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07/26/2010 - Umag, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and eighth-seeded Argentine veteran Juan Ignacio Chela were a pair of first- round winners Monday at the Croatia Open.
Chela charged past Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 6-1, while Dolgopolov held off Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3) on the red clay at ITC Stella Maris. Dolgopolov needed 2 hours, 36 minutes to stave off a game Lorenzi.
One other first-rounder saw Croatian wild card Franco Skugor paste Italian Filippo Volandri 6-2, 6-1.
This week's top seeds are Russian star Nikolay Davydenko, last week's Hamburg runner-up Jurgen Melzer and long-time Croatian favorite Ivan Ljubicic. The reigning Umag champion Davydenko defeated this week's fourth seed, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in last year's finale here.
<< Celtics bring back Marquis Daniels
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics re-signed veteran
guard/forward Marquis Daniels on Monday.
Terms of the deal were not announced, per club policy.
The seven-year veteran posted averages of 5.6 points and 1.
<< Bulls' sign Kurt Thomas
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls made it official on Monday by
signing veteran forward Kurt Thomas.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, per team policy.
The 37-year-old Thomas, a first-round draft pick by Miami in 1995
<< Toronto officially signs Kleiza
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors have signed forward
Linas Kleiza to a multi-year contract.
Per team policy, no details of the deal were announced.
The Raptors had signed Kleiza to an offer sheet that was not m
<< Schneider, Blanton help Phils complete sweep of Rockies
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Schneider hit a two-run triple and
Joe Blanton threw six solid innings, as the Philadelphia Phillies held on to
complete a four-game sweep of Colorado with a 5-4 victory.
Blanton (4-6) struggle
Saints sign second-rounder OT Brown >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints have signed
offensive tackle Charles Brown, their 2010 second-round draft choice, to a
four-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal were announced.
The 6-foot-5, 2
Hawks ink free agent Josh Powell >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks bolstered their forward
position on Monday by signing free agent forward/center Josh Powell.
Per club policy, terms of the contract were not announced.
"I look forward to joining a f
Ravens rookie Kindle to miss camp due to head injury >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Ravens rookie linebacker Sergio
Kindle will miss all of training camp after suffering injuries to his head
when he apparently fell down two flights of stairs at a private residence in
Austin,
Report: Titans file lawsuit against Kiffin, USC >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tennessee Titans have reportedly filed a
lawsuit against the University of Southern California and head coach Lane
Kiffin in the wake of the hiring flap surrounding Kennedy Pola.
On Saturday, USC
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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