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01/23/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka overcame a letdown in the first-set tiebreaker to upend Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (0-7), 6-0, 6-2 in their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Azarenka, seeded third, will play in her second Grand Slam semifinal against either top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki or reigning champion Kim Clijsters, who are currently playing at Rod Laver Arena.
There were eight breaks of serve in the first set alone between Azarenka and the eighth-seeded Radwanska, who won all seven points in a surprisingly quick tiebreaker.
Azarenka bounced back from losing her first set of the tournament quite swimmingly, goose-egging the Pole in a 26-minute second set.
The Belarusian kept the momentum in her favor and controlled the final set to improve to 7-3 against Radwanska, who has yet to reach a major semifinal.
Azarenka still has a chance at reaching the World No. 1 ranking by the end of the week.
<< Fisher leads Nashville over Columbus
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Fisher scored twice and Pekka Rinne made
25 saves as Nashville continued its home dominance over Columbus with a 4-1
victory at Bridgestone Arena.
Patric Hornqvist and Matt Halischuk also tallied fo
<< Fished leads Nashville over Columbus
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Fisher scored twice and Pekka Rinne made
25 saves as Nashville continued its home dominance over Columbus with a 4-1
victory at Bridgestone Arena.
Patric Hornqvist and Matt Halischuk also tallied fo
<< Bulls blow past Nets in Rose's return
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Rose returned with a vengeance as he
scored 22 points to go along with eight assists and five rebounds as the
Chicago Bulls topped the New Jersey Nets, 110-95, at United Center.
The Bulls got
<< Hawks pull out win in Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Smith's three-pointer with 41.9 seconds
left in the game put Atlanta on top for good in a back-and-forth, 97-92
victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Smith finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds in
Lowry and Martin lift Rockets over T'Wolves >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Lowry posted his second career triple-
double while Kevin Martin finished with 31 points, and the Rockets downed the
Timberwolves, 107-92, for their seventh consecutive victory.
Lowry totaled 16 poi
Former Phillies broadcaster Musser dies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Long-time Philadelphia broadcaster Andy
Musser has passed away at the age of 74.
The Daily News reported that Musser died at his home on Sunday.
Musser was an integral part of the Phillies televis
West-leading Thunder roll over Pistons >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kevin
Durant combined to score 68 of Oklahoma City's points, as the Western
Conference-leading Thunder dominated the lowly Detroit Pistons, 99-79.
Harden and
Marion leads Mavericks past Suns >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shawn Marion scored 29 points against his former
team and the Dallas Mavericks won their second game in a row without Dirk
Nowitzki, beating the Phoenix Suns, 93-87, on Monday night.
The Mavericks started
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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