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02/04/2012 - Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Berdych and Gael Monfils were semifinal winners Saturday and will meet for the title at the Open Sud de France tennis tournament.
The top-seeded Berdych had little trouble in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Germany's Philip Kohlschreiber after the third-seeded Monfils beat fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
Monfils saved a match point in his semifinal victory, as the second-seeded Simon had a break point to win it in the 12th game of the second set. Monfils was able to save it and won a tiebreaker before opening with an early break in the third.
Simon battled back with a break, but quickly went down 15-40 in the 10th game and Monfils finally finished him off on his second match point to end the two- hour, 26-minute battle.
Monfils, who beat Simon for the first time in three all-time meetings, is trying to win this title for the second time. He won it two years ago, the last time the tournament was contested, and on Sunday will try for his fifth career title.
It's already the second final of the year for Monfils, who lost to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open tuneup in Qatar. Monfils owns a dismal career record of 4-12 in finals.
Berdych, meanwhile, is 6-6 in title matches. He made just one final in 2011, winning the crown in Beijing. The Czech opened his 2012 season with a quarterfinal loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open.
It was a much easier semifinal for Berdych, who saved all five break points he faced and beat Kohlschreiber for the seventh time in eight all-time meetings.
Berdych won the lone previous matchup with Monfils, taking a 6-3, 6-2 decision in the first round at Dubai in 2008.
Sunday's winner will collect a first prize of $95,000.
<< Azarenka withdraws from Fed Cup match
Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning Australian Open champion Victoria
Azarenka withdrew from her Fed Cup match with a lower back injury on Saturday.
She will be replaced by teammate Anastasiya Yakimova, but she is still
elig
<< Italy and Ukraine even after opening day at Fed Cup
Biella, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy and the Ukraine are surprisingly even
after Saturday's opening singles matches of their Fed Cup quarterfinal.
The matchups and home court clearly favored the Italians and Sara Errani gave
the hosts
<< Kvitova, Benesova lift Czechs to lead over Germany
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Petra Kvitova and Iveta Benesova each
won three-set thrillers to give the Czech Republic a commanding 2-0 lead over
Germany in its Fed Cup quarterfinal.
Benesova gave the defending Fed Cup champions
<< Hawks C Collins out at least 2 weeks
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collins will miss a
minimum of two weeks with a sprained left elbow, the team announced Saturday.
Collins was injured in the first quarter of Thursday's loss to the Grizzlies.
He i
Syracuse thumps St. John's as Boeheim ties Dean >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fab Melo returned to the Syracuse lineup after
a three-game absence and the sophomore center paid immediate dividends with 14
points, as the second-ranked Orange controlled the paint and rolled to a 95-70
victory
Advantage City as Citizens edge Cottagers >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City went top of the Premier
League on Saturday after defeating Fulham, 3-0, on a snowy night at the
Etihad.
The Citizens take a three-point lead in England's top tier as riv
Bayern held by Hamburg at Imtech Arena >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich fell two points off the pace
of first-place Borussia Dortmund on Saturday after it was held to a 1-1 draw
at the Imtech Arena by Hamburg.
Borussia Dortmund claimed sole possession of first
Florida State holds off Virginia >>
Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Okaro White scored 13 points and pulled
down five rebounds off the bench as No. 21 Florida State held off 16th-ranked
Virginia to earn a 58-55 victory at Tucker Center.
Xavier Gibson added 10 points
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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