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01/13/2007 - Sydney, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first rendition went to James Blake, as the American downed Spaniard Carlos Moya to defend his title at the Medibank International tennis event.
The sequel will come Down Under in the first round of next week's Australian Open, which commences Monday in Melbourne.
The third-seeded Blake became the third different player to hoist the trophy in Sydney two straight years with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory over the 30-year-old and unseeded Moya.
Aussie Lleyton Hewitt accomplished the feat on two occasions, while American tennis icon Pete Sampras won back-to-back titles once.
The two competitors are becoming very familiar with one another, as Moya owns a slight 5-4 edge overall with three meetings coming in 2006, including Blake's four-set triumph at the U.S. Open.
<< Allen leads Sonics over Jazz in OT
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ray Allen couldn't miss in the fourth quarter
and overtime, scoring a career-high 54 points to lead the Seattle
SuperSonics past the Utah Jazz, 122-114, in overtime.
Seattle trailed by nine poin
<< Wade, Heat down Warriors
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade posted 22 points, 10 rebounds and
nine assists, as the defending world champion Miami Heat downed the Golden
State Warriors, 118-96, at ORACLE Arena.
Jason Kapono netted 20 points for the He
<< Bryant, Lakers top Magic
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant netted 28 points, had eight
rebounds and dished out seven assists, to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past the
Orlando Magic, 109-106, at the Staples Center.
Smush Parker poured in a career-h
<< Randolph leads Portland past Sacramento
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Randolph scored 23 points and grabbed 12
rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers downed the Sacramento Kings, 95-87.
Juan Dixon hit 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc,
scorin
Hot Senators take on rival Habs in key Northeast game >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Ottawa Senators look to maintain their strong
recent form when the rival Montreal Canadiens invade Scotiabank Place this
afternoon for a key Northeast Division showdown.
Ottawa has won three straight an
Sliding Bruins head into the Big Apple >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two longtime clubs going through tough recent stretches
will face off this afternoon at New York's Madison Square Garden, where the
Rangers will entertain the Boston Bruins.
New York has lost the first two tests of
Penguins look to break spell at Flyers' expense >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins hope a visit to the NHL's worst
team can break their current losing streak, as the slumping club wraps up a
three-game road trip with an afternoon tilt against the lowly Philadelphia
Flyers
Celtics' Allen has surgery >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics announced that guard Tony
Allen underwent successful left knee surgery on Saturday and is out
indefinitely.
Allen had surgery at New England Baptist Hospital to reconstruct his
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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