Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
01/22/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kim Clijsters kept alive her bid for a second straight Australian Open title by rallying for a three-set victory over China's Li Na in a rematch of last year's final.
The 11th-seeded Clijsters seemed to twist her left ankle midway through the first set after taking a tumble, and then fought off four match points to overcome the fifth-seeded Li, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
A four-time Grand Slam champ, Clijsters was behind 6-2 in the second set tiebreak, but somehow rallied by winning the next six points. She evened the tiebreak at 6-6 with a brilliant lob winner and then finished off the set when her Chinese opponent sent a return long.
Clijsters won the first four games of the third set, but Li rallied to close within 5-4, even fighting off a match point. The Belgian then ended the lengthy affair when Li sent a backhander into the net, one of 46 unforced errors by the 29-year-old.
Up next for Clijsters will be either top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki or 13th-seeded former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic.
Also Sunday, third-seeded Belarusian slugger Victoria Azarenka advanced to the quarterfinals. Azarenka, who titled in Sydney last week by beating Li Na in the marquee finale, beat veteran Czech left-hander Iveta Benesova, 6-2, 6-2. Azarenka has yet to drop a set at this year's first major.
The match, which lasted 77 minutes, saw Azarenka take advantage of 26 unforced errors from Benesova. Next up for Azarenka will be No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 22 seed Julia Goerges, 6-1, 6-1.
"It's going to be a really tough battle," Azarenka said. "Mentally it's difficult. She's a very difficult player to play against. But we'll see. I mean, I'm going to be out there trying my best and fight hard."
Azarenka, who is on a nine-match winning streak, moved to 4-0 all-time against Benesova.
<< Giguere leads Avalanche past Kings
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 25 stops to
lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Cody McLeod, Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog all scored for the Avalanche,
who have won t
<< San Diego State downs Air Force
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Tapley had 16 points and Jamaal
Franklin added 14 points and 10 rebounds as 16th-ranked San Diego State earned
a 57-44 win over Air Force.
The Aztecs (17-2, 3-0 MWC), who own a 10-game winni
<< Stempniak nets hat trick as Flames burn Oilers
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lee Stempniak completed his second career hat
trick and added an assist as the Calgary Flames thumped the Edmonton Oilers,
6-2, at Rexall Place.
Blake Comeau finished with a goal and two assists, while Ja
<< UNLV rolls past New Mexico
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Moser and Carlos Lopez netted 14 points
apiece as No. 14 UNLV ran away from New Mexico in the second half to down the
Lobos, 80-63.
Chace Stanback and Anthony Marshall each added 13 points for UNLV (
Chattanooga's Coleman a standout at East-West Shrine Game >>
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No FCS player may have risen more in the
minds of NFL scouts this weekend than Chattanooga quarterback B.J. Coleman.
After suffering through an injury-plagued senior season, Coleman was a
standout in the
Hall returns to Wagner as defensive coordinator >>
Staten Island, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Malik Hall is returning to the Wagner
College football program for his second stint as defensive coordinator.
Hall, 31, will begin his duties next month. He was Wagner's defensive
coordinator in 2010 and
Nadal, Federer roll into quarterfinals at Aussie Open >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were
both straight-set winners Sunday in fourth-round action at the Australian
Open.
Nadal cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over fello
Wozniacki, Clijsters reach QFs at Aussie Open >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and Kim
Clijsters were a pair of fourth-round winners Sunday at the Australian Open.
Wozniacki continued her recent mastery of Jelena Jankovic with a 6-0, 7-5
victor
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting