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03/15/2010 - Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 2 Novak Djokovic barely survived his third-round match Monday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event.
The second-seeded Djokovic outlasted 25th-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) on the hardcourts at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 2008 Indian Wells titlist Djokovic staved off three match points while trailing 4-5 in the third set here on Day 5.
Djokovic prevailed in 2 hours, 35 minutes with a match-ending inside-out forehand winner.
Up next for Djokovic will be 20th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic or Argentine Brian Dabul.
Tough Argentine Juan Monaco, seeded 21st here, upset 11th-seeded former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3.
The men's third round will conclude here on Tuesday, including matches for world No. 1 superstar Roger Federer, fourth-seeded Andy Murray and seventh- seeded Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick. The 16-time major titlist Federer will tangle with 27th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
This week's winner will collect $605,500.
<< Iowa fires hoops coach Lickliter
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Iowa has fired head men's
basketball coach Todd Lickliter.
The school announced the news Monday, and while Iowa athletic director Gary
Barta said he still believes Lickliter is "a trem
<< Power-ful return to IndyCar
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seven months after suffering back
injuries in a practice crash at Sonoma, CA, Will Power made an impressive
comeback in the IZOD IndyCar Series by winning the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy
300 in Brazil.
Powe
<< Wizards add to midfield depth with signings
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Wizards signed midfielders
Ryan Smith and Igor Kostrov, the Major League Soccer club announced on Monday.
The team also announced that it has signed English midfielder Craig Rocastle.
"We'r
<< Ovechkin suspended two games for "reckless" hit on Campbell
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has
been suspended two games without pay for his hit on Chicago Blackhawks
defenseman Brian Campbell.
The incident, which the NHL called "a reckless hit" in
Seahawks ink TE Baker >>
Kirkland, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Seahawks on Monday added depth at
the tight end position by signing veteran Chris Baker.
Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 30-year-old Baker spent last season with the P
UConn leads top seeds for women's tourney >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Connecticut, Stanford, Tennessee and
Nebraska all earned top seeds for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament,
which begins Saturday at campus sites around the country.
Connecticut (33-0) is t
Stars' Modano out indefinitely >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Stars center Mike Modano will be out
indefinitely after undergoing surgery Monday for an appendectomy.
The 39-year-old Modano did not practice with the team today and is not
expected to play
Broncos release QB Simms >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos on Monday released
quarterback Chris Simms in the wake of the acquisition of Brady Quinn.
On Sunday, the Broncos acquired Quinn from the Browns in exchange for fullback
Peyton Hill
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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