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08/30/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Kim Clijsters was a straight-set opening-round winner Monday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Clijsters got past Hungarian Greta Arn 6-0, 7-5 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Clijsters steamrolled Arn in 18 minutes in the bagel first set, but the Belgian then fell behind 0-4 in the second before rebounding to avoid a three- set afternoon. Clijsters won seven of the last eight games to advance.
The 27-year-old Clijsters is seeking her third U.S. Open championship, She beat Dane Caroline Wozniacki in last year's finale here and has now won her last 15 matches in Flushing. She also titled here in 2005 and skipped the 2006-08 editions due to either injury or retirement. Clijsters came out of retirement last summer and captured the U.S. Open in only her third tournament back.
Clijsters was also the U.S. Open runner-up in 2003.
Sixth-seeded French Open champion Francesca Schiavone cruised with a 6-1, 6-0 dismantling of Japan's Ayumi Morita, while former U.S. Open runner-up Elena Dementieva drubbed Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-1, 6-2. Dementieva reached the final here in 2004.
Other seeded victors on Day 1 were No. 28 Russian Alisa Kleybanova and No. 29 Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.
Last year's U.S. Open darling, American Melanie Oudin, advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 throttling of Ukrainian Olga Savchuk. The teenage Oudin reached the quarterfinals here a year ago, including an upset victory over Dementieva.
Additional Monday wins came for Italians Sara Errani and Maria Elena Camerin and Brit Elena Baltacha.
The 2010 U.S. Open champion will earn at least $1.7 million.
<< Silvestre joins Bremen on two-year deal
Bremen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Werder Bremen announced on Monday that the
club has completed the signing of French defender Mikael Silvestre on a free
transfer.
The 33-year-old Silvestre was left without a club after he departed Arsen
<< Missouri running back charged with sexual assault
Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suspended Missouri running back Derrick
Washington has been charged with deviate sexual assault.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that official charges were filed Monday.
Washington had been suspen
<< Kuchar up to 10th in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kuchar's playoff victory Sunday over
Martin Laird at The Barclays vaulted Kuchar up to 10th in this week's world
golf rankings.
Kuchar jumped up 13 places to his highest-ever ranking.
Tiger Wo
<< Baggies add Scharner on free transfer
West Bromwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Bromwich announced the signing
of Paul Scharner on a two-year contract on Monday.
The 30-year-old Scharner joined on a free transfer after leaving Wigan at the
end of last season, and Baggie
Clemens pleads not guilty at arraignment >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Clemens has pleaded not guilty to
charges of lying to Congress about alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens was indicted earlier this month and has been charged with three counts
of m
Montero earns MLS Player of the Week award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero was
voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 22 of the 2010 MLS
season on Monday.
Montero scored both of Seattle's goals in a 2-1 comeback win ove
Bautista named AL Player of the Week >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista has
been named the Player of the Week for the American League for the period
ending August 29.
In seven games last week, Bautista led the American League with a
Manny awarded to White Sox through waiver claim >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Monday
that outfielder Manny Ramirez has been awarded to the Chicago White Sox
through a waiver claim.
The Dominican native has been limited to 66 games for LA t
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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