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07/19/2010 - Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Russian Vera Dushevina was a first-round winner Monday at the Slovenia Open.
Dushevina dropped the first set but rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow countrywoman Anna Lapushchenkova.
Other first-round winners among unseeded players included another Russian matchup with Anna Chakvetadze taking out Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1; Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay defeated Slovenian wild card Andreja Klepac 6-3, 6-4; Russian Virginie Razzano advanced with a 6-2, 7-5 win against Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia and Austrian wild card Tamira Paszek got by Croat Jelena Kostanic Tosic 7-5, 6-2.
Six of the top-10 seeds have first-round matches scheduled for Tuesday, including top overall seed Jelena Jankovic, who will face off with fellow Serb Bojana Jovanovski.
<< Report: Johnson, Titans come to contract agreement
Culver City, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL Network is reporting that
running back Chris Johnson and the Tennessee Titans have agreed to a deal that
will pay him slightly more than $2 million during the 2010 season.
According to T
<< Pitt suspends DE Sheard indefinitely
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh senior starting defensive end
Jabaal Sheard has been suspended indefinitely from team activities after being
charged with multiple offenses for his part in a fight early Sunday morning.
The P
<< This Week in Golf - July 19th through July 25th
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CANADIAN OPEN, St. George's Golf & Country
Club, Toronto, Ontario - From one national championship to another, the PGA
Tour moves north of the border this week for the Canadian Open.
Despite its
<< Heat bring back F James Jones
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat made it official on Monday by re-
signing forward James Jones.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but The Miami Herald previously
reported that Jones' deal was for the veteran mini
Bulls officially sign Brewer >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls announced the signing of
free agent guard Ronnie Brewer on Monday.
Terms of the contract were not released, but it was earlier reported to be for
three years and $12.5 million.
The Bu
Athletics put OF Sweeney on DL >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics placed outfielder Ryan
Sweeney on the 15-day disabled list with right patella tendinitis on Monday.
The move is retroactive to July 12.
The 25-year-old is hitting a team-best .294 wi
UConn AD Hathaway to serve as Division I men's basketball chair >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA announced on Monday that Jeff
Hathaway, director of athletics at the University of Connecticut, has been
appointed chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for the 2011-12
academi
Bucks sign PG Dooling >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks signed free agent point
guard Keyon Dooling on Monday.
Dooling is said to have inked a two-year deal and will slide in as the backup
to Brandon Jennings after former Buck Luke Ridnour
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 online football betting 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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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