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07/18/2010 - Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain's Alberto Montanes won the Mercedes Cup on Sunday when Gael Monfils of France retired in the second set of the final because of an ankle injury.
Montanes earned a 6-2, 1-2 triumph for his second title of 2010 and his fifth career ATP singles crown. He also won in Estoril in May, beating Roger Federer in the semifinals on the way to the championship.
The fifth-seeded Spaniard breezed through the opening set Sunday in a mere 33 minutes, and Monfils appeared to turn his ankle in the last game. After the trainer taped up the ankle, Monfils took the court for the second set, but decided to call it quits after the third game despite a 2-1 edge.
This was just the second meeting between the two and the second victory for Montanes, who also prevailed in a three-setter back in September 2005 in Bucharest.
Montanes became the sixth different Spaniard to win this tournament and first since Rafael Nadal did it for a second time in 2007. Nadal also won it in 2005. David Ferrer (2006), Alex Corretja (1997), Alberto Berasategui (1994) and Jose Higueras (1983) are the others.
Monfils was appearing in his first final of 2010 and was gunning for his third career ATP singles crown. He fell to 2-8 all-time in title matches.
<< Indians recall Gomez to make ML debut on Sunday
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians recalled pitcher
Jeanmar Gomez from Triple-A Columbus on Sunday to make his major league debut
in a spot start against the Detroit Tigers.
Gomez, who pitched a perfect game l
<< Marlins designate Lamb, recall OF Petersen
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins designated veteran infielder
Mike Lamb for assignment on Sunday.
The team will have 10 days to trade, waive or release Lamb. If he clears
waivers, he can be outrighted to the minor leag
<< Oosthuizen four ahead at the turn
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South African Louis Oosthuizen rolled
in an eagle putt on the ninth hole Sunday to take a four-stroke lead to the
back nine in the final round of the British Open Championship.
Oosthuizen, who is
<< Almagro denies Soderling in Sweden
Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain's Nicolas Almagro denied Robin
Soderling a second straight title in his native country with a three-set win
in Sunday's final of the Swedish Open.
Almagro earned a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory ove
Oosthuizen cruises to first major title >>
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There was little drama Sunday at the
British Open Championship.
Louis Oosthuizen eagled the ninth and after a birdie on the 12th, he was eight
strokes clear of the field.
The South African cruise
Toronto activates Marcum to make Sunday start >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays activated pitcher
Shaun Marcum from the 15-day disabled list.
Marcum went on the DL July 2 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The
right-hander started Sunday's game agai
Yankees' Pettitte leaves game with strained groin >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Andy Pettitte has left the New York Yankees' game against Tampa Bay in the third inning because of a strained left groin.Making his first start since pitching in the All-Star game Tuesday night, the 38-year-old left-hander never appea
Heat agree to bring back James Jones >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat have reportedly agreed to bring
back forward James Jones at the veteran's minimum.
Miami requested waivers on the seven-year veteran in June, buying out the
final three years of his previou
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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