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05/06/2009 - Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Nikolay Davydenko and sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish posted second-round wins, while third- seeded Spaniard David Ferrer came up a loser Wednesday at the $595,000 clay- court Estoril Open.
The second-seeded Davydenko handled fellow former Estoril champ Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-2 at National Stadium. Davydenko titled here in 2003 and lost to the great Roger Federer in last year's Estoril finale. The former world No. 1 and former French Open champion Ferrero captured this event back in 2001.
Meanwhile, a sixth-seeded Fish came from behind to beat Spaniard Ivan Navarro 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Ferrer succumbed to fellow Spaniard Oscar Hernandez 6-2, 6-4 on Day 4. Fish will face Davydenko in Friday's quarterfinals.
One other second-rounder saw Chilean Paul Capdeville overtake Argentine Maximo Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Capdeville will meet Hernandez in the round of eight.
The first round finally concluded with a pair of matches on Wednesday, as fourth-seeded American James Blake overcame Portuguese favorite Frederico Gil 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 for his first clay-court win of the year and Italian Fabio Fognini doused wild card and former French Open champ Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-3, 6-4. Gaudio titled here in 2005. Fognini is rewarded with a second-rounder against top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, while Blake will take on France's Marc Gicquel on Thursday.
The 2009 Estoril champ will collect $96,000.
<< Russia edges Belarus in quarterfinals at Worlds
Bern, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Kovalchuk scored the eventual
game-winning goal in the third period to lift Russia to a 4-3 win over Belarus
in a quarterfinal matchup at the 2009 World Hockey Championship.
Russia, the def
<< Van Basten steps down at Ajax
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marco Van Basten resigned as Ajax
manager on Wednesday after his team failed to qualify for the Champions League
next season.
Van Basten's side lost 4-0 to Sparta on Sunday, which leaves them
<< Agent: Cassano to stay with Sampdoria
Genoa, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Antonio Cassano will still be a Sampdoria
player next season, according to the player's agent.
Giuseppe Bozzo insists the midfielder will spurn the chance to move to Inter
Milan and Juventus over the su
<< Spalletti takes blame at Roma
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roma coach Luciano Spalletti has shouldered the
blame for his team's disappointing performances this season.
The side from the Eternal City are currently sixth in the Serie A standings
and have no chance of
Kirilenko rolls; Benesova ousted in Estoril >>
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Maria Kirilenko
was an easy second-round winner, while top-seeded Czech Iveta Benesova went by
way of the upset Wednesday at the $220,000 Estoril Open.
The second-seeded Russi
Greinke's progression highlights MLB's surprising first month >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If there was any lingering doubt about who or what the
story was in Major League Baseball through the first month of the 2009 season,
Kansas City Royals right-hander Zack Greinke answered that question in a
resounding way on
Lions ink LB Foote >>
Allen Park, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit native Larry Foote signed a one-year
contract with the Lions on Wednesday, two days after the linebacker was
released by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
After
Howard, LeBron headline All-Defensive Team >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, the
reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA MVP LeBron James of the
Cleveland Cavaliers highlight the 2008-09 NBA All-Defensive Team.
Howard led the
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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