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06/24/2010 - Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bradley Dredge and Peter Whiteford both fired eight-under 64s Thursday to share the lead after the opening round of the BMW International Open.
Dredge is a two-time winner on the European Tour, while Whiteford is searching for his first tour victory at Golfclub Munchen Nord-Eichenried.
Chapchai Nirat carded a seven-under 65 and was joined in third place by Phillip Price, Jeppe Huldahl and Ariel Canete.
World No. 8 Paul Casey opened with a four-under 68 and is tied 17th.
Ernie Els, the top-ranked player in the field at World No. 6, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and former European Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer are among those tied for 44th at minus-two.
Nick Faldo, who is competing for the first time since the Senior British Open last summer, struggled to a four-over 76 and is tied for 144th.
Dredge opened his round with a birdie on the first. After four straight pars, he dropped in his second birdie effort on No. 6. He came right back with a birdie on the seventh.
The Welshman jumped to five-under with an eagle on the par-five 11th, then parred his next four holes.
Dredge caught fire to close out his round. He converted a birdie effort on the par-four 16th and made it two in a row with a birdie on 17. Dredge was not done either. He birdied the last to cap a round of 64.
"There was virtually no wind and I think it's the easiest I've played the course," said Dredge. "I'm surprised there are not more low scores. You always need a bit of luck. I hit some poor shots, but managed to get away with them. I do feel my game is getting back together and it is a matter of consistency at the moment."
Whiteford spread his birdies out over both nines. He started on back nine and posted his first birdie on the 11th. Three holes later, Whiteford rolled his second birdie of the day.
The 29-year-old Challenge Tour graduate turned in three-under after a birdie on the 18th. Around the turn, he birdied two and four to move to minus-five.
Whiteford converted a six-foot eagle putt on the par-five sixth to get within one of the lead. He parred the next two holes before closing with a birdie on the ninth to end alongside Dredge.
"It sounds stupid because I shot eight-under, but I didn't really feel like I was swinging it that great," Whiteford admitted. "I got the ball around the golf course really, really well. I basically birdied the birdie holes I guess."
Peter Lawrie and Pablo Larrazabal share seventh place at six-under 66.
NOTES: Sergio Garcia, who is playing this event for the first time since 2004, faltered to a five-over 77...Defending champion Nick Dougherty posted a two- over 74 and is tied for 127th.
<< Eastern Washington to play at Qwest Field
Cheney, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eastern Washington's FCS football program will
play at Qwest Field in Seattle for the second straight season when it meets
Division II power Central Washington in the second version of the "Showdown on
the Sound" o
<< Spain faces elimination in group finale vs. Chile
Pretoria, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Friday's Group H finale for both
Chile and Spain has the potential to be an attractive affair with both teams
possessing plenty of offensive flair.
But it also could represent the final game
<< Ivory Coast needs miracle to advance to next stage
Nelspruit, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Korea and Ivory Coast square
off in their final Group G match of the FIFA World Cup on Friday at Mbombela
Stadium.
Ivory Coast needs to win by a large margin as well as get some help
<< Sharapova wins second-rounder at Wimbledon
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Maria Sharapova was a
straight-set second-round victor Thursday at Wimbledon.
The 2004 titlist handled Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 6-4 on Court 1 at
the famed All England Club.
Blackhawks sell high on Byfuglien >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For a few weeks during the 2010 Stanley
Cup playoffs, some folks were calling Dustin Byfuglien the best power forward
in the NHL.
It's unlikely Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman agreed entirel
Fiorentina loans Nsereko to 1860 Munich >>
Florence, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fiorentina has allowed midfielder Savio
Nsereko to join 1860 Munich on a season-long loan agreement.
The 20-year-old started his career at Brescia but has since struggled during
spells with West Ham U
Nadal, Murray, Soderling reach third round at Big W >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Rafael Nadal, heavy
British crowd favorite Andy Murray and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling
highlighted some of the second-round winners at Wimbledon, which enjoyed its
first visit
Bruins extend D Boychuk >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins have signed defenseman
Johnny Boychuk to a two-year contract extension.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Boychuk recorded five goals and 10 assists in 51 games this past season
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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