10/22/2008 - Basel, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded American James Blake and sixth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev posted victories Wednesday at the $1.2 million Swiss Indoors Basel.
Blake fought his way past dangerous German Nicolas Kiefer 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an opening-round affair, while Andreev barely got past German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (0-7), 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals at St. Jakobshalle.
Two other second-round results saw Spaniard Feliciano Lopez take out eighth- seeded American Mardy Fish 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 and qualifier Benjamin Becker outlast wild card and fellow German Andreas Beck 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In other opening-round action on Day 3 here, Belgian qualifier Kristof Vliegen doused German wild card Philipp Petzschner 6-2, 6-3, Finn Jarkko Nieminen handled Argentine Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 6-4 and Spaniard Marcel Granollers grounded struggling Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Nieminen was last year's Basel runner-up to Roger Federer.
On Thursday, the top-seeded and two-time defending Basel champion Federer will meet Nieminen in a rematch of last year's final, while Blake will battle Spaniard Oscar Hernandez in the second round.
The amazing Federer, who hails from Basel, captured a fifth straight U.S. Open last month for his 13th career major title.
<< Radwanska lands in Linz quarters
Linz, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland
was an easy second-round winner Wednesday at the $600,000 Generali Ladies
Linz tennis event.
The world No. 10 Radwanska handled Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2
<< NASCAR suspends, fines Hamlin, docks Vickers points
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR docked Brian Vickers 150 driver
points, suspended his crew chief Kevin Hamlin indefinitely and fined Hamlin
$100,000 because their Red Bull Racing team dipped its sheet metal in acid,
making
<< Chiefs add QB Gray
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Chiefs signed quarterback
Quinn Gray to a two-year contract after the team's top two signal-callers,
Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard, both suffered injuries in Sunday's loss to the
Titans.
<< Bailey brothers to miss significant time for Denver
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver cornerback Champ Bailey and his brother,
linebacker Boss Bailey, will both miss a significant amount of time after
suffering injuries in Monday's 41-7 drubbing at New England.
Champ will miss four
Rams RB Jackson misses practice with thigh injury >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson
missed practice on Wednesday with a thigh injury.
Rams interim head coach Jim Haslett on Monday termed the injury a strain, and
said he did not expect Jackso
Simao saves a point for Atletico >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Simao's goal in the 83rd minute helped
Atletico Madrid salvage a 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Wednesday at the
Vicente Calderon in Champions League Group D action.
Both sides entered the matc
Chiefs RB Johnson apologizes, benched again >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chiefs running back Larry Johnson
issued an apology Wednesday for his recent behavior, which has led to his
benching for a second consecutive week.
Johnson's most recent troubles came duri
Simon wins; Robredo bows out in Lyon >>
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last week's Madrid Masters runner-up Gilles
Simon, of France, was a first-round victor, while fifth-seeded Spaniard Tommy
Robredo was a second-round loser Wednesday at the $860,000 Lyon Tennis Grand
Prix.
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 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.
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sports betting
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