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07/17/2010 - Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - France's Gael Monfils and Albert Montanes of Spain will square off in the final of the Mercedes Cup tennis event following their semifinal wins Saturday.
The third-seeded Monfils was taken to a third set by Spaniard Daniel Gimeno- Traver, but prevailed by firing four aces and winning 71 percent of his service points in the decisive final set for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 triumph.
Gimeno-Traver had upset top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the second round.
Montanes, seeded fifth, bounced fourth-seeded countrymate Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), on the red clay at TC Weissenhof.
Montanes won the only other meeting against Monfils back in 2005. Monfils is seeking his third career singles crown and first of 2010, while Montanes is going for a fifth ATP title and second this year. Montanes won in Estoril back in May.
<< Woods unable to get anything going
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time Open champion Tiger Woods
mixed four bogeys and three birdies in a round of one-over 73 Saturday at the
British Open.
Woods finished three rounds at three-under-par 213 and is currently
<< Celtic inks Mexico international Juarez
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mexico international Efrain Juarez has
agreed to a four-year deal with Celtic and has met up with his new teammates
in Seattle on their preseason tour of North America.
The 22-year-old has been gra
<< Pennetta advances to Palermo final against Kanepi
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta and Estonian
Kaia Kanepi both moved into the finals at the $220,000 Palermo International
tennis tournament with straight-set wins on Saturday.
Pennetta of Italy rolled ov
<< Rockets agree to 3-year deal with C Miller
HOUSTON (AP) -Free agent center Brad Miller has agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract with the Houston Rockets.Agent Mark Bartelstein said the 7-foot Miller will back up All-Star center Yao Ming, who's expected to return healthy next season a
Wilson claims first IndyCar pole at Toronto >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Wilson will start on the pole for
the first time in his IZOD IndyCar Series career after posting the quickest
lap in Saturday's qualifying for the Honda Indy Toronto.
Wilson lapped the 1.721-
Indians beat Tigers to begin doubleheader >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Crowe's two-out RBI single in the
seventh inning gave Cleveland a 4-3 win over Detroit in the first game of a
doubleheader from Progressive Field.
Fausto Carmona (9-7) went seven-plus inning
Tigers call up Porcello to start back end of DH >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have recalled right-
hander Rick Porcello from Triple-A Toledo to start the second game of a
doubleheader with the Indians Saturday.
Porcello was demoted on June 20 after pi
D.C. fails to pick up option on Emilio >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and striker Luciano Emilio
have parted ways after a brief three-month reunion as United opted not to pick
up its option on the former Major League Soccer MVP.
Emilio returned to the team i
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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