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02/12/2012 - Wiener Neustadt, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jurgen Melzer was the hero on Sunday, as he straight-setted Alex Bogomolov Jr. to propel Austria past Russian and into its first Davis Cup quarterfinal since 1995.
The Austrians led best-of-five opening-round affair 2-1 heading into Sunday when Melzer flattened Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour, 43 minutes in the first reverse singles rubber to give the hosts an insurmountable 3-1 advantage at Wiener Neustadt's Arena Nova. Melzer piled up seven service breaks on Day 3, compared to only two for the Russian loser.
"I think it was one-way traffic," said Melzer, "which surprised me a little bit because I think he's a great player, but I just dominated him after the first three points when he hit three winners. It was close to the performances I had when I was top 10 and I'm really happy for the team that we made it."
Russia stayed alive on Saturday, pulling within 2-1 with a grueling five-set doubles victory by Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny against a quality Austrian duo of Alexander Peya and Oliver Marach.
In Friday's opening singles, Melzer beat Igor Kunitsyn in five sets and little-known Andreas Haider-Maurer really surprised Bogomolov in four. Bogomolov had played as an American on tour before switching his allegiance to his native Russia this year. Last year's most-improved ATP player was making his Davis Cup debut this week, and it turned out to be a forgettable one for the Florida resident.
Sunday's dead rubber saw Kunitsyn clip Haider-Maurer 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), as Austria, captained by Clemens Trimmel, settled for a 3-2 victory.
Austria is now 1-2 all-time against two-time champion Russia in Davis Cup play. Both Russian wins came when they were part of the former Soviet Union, in 1981 and 1984.
The Austrians, who have never captured the Davis Cup, will go on the road to meet reigning champion Spain in the quarterfinals in April.
<< Lescott helps City regain EPL lead
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joleon Lescott scored the lone goal in
the 63rd minute, Joe Hart capped his 11th shutout with a brilliant one-handed
save in stoppage time, and Manchester City defeated Aston Villa, 1-0, at Villa
Park on
<< 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
<< 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
<< 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
Celtics' Bass to miss time with knee injury >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Brandon Bass will miss at
least 10 days of action due to a knee injury.
Bass, who could miss up to two weeks, is averaging 11.6 points and 6.1
rebounds in 25 games (five starts) th
Hertha fires Skibbe after five matches >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Skibbe's tenure as Hertha Berlin
coach is over after just five matches.
Hertha Berlin lost all five matches since Skibbe replaced Markus Babbel, and
now sits in 15th place and just two points
Star-spangled Sunday: Rangers stay hot, clip Capitals >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Prust's short-handed goal early in the
third period proved to be the difference, as the Eastern Conference-leading
New York Rangers took down the Washington Capitals, 3-2.
Fresh off a hat trick ag
Clark lifts No. 12 Georgetown over St. John's >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Clark struggled mightily from the
floor, but provided two key baskets late, lifting No. 12 Georgetown to a 71-61
wire-to-wire win against St. John's.
Clark netted 11 points on just 1-of-8 shootin
Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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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.
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