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05/03/2009 - Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Svetlana Kuznetsova earned her first title since 2007, defeating top-seeded Dinara Safina to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
In an all-Russian final, the fifth-seeded Kuznetsova topped Safina, 6-4, 6-3 in just under 80 minutes. She won 56 percent of the total points and used two breaks while holding serve throughout the entire match.
Safina actually had more break points than her compatriot, five to four, but the world's No. 1 player couldn't covert on any of her chances.
Kuznetsova, who went 0-5 in title matches in 2008, won the title in her first championship match of 2009, while Safina continued to struggle in title matches, falling to 0-3 on the year in such bouts. Safina was also defeated in the final match at the Australian Open to Serena Williams and in Sydney to Elena Dementieva.
Safina had beaten Kuznetsova four straight times coming into the match but still holds a 7-5 lifetime edge.
Kuznetsova took home $107,000 for the victory.
<< Rangers to host White Sox in prime-time showdown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Harrison will try to build off his lone victory of the
season when he takes the hill tonight for the Texas Rangers, who close out a
three-game set against the Chicago White Sox in Arlington.
Harrison tossed seven soli
<< Rookie pitchers go head-to-head in Mariners-A's finale
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners will try to keep a distance between
themselves and the rest of the American League West when they host the Oakland
Athletics this afternoon in the finale of a three-game set at Safeco Field.
Last night
<< Dodgers vie for history-making win over Padres
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers take aim at establishing a
franchise record for consecutive home wins to start a season when the National
League West front-runners wrap up a four-game series with the sliding San
Diego Padres this aft
<< Winless Zito gets call for Giants in tilt with Rockies
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite stumbling on Saturday, the San Francisco Giants
have an opportunity to win a fifth consecutive series in today's rubber match
of a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies from AT&T Park.
The Giants overcame a
Twente downs AZ to clinch second place >>
Enschede, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Twente booked a spot in the Champions
League as they secured a 3-0 win over Eredivisie champions AZ Alkmaar on
Sunday at Arke Stadion.
Goals from Kenneth Perez and Peter Wisgerhof in the openin
NBA Playoff Preview - Boston vs. Orlando >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics certainly don't mind walking the
tightrope.
The defending NBA champions advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals on
Saturday by dispatching of the upstart Chicago Bulls in Game 7 of the most
thril
Nadal continues his domination on clay with title in Rome >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic to claim
his fourth Italian Masters title in five years, extending his clay-court
winning streak to 30 consecutive matches.
Nadal needed just over two hours to d
Canada cruises past Norway at Worlds >>
Zurich, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Doughty registered a goal and two
assists, as Canada took down Norway, 5-1, at the 2009 World Hockey
Championship.
Steven Stamkos, Dan Hamhuis, Jason Spezza and Matthew Lombardi also
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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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