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02/21/2007 - Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peru's Luis Horna, who came into this week ranked 50th in the world, picked off top seed David Nalbandian in his home country at the $445,000 Copa Telmex tennis event.
Horna scored a 6-4, 6-3 win in the round-robin tournament in the first meeting against his Argentine opponent.
Another round-robin upset came when Spaniard Albert Montanes took out third- seeded Argentine favorite Agustin Calleri 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4 at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. Calleri, who was the runner-up here in 2002, beat Montanes last week in Costa do Sauipe
In other round-robin stage action, fourth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro downed Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-5, 6-4; fifth-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya beat Italian Potito Starace, 6-4, 6-4; and Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti topped France's Nicolas Devilder 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
Moya topped Italian Filippo Volandri in last year's clay-court finale here. Moya also captured this event in 2003 and was the runner-up in 2004.
In another round-robin match, Italy's Alessio Di Mauro topped Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).
In main-draw elimination play, Argentine Guillermo Canas stayed red hot by dousing his countryman Juan-Pablo Guzman 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Canas, who recently returned to the ATP following a doping suspension, is fresh off his title last week in Costa do Sauipe.
Also in main-draw elimination play, Brazilian Flavio Saretta subdued Czech Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-1.
This week's tournament is a 32-player round-robin draw consisting of a 16- player "play-off," with eight winners joining 16 other players to make up eight groups of three players. Each player then plays two guaranteed matches in the round-robin stage. The winner from each group will advance to the knockout round (quarterfinals), and then will play out the event, per a traditional single-elimination format.
The 2007 Copa Telmex winner will collect $66,450.
<< Mavericks' Mbenga has surgery
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks center D.J. Mbenga underwent
surgery Tuesday to repair a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.
The 7-foot Mbenga, who suffered the injury in the team's 113-97 win over
Memphis on Feb
<< Browns' Wright signs one-year extension
Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns signed running back Jason
Wright to a one-year contract extension Tuesday.
He is now signed through the 2008 season.
Last year he carried the ball 62 times for a total of 189 yards and
<< Cowboys make Garrett offensive coordinator
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Garrett, who was added to the coaching
staff of the Dallas Cowboys last month, was named the team's offensive
coordinator on Tuesday.
Garrett, who had spent the previous two seasons as the qu
<< Tampa Devil Rays
Agreed to terms with pitchers Tim Corcoran, Edwin Jackson, Jeff Ridgway, Chris Seddon, Brian Stokes, Jon Switzer and Mitch Talboton, outfielder Elijah Dukes, and catcher Dioner Navarro on one-year contracts.
Providence knocks off No. 22 West Virginia >>
Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Alexander missed a wide open three for a
tie with 14.5 seconds left then Herbert Hill iced the tournament resume-
building victory with a breakaway slam, as Providence downed No. 22 West
Virgini
Thrashers storm past Hurricanes >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johan Hedberg made 33 saves to lead the Atlanta
Thrashers to a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in a big Southeast
Division battle at RBC Center.
Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist and Ilya
Thomas, Bruins blank Maple Leafs >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Thomas stopped 44 shots to record his
third shutout of the season, helping the Boston Bruins to a 3-0 win over the
Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre.
Stanislav Chistov, P.J. Axelsson, and
Anderson ices the game at the line as Bobcats top Hornets >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raymond Felton scored 21 points and doled out
11 assists, and the Charlotte Bobcats topped the New Orleans/Oklahoma City
Hornets, 104-100.
Gerald Wallace also tallied 21 points, and grabbed seven reb
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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