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01/04/2009 - Brisbane, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli breezed through first-round action at the $220,000 Brisbane International, a 2009 season-opening event on the WTA Tour.
Seventh-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko, meanwhile, withdrew from the tournament due to an illness. Japan's Ai Sugiyama, the next highest ranked player not to be seeded, took Kirilenko's position in the draw and will face Sam Stosur on Monday.
Azarenka, the No. 2 seed, dominated Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine, 6-0, 6-2, and third-seeded Bartoli cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over wild card Monika Wejnert on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Center.
The biggest upset of the day saw Estonian Kaia Kanepi get upended by Russia's Alisa Kleybanova in a 6-1, 6-4 decision.
In other first-round action on the season's first day, Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova outlasted Monica Niculescu of Romania, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4, while Slovakia's Jarmila Gajdosova pulled out a 6-4, 6-2 win over Shuai Peng of China.
Chinese Na Li defeated Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in last year's finale.
<< Soderling, Gasquet each kick off '09 season with win
Brisbane, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robin Soderling and Richard Gasquet
were each first-round winners at the $484,750 Brisbane International -- a
season-opening event on the 2009 ATP World Tour.
While the fourth-seeded Soderling
<< A Quick win: Kings edge Flyers in SO
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonathan Quick recorded 31 saves and
stopped both Philadelphia tries in the shootout, as the Los Angeles Kings
topped the Flyers, 2-1, at Staples Center.
Wayne Simmonds scored a power-play
<< Sharks continue home domination with win over Islanders
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Grier scored twice and Jonathan Cheechoo
had three assists, as the Sharks extended their home points streak to 30 games
with a 5-3 victory over the Islanders at the Shark Tank.
Patrick Marleau, Dan Boy
<< Souray leads Oilers past Stars
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sheldon Souray had a goal and an assist as the
Edmonton Oilers downed the Dallas Stars, 4-1, at Rexall Place.
Andrew Cogliano, Erik Cole and Dustin Penner each had a goal for the Oilers,
who have won four of
Top-ranked Tar Heels open ACC play against visiting Eagles >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels
finally open up ACC play this evening, as they welcome the Boston College
Eagles to Chapel Hill for a showdown from the Smith Center.
Roy Williams' Tar Heels have def
Sun Devils and Golden Bears mix it up in Pac-10 action >>
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 17th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils and
California Golden Bears will try to make it two Pac-10 wins in a row tonight,
as they clash at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
ASU kicked off its Pac-10 slate in a domin
Bluegrass State rivals square off at Freedom Hall >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Non-conference rivals will collide at
Freedom Hall this afternoon, as the 18th-ranked Louisville Cardinals battle
the Kentucky Wildcats.
Expect Kentucky to play with a wealth of confidence this afternoon, as
Bruins go Duck hunting in Eugene >>
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - McArthur Court in Eugene is the site of today's
Pac-10 Conference clash between the UCLA Bruins and the Oregon Ducks.
UCLA opened Pac-10 play on Friday against Oregon State, and the result of that
tilt was a 69-
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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