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01/21/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Belarusian slugger Victoria Azarenka has advanced to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
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, on Sunday. 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 either No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska or No. 22 seed Julia Goerges.
Azarenka, who is on a nine-match winning streak, moved to 4-0 all-time against Benesova.
<< Murphy helps Florida dump LSU
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erik Murphy led five players in double
digits with 15 points as No. 17 Florida downed LSU, 76-64, at O'Connell
Center.
Erving Walker tallied 12 points for the Gators (15-4, 3-1 SEC), who got
<< Creer's late TD lifts West over East at Shrine Game
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lennon Creer's short touchdown run in
the final minute Saturday lifted the West team to a 24-17 win over the East in
the 87th annual East-West Shrine game.
The Louisiana Tech running back was named of
<< Red Sox, Bard agree to one-year deal
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox and pitcher Daniel Bard have
agreed to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.
Bard pitched to a 2-9 mark but posted a respectable 3.33 earned run average in
70 games for the Sox last seas
<< Paterno's condition said to be 'serious'
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - As reports circulated that Joe Paterno was gravely ill, a
family spokesman said in a statement Saturday night that doctors are now
characterizing his condition as "serious."
The winningest coach in major college f
Hawks hammer Cavs >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson finished with 25 points and the
hot-shooting Atlanta Hawks routed the Cleveland Cavaliers, 121-94, on
Saturday.
Jeff Teague and Jannero Pargo both scored 14 points for the Hawks, who dr
No. 7 Rutgers downs South Florida >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - April Sykes poured in a game-high 23 points and
grabbed 10 rebounds as seventh-ranked Rutgers took down South Florida, 72-66,
on Saturday.
Khadijah Rushdan finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Moniqu
Tavares lifts Isles over 'Canes in OT >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Tavares was what the Islanders needed on
Saturday night.
The All-Star forward netted both New York goals, including the game-winner at
3:58 of the overtime period as the Isles edged the Carolina Hurrica
Mississippi State downs Vanderbilt in OT >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dee Bost's layup with 51 seconds remaining in
overtime turned out to be the game-winner as No. 18 Mississippi State overcame
a double-digit halftime deficit to take down Vanderbilt, 78-77.
Vanderbilt had a
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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