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07/11/2010 - Split, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic notched a straight-set win over Marin Cilic to lift Serbia to a Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over Croatia.
Djokovic posted a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 triumph in the first of Sunday's reverse singles matches to give the Serbs an insurmountable 3-1 edge in the best-of- five tie.
Serbia will next face the Czech Republic in September's semifinals after the Czechs had already clinched their quarterfinal matchup against Chile on Saturday.
Djokovic had won the opening singles match on Friday against Ivan Ljubicic to give Serbia the early advantage before Cilic beat Victor Troicki in the second to square the series.
The Serbs then won the pivotal doubles match on Saturday behind a straight-set triumph by Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic for a 2-1 edge, setting up Djokovic for the clincher.
Serbia, which beat the United States in the first round earlier this year, will play in the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time as an independent nation. Players from Croatia and Serbia previously competed under the flag of Yugoslavia, which had last reached the semifinals in 1991.
<< Davydenko keeps Russia alive against Argentina
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nikolay Davydenko kept Russia alive in its
Davis Cup quarterfinal match against Argentina with a victory over Eduardo
Schwank in the first of Sunday's reverse singles matches.
Davydenko rallied for a
<< Durant guides Roughriders over Lions
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darian Durant threw for 252 yards and a
touchdown and ran for another score in Saskatchewan's 37-18 win over the BC
Lions in the first regular season game played at Empire Field in 27 years.
Durant c
<< Lopez's slam in eighth boosts Mariners over Yankees
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jose Lopez's grand slam in the eighth inning
backed a strong start from Felix Hernandez as the Seattle Mariners took a 4-1
win over the New York Yankees in the third of a four-game set.
Hernandez (7-5) wen
<< BC QB Printers leaves game
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - British Columbia Lions starting quarterback
Casey Printers suffered an apparent right hamstring injury in the final minute
of the first half of Saturday's game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Printers
Yankees PA man Bob Sheppard dies >>
NEW YORK (AP) -The New York Yankees say longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard has died. He was believed to be 99.His death was confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday by team spokesman Jazon Zillo. There were no immediate details.Sheppa
Szavay beats Schnyder again for Budapest crown >>
Budapest, Hungary (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Agnes Szavay of Hungary again thrilled
the home crowd by defeating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in the final of the
Budapest Grand Prix for the second straight year.
Szavay posted a 6-2, 6-4 victo
First-place Tigers set sights on sweep of Twins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have taken over first place in the
ultra-competitive AL Central and will close out a three-game set with the
Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park this afternoon.
Detroit maintained its half-game edge on seco
Red Sox, Blue Jays to close out first half with rubber match >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays close out a three-
game weekend set in American League East action from the Rogers Centre, with
the rubber match to take place this afternoon.
Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on
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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