NFL Playoffs by the spread thread Lumpy: At the request of YJ I figure we'd run another contest using the spread and the over/under. We'll be much more likely to get a clear cut winner this way and it may help me pick a winner this weekend!
Saturday Jan 6th
Kansas City+7@Indianapolis over/under 51 points
Dallas+3@Seattle over/under 46.5 points
Sunday Jan 7th
NYJ+8.5@New England over/under 37.5 points
NYG+7@Philadelphia over/under 46pts
Re: NFL Playoffs by the spread thread yella: I'll get back to you after I talk to my dad... I have no idea. ::)
Re: NFL Playoffs by the spread thread Lumpy: [quote author=Smiley link=topic=39578.msg433480#msg433480 date=1167940944">
I'll get back to you after I talk to my dad... I have no idea. ::)
[/quote">
There is a straight pick 'em thread below this one smurfy. Smurf it out.
Re: NFL Playoffs by the spread thread yella: I smurfed that one already.
Re: NFL Playoffs by the spread thread YellowJacket: For Smiley, here is a short discussion on how point spreads work. I'll also throw in a bit about betting.
Let's take the New England game as an example. New York gets 8.5 points because the line is NYJ +8.5 @ New England. This means if you want to bet on New England, you make a bet that they will win by more than 8.5. If you want to be on the Jets, you make a bet that they will win or will lose by less than 8.5. With these bets, you'll win about the same amount that you bet. You will lose a bit there for the casino's cut. This is how they make their money.
If you bet on New England and they win by 4, you lose your bet because they didn't cover the spread. The 8.5 is termed the spread.
You can also bet just New England to win but you'll be winning a lot less money because the chances of them winning by a point or more are much greater than the chances of them winning by over 8.5. You might see it expressed as New England -170 for this type of wager. It is often referred to as a "straight up" bet since it isn't against a line. This means you have to bet 170 dollars to win 100. If you were betting the Jets in this type of wager, you'd win more than what you bet.
A lot of people will say this means the experts think New England will win by 8.5. It doesn't. It means the experts think the betting public averaged out by dollars bet expect New England to win by 8.5. When those that set the lines are wrong, the line moves. The aim of those taking bets is to get the same amount of money on each side of the bet. This way they aren't risking anything. They make their money by taking a small cut. If there is 2 million on the Jets and 3 million on New England, the casino is going to lose money if New England wins.
For example, let's say a casino opened the line at 3. The betting public overwhelmingly would favor New England in this case and so the money on each side wouldn't be even. The casino would then push the line up in order to bring in more betting on the Jets to even things out.
The over/under is easier. You bet whether you think fewer than or more than that number of points (total) will be scored in the game.
Click More for the next page.
