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05/03/2009 - Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain's Nicolas Almagro was the lone first- round winner Sunday at the clay-court BMW Open.
Almagro needed 74 minutes to defeat Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4 at MTTC Iphitos.
The other 15 matches in the first round are scheduled for Monday.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez beat Italian Simone Bollelli in last year's final.
<< Rangers keeps pace with win over Hearts
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers moved back to within one point of
league-leaders Celtic on Sunday as the club recorded a 2-0 win over Hearts at
the Ibrox Stadium.
Andrius Velicka scored right before halftime and Kris Boyd talli
<< Liverpool adds to Newcastle's woes
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newcastle's relegation fears increased
on Sunday as the Magpies suffered a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
The result leaves Alan Shearer's men three points from safety with three games
to play,
<< Canada cruises past Norway at Worlds
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Doughty registered a goal and two
assists, as Canada took down Norway, 5-1, at the 2009 World Hockey
Championship.
Steven Stamkos, Dan Hamhuis, Jason Spezza and Matthew Lombardi also
<< Nadal continues his domination on clay with title in Rome
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic to claim
his fourth Italian Masters title in five years, extending his clay-court
winning streak to 30 consecutive matches.
Nadal needed just over two hours to d
Yankees put Marte on DL >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have placed left-handed
reliever Damaso Marte on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his
pitching arm.
The move, which is retroactive to April 26, comes after Marte str
Bartoli, Kanepi among first round winners in Rome >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marion Bartoli and Kaia Kanepi were among the
first round winners at the $2 million Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis
event.
The 11th-ranked Bartoli, of France, topped China's Peng Shuai, 6-0, 7-6 (7-
Rios, Wells homer as Blue Jays complete sweep of Orioles >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios' solo home run in the bottom of the
fifth inning proved to be the difference, as the Toronto Blue Jays used clutch
two-out hitting to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3, and complete a three-
game sw
Diamondbacks' Gordon leaves game with injury >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Tom Gordon left
Sunday's game against the Brewers after suffering a leg injury in the sixth
inning.
Gordon, appearing in his third game of the season, uncorked a wild pitch w
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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