Can someone explain to me what I did?

[Kevin]

I am sure that I am going to be lambasted by the betting pros here, but I just made my first wager.

As a die-hard Colts fan, I just bet on the Patriots - figuring that if the Colts lose, I am really pissed but have $100 more to play with. If the Colts win, it is money well spent.

Anyway, I opened an account at Pinnacle and deposited $120 from my neteller account

I picked New England -1 121 - so I risk 99.70 to win $120.

The Colts were +1 111.

Is this a money line. It seems like on the Colts line, that I would have risked less to win more, while with the Pats, I risk more to win less - even though I am playing the spread.

A Patriot 23-22 victory would really, really suck, but oh well.

I am just not sure what happened because I thought the juice was the same on both teams you just played the spread.

Thanks and sorry if this irritates anyone.

[craig r]

Actually you risk $120 to win 99.70.

Both lines you stated are the spread. What the sportsbooks will do sometimes is adjust the odds instead of moving the spread. Basically lets say the line opened up -1 -110, but a decent amount of money came on NE, instead of moving the line to 1.5 -110, they might just move the odds to -1 -115 (just an example). hope this helps a little.

craig

[tech]

A lot of books (like Pinnacle) change the juice for different sides. It makes it a little harder to figure out exactly what you are betting. You just have to pay more juice to take the Pats here.

In this case, the -121 means you have to risk 121 to win 100. The +111 on the Colts +1 means that you have to risk 100 to win 111. Both of these are against the spread, with the Pats favored by 1. In effect, the -121 means you have to win about 55% of the time (as opposed to about 52.5% with -110) to make the wager profitable.

This is not a money line. With a money line you are just betting on who will win. Most books don't offer money lines when the spread is this small.

If you were to do this repeatedly over a long period it would probably hurt you, but since yours is more of an emotional hedge, it's probably not a big deal. Also, there are not a ton of games decided by one point, so there is not a high probability that it will hit exactly on the number.

Good luck to you.

[CCx]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this a money line. It seems like on the Colts line, that I would have risked less to win more, while with the Pats, I risk more to win less - even though I am playing the spread.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, this is not a moneyline bet. A moneyline bet is a bet on a team to win the game outright at posted odds. For example, if you pick the Rams to beat the Falcons this weekend, the price is +230 at certain books. That means that you risk $100 to win $230. That's because the Rams are a 7 point underdog, and picking them to win the game outright will get you more money. The Falcons are -270 at certain books. What this means is, you have to wager $270 to win $100 if you pick the Falcons outright. That's because the Falcons are a 7 point favorite, and picking them to win the game outright will win you less money with your $100 bet.

You basically did the same thing, but with a spread, where the odds are -121 on the Pats -1 and +111 on the Colts +1. Now that you know what the +'s and -'s mean, you know that you'd risk $121 to win $100 on the Pats +1, and risk $100 on the Colts +1 to win $111. Use the example above if needed.

Hope this helps!

[CCx]

Haha whoops, didnt see your post, was writing mine at the time - sorry bout that [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[kdog]

[ QUOTE ]
As a die-hard Colts fan, I just bet on the Patriots - figuring that if the Colts lose, I am really pissed but have $100 more to play with. If the Colts win, it is money well spent.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]Kinda like what I do whenever the Red Sox make it to the series. But in football I'm a complete mercenary. I'll bet on or against any team.