to win by 11. If they win by 10 then it is called a push. You wouldn't lose or win any money if they won by 10 points.

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