Explain these bets to me plz

[codeyf]

1. Atlanta -7 vs Cleveland
2. Pittsburgh -4 vs New Orleans
3. Tampa Bay +10 vs Carolina

I'm confused on the +/- part. Yet somehow, I've managed to do just fine so far this season.

Betting noob here, and these are the pics on a cigar board I frequent.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: codeyf
1. Atlanta -7 vs Cleveland
2. Pittsburgh -4 vs New Orleans
3. Tampa Bay +10 vs Carolina

I'm confused on the +/- part. Yet somehow, I've managed to do just fine so far this season.

Betting noob here, and these are the pics on a cigar board I frequent.

If you bet on Tampa Bay, you get 10 points.

So if TB either wins or loses by less than 10, you collect the bet. If they lose by 10 it's a 'push' and you don't collect or lose. If they lose by 11 or more, you lose the bet.

You actually bet money without knowing this... ???

 

[kstu]

seems pretty logical to me

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: codeyf
1. Atlanta -7 vs Cleveland
2. Pittsburgh -4 vs New Orleans
3. Tampa Bay +10 vs Carolina

I'm confused on the +/- part. Yet somehow, I've managed to do just fine so far this season.

Betting noob here, and these are the pics on a cigar board I frequent.

If you bet on Tampa Bay, you get 10 points.

So if TB either wins or loses by less than 10, you collect the bet. If they lose by 10 it's a 'push' and you don't collect or lose. If they lose by 11 or more, you lose the bet.

You actually bet money without knowing this... ???

Not money bets, cigar bets. Each pick worth $25 worth of smokes. Picks ride through the season. I've been as high as +75 and as low as -50.

So on the - bets, they have to win by that much, correct?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Think of it like a handicap. When a team is -7, they are handicapped -7 points. If you take them but they only win by 3, you still lose.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: Garth
Think of it like a handicap. When a team is -7, they are handicapped -7 points. If you take them but they only win by 3, you still lose.

Ok, I was correct in the - bets then.

So, the important question is, do I take the Tampa bet?!?!?! Carolina hasn't been nearly as explosive as last year, but Tampa is blowing chunks....I'm not touching the ATL bet. They're due for a win, and Browns aren't anything but a stepping stone.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: Garth
Think of it like a handicap. When a team is -7, they are handicapped -7 points. If you take them but they only win by 3, you still lose.

Ok, I was correct in the - bets then.

So, the important question is, do I take the Tampa bet?!?!?! Carolina hasn't been nearly as explosive as last year, but Tampa is blowing chunks....I'm not touching the ATL bet. They're due for a win, and Browns aren't anything but a stepping stone.

The problem is, the guys who set these lines really know what they're doing. The ones who don't were run out of business a long time ago.

One "rule" is to at least consider is never give points on the road. Especially if the road team is playing on a different surface, like a dome/turf team going to a outdoor grass field. And especially at night, you get a rowdier, noisier crowd. But then you'll see something like this past weekend when the Colts beat the Pats in Foxborough...

 

[robothouse77]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: Garth
Think of it like a handicap. When a team is -7, they are handicapped -7 points. If you take them but they only win by 3, you still lose.

Ok, I was correct in the - bets then.

So, the important question is, do I take the Tampa bet?!?!?! Carolina hasn't been nearly as explosive as last year, but Tampa is blowing chunks....I'm not touching the ATL bet. They're due for a win, and Browns aren't anything but a stepping stone.

In my opinion, the panthers will cover the spread. tampa can't hang with them...

 

[robothouse77]

If i were you, I'd take NO to cover the PIT spread...

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: robothouse77
If i were you, I'd take NO to cover the PIT spread...

Oh, I take just about EVERY Pittsburgh bet. Won the last 2

 

[robothouse77]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: robothouse77
If i were you, I'd take NO to cover the PIT spread...

Oh, I take just about EVERY Pittsburgh bet. Won the last 2

boy man, i haven't seen a team self-destruct like that in a while...well maybe the 2002 raiders...

 

[Slew Foot]

Bet on home underdogs.

Another way to think of it is to take the spread and add/subtract it to the teams final score.

I.e. say SF is playing Indianapolis and the spread is Ind -19, SF+19

The actual final score is SF 45, Colts 0

If you bet on SF, your final score would be SF 45+19=64, Ind 0. SF wins
If you bet on Ind, your final score would be SF45, Ind 0+ (-19)= -19 , SF wins again.

 

[crownjules]

Originally posted by: codeyf
1. Atlanta -7 vs Cleveland
2. Pittsburgh -4 vs New Orleans
3. Tampa Bay +10 vs Carolina

I'm confused on the +/- part. Yet somehow, I've managed to do just fine so far this season.

Betting noob here, and these are the pics on a cigar board I frequent.

These types of bets are called betting the spread. The guys that set these out in Vegas are really smart and take all sorts of factors into account: injuries, who's got homefield advantage, overall strength, etc. They then decide who the favorite is and by how much. If you bet on the spread, you have two options:

1) You bet that the favored team will cover the spread.
2) You bet that the underdogs will beat the spread.

How does this work? Let's take your first example. Atlanta -7 vs Cleveland. This means that Atlanta is GIVING Cleveland 7 points, so Atlanta is the favored team. If you bet on Atlanta, that means they have to win by AT LEAST 8 points for you to win your bet. If they win by 6 or less point, or lose, then you lose your bet. If they win by exactly a touchdown you would push the house and just get your original bet back. If you bet on Cleveland, however, you would win if they lose by 6 points or less, or if they win.

ATL 14 CLE 6 - You would win, because it would be 7-6 after you subtract 7.
ATL 14 CLE 7 - You would push.
ATL 14 CLE 10 - You lose because the score after the spread would be 7-10.

So if you see [TEAM] -X, that means that team is favored and is giving up those points to the other team so you subtract from the score and if they are still winning, you would win. If it were [TEAM] +X then that means they are the underdogs and are getting that amount of points, so add the number to the final score and if they win then you win.

Hopefully I explained that well enough for you to understand.

EDIT: I actually forget if you do push on a tie, or if the house wins on those and takes your money.

EDIT2: If you're doing just fine so far, are you really just betting the money line? That is, I bet A will be B without the spread numbers to worry about?