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02/12/2012 - Bamberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Argentina settled for a 4-1 victory over host Germany in a best-of-five opening-round Davis Cup matchup.
The 2011 runner-up Argentines will host Croatia in a quarterfinal in April.
Argentina clinched the tie with a doubles win by former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank here on Saturday, which gave the visitors an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Nalbandian and Schwank fought back from a two- sets-to-love deficit against oft-injured former world No. 2 Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner in order to prevail.
In Sunday's meaningless reverse singles, Juan Ignacio Chela gave Argentina a 4-0 advantage by besting Florian Mayer 7-5, 7-5 and the Germans finally got a point when Cedrik-Marcel Stebe downed Schwank 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 on the red clay at Stechert Arena Bamberg.
In Friday's opening singles, Juan Monaco and Nalbandian posted big wins for the visitors.
Argentina is still trying for that elusive first Davis Cup title, having finished as the runner-up four times. The Argentines lost to Spain in last year's finale in Seville.
Three-time champion Germany is 2-6 all-time against Argentina, including a 5-0 setback in their last meeting back in 2003.
<< Host Czechs whip Italians 4-1 in Davis Cup
Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The host Czech Republic advanced
to the Davis Cup quarterfinals with an easy 4-1 victory over Italy this week.
The Czechs had already clinched the best-of-five tie with a doubles victory in
Ostra
<< Last-place Novara stuns Inter at San Siro
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Unfortunately for last-place Novara, it does
not play Inter Milan again this season.
Andrea Caracciolo scored in the 56th minute Sunday and Novara won for just the
third time in Serie A this season - and the
<< Red Wings shoot for NHL home record vs. Flyers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings will try to tie the NHL record for
consecutive home wins when they shoot for their 20th straight victory at Joe
Louis Arena tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.
It's fitting that the Red Wings wil
<< Sharks begin epic trek in St. Louis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place San Jose Sharks will make the first stop on
their longest road trip of the season tonight, as they visit the St. Louis
Blues in a Western Conference showdown at Scottrade Center.
The Sharks lead the Pacific
PSV returns to Eredivisie summit >>
Eindhoven, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dries Mertens converted a penalty in
the 8th minute, Ola Toivonen and Tim Matavz added goals before the half hour,
and PSV Eindhoven beat De Graafschap, 4-1, to return to the Eredivisie summit
Sunday.
Rangers and Napoli agree to deal >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers and catcher/first baseman
Mike Napoli agreed to terms on a one-year contract on Sunday. Per club policy,
no terms of the deal were disclosed.
The 30-year-old set career highs last year
Kerber upsets Bartoli in Paris, wins first WTA title >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - German Angelique Kerber captured her first-
ever WTA title by upsetting French crowd favorite Marion Bartoli in Sunday's
final at the Open GDF Suez tennis event.
The ninth-seeded Kerber toppled the secon
Spain sweeps Kazakhstan, reaches Davis Cup quarters >>
Oviedo, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Spain cruised into the
Davis Cup quarterfinals with a 5-0 drubbing of visiting Kazakhstan this week.
The best-of-five tie came to a close Sunday, with the Spaniards winning a pair
of d
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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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