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09/03/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams took easy third-round wins Friday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded Clijsters dropped the first three games of her match against 27th-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova, but wound up taking the final 12 to complete a 6-3, 6-0 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Belgian, who has won 17 straight matches at Flushing Meadows, will face Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round in a battle of former world No. 1s.
Ivanovic beat Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0, to continue her resurgence. The former French Open champion had not reached the fourth round at the U.S. Open since 2007, bowing out in the first round last year, and had not advanced beyond the second round at any of the three prior Grand Slam events this season.
Clijsters has had more success at the U.S. Open than Ivanovic, winning the title in 2005 and 2009. She is aiming to become the first woman to successfully defend her U.S. Open crown since Williams in 2001.
Williams, the No. 3 seed, is looking to win her third Open title and took another step through the bracket with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Luxembourg's Mandy Minella.
Williams used powerful groundstrokes to dominate rallies, and though she committed 30 unforced errors, still took the win in a little more than an hour.
Williams' fourth-round opponent will be 16th-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer, who advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 decision over 19th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta.
Sixth-seeded French Open champ Italian Francesca Schiavone moved on with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over the Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko, the 29th seed. Schiavone will next face 20th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after she handled Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-2.
Earlier winners Friday included Samantha Stosur of Australia and Russia's Elena Dementieva.
The fifth-seeded Stosur thumped Italy's Sara Errani, 6-2, 6-3, while the 12th- seeded Dementieva was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova. Stosur and Dementieva will meet in the fourth round.
<< Kentucky gets second Truck Series date in 2011
Sparta, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR announced on Friday that Kentucky
Speedway will host a second Camping World Truck Series race during the 2011
season.
The Thursday, July 7 event will mark the 10th race on next year's tr
<< Bucks sign Hobson
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks signed second-round draft
choice guard Darington Hobson to an undisclosed contract on Friday.
Hobson, the 37th overall pick in this year's draft, averaged 16.4 points, 8.8
rebounds and 3
<< Dodgers activate Furcal from DL
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers have activated
shortstop Rafael Furcal from the 15-day disabled list.
The 32-year-old switch hitter is penciled into the leadoff spot for the
Dodgers Friday night as the
<< Royals activate Bannister, Hochevar; Kendall has surgery
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals activated pitchers
Brian Bannister and Luke Hochevar from the disabled list, and catcher Jason
Kendall underwent successful surgery to repair his right shoulder.
Bannister was o
Report: Giants trade for Sage Rosenfels >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have apparently found
a backup quarterback after reportedly acquiring Sage Rosenfels from the
Minnesota Vikings.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune cited sources as confirming the mov
Hamels, Ruiz help Phils nip Brewers >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Ruiz drove in the lone run of the
game and Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings, as the Philadelphia
Phillies snuck past the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0, in the opener of a three-game
series
Calcavecchia leads First Tee Open by two >>
Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Calcavecchia fired an eight-under 64
Friday to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the First Tee Open.
Calcavecchia fired his 64 at Del Monte Golf Course, which is one of two
courses used
Morrison, Miller pace Marlins over Braves >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Logan Morrison tripled twice, scored two times
and drove in a run in support of five solid innings from Andrew Miller as
Florida downed Atlanta, 6-1, to being a three-game set.
Chad Tracy had a key two
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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