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04/25/2009 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennis Australia has decided not to travel to India for next month's Davis Cup zonal matchup in Chennai because of security concerns.
The International Tennis Federation rejected Tennis Australia's appeal to have the May 8-10 tie moved. In turn, the ITF has declared India the winner by forfeit.
"We asked for the tie to be moved because we have major security concerns for the players," said Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard. "It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such high risk. Davis Cup is very important to us, but some things are more important than tennis."
Last November, more than 150 people were killed in Mumbai by terrorist attacks over a three-day period.
The ITF said it asked the host nation for a security plan and added that an independent security consultant -- the Olive Group -- was brought in because of Tennis Australia's concerns.
"Following the site visit, the Olive Group reported that it was satisfied that the tie could go ahead as planned," the ITF said in a statement. "Tennis Australia received a copy of the Olive Group report. This, and other information related to the tie, was presented to the Davis Cup Committee, who voted that the tie should proceed in Chennai. Following an appeal by Tennis Australia, the ITF Board of Directors voted to uphold the decision of the Davis Cup Committee, after having received complete documentation for review."
The ITF said the Davis Cup committee will decide if any further sanctions will be levied against Tennis Australia for its decision.
<< Altintop's header leads Schalke past Bayern
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Halil Altintop's goal in the 21st minute
was enough to lead Schalke to a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Allianz
Arena on Saturday.
Bayern was the more dangerous team over the course of the mat
<< Braves place McCann on DL
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves have placed catcher Brian
McCann on the 15-day disabled list as he continues to battle blurred vision.
The move is retroactive to April 23, leaving him eligible to return May 8.
McCann
<< Nadal cruises into Barcelona final for rematch with Ferrer
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal continued his domination on
clay with a straight-set victory over Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals of
the Barcelona Open and will take on fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in a rematch
of last
<< USA dispatches Latvia in World Championship opener
Bern, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Johnson tallied twice, including the
game-winner late in the second period, as Team USA opened its 2009 World
Championship slate with a 4-2 win over Latvia.
Drew Stafford and Patrick O'Sulliva
Stunning rally propels United past Spurs >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United scored five goals in
the second half to record a thrilling 5-2 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford
on Saturday.
First-half goals from Darren Bent and Luka Modric put Spurs up
Montoya captures first Sprint Cup pole at Talladega >>
Talladega, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Pablo Montoya won his first career pole
in the Sprint Cup Series in Saturday's qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway.
Montoya grabbed the top starting position for the Aaron's 499 after turning in
a lap a
Roberts, Wiebe lead Legends by one >>
Savannah, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Loren Roberts and Mark Wiebe teamed for an 11-
under 61 Saturday and that gave them a one-shot lead after two rounds of the
Legends of Golf.
Roberts and Wiebe completed 36 holes at 19-under-par 125. They le
Lions select Stafford No. 1 overall >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions made Georgia quarterback
Matthew Stafford the No. 1 overall pick in Saturday's NFL Draft after signing
him to a six-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Detroit
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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