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07/02/2009 - Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Morgan Pressel, Laura Diaz and Song-Hee Kim each fired rounds of seven-under 64 on Thursday to share the opening-round lead of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Suzann Pettersen and Michelle Wie are knotted in fourth place at six-under 65 at Highland Meadows Golf Club.
Tournament officials had to be pleased to see so many familiar faces so high up on the leaderboard, considering they lost one of the biggest stars before she teed off.
Paula Creamer, last year's winner, withdrew before her round on Thursday. She injured her left thumb last week and received treatment on the injury since she withdrew in the middle of last week's Wegmans LPGA.
It was at that event less than a week ago where Pressel began the final round in second place, but a 78 on Sunday left her 11 shots behind champion Jiyai Shin.
"You just take what happened last week, especially on that back nine in terms of the weather, and move on and take what's there this week," said Pressel, the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Champion.
Pressel started on the 10th tee Thursday and collected her first birdie when she poured in a 15-footer at the 13th. She hit a spectacular seven-iron approach to tap-in range for another birdie at 16, then closed her opening nine with a five-foot birdie putt at the par-five 18th.
On her second nine, Pressel waited until the fourth hole for her first birdie. She hit an eight-iron to 10 feet and got to four-under par for the championship.
That birdie kicked off a great run for Pressel. She sank another 10-foot birdie putt at five, tapped in a short birdie effort at six and polished off her fourth birdie in a row with a 10-footer at the par-five seventh hole.
"I hit every fairway and hit every green, and gave myself birdie opportunities on every hole. You can't ask for much more than that," said Pressel. "I made a couple good 10-15 footers, and just kept giving myself chances. I just said, just keep hitting it close, and it will go in eventually."
Diaz first broke into red figures with a 25-foot birdie putt at the fourth. She lost that stroke with a bogey at the fifth after an errant drive, but got back to one-under with a 12-footer for birdie at eight.
Diaz caught fire on the back side. She kicked in a short one at 10 and rolled in a nine-foot birdie putt at the 13th. Diaz birdied her next two to get minus-five.
At the par-five 17th, Diaz laid up with her second shot and had a 56-degree wedge for her third. She holed out the chip from 38 yards and that put her into a tie for first.
"I put myself at a really good angle to the pin, and I had the whole green to work with, with nothing in my line of sight," said Diaz of her eagle at 17. "I put a new 56 in this week, just yesterday, and it checked up a little bit, then just dribbled into the hole."
Kim bogeyed the first hole, but four straight birdies from No. 4 got her to three-under par. Three more consecutive birdies after the turn pushed Kim to six-under, but a bogey at 16 dropped her two off the lead.
Kim, who has five top 10s this season, birdied her last two for her piece of the lead.
"After missing the cut last week I was a little nervous with my game, with my swing and everything," admitted Kim through a translator. "I am glad I played well today."
Shin continued her fine form with a five-under 66 on Thursday. She is tied for sixth place with Cristie Kerr, Inbee Park, Lindsey Wright, Jee Young Lee and Minea Blomqvist.
World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, who has never won this championship, shot a four- under 67 and is part of a large group tied for 12th place.
<< Bees delay Astros/Padres game
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the top of the ninth inning of a game
between the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres, a swarm of bees took over
part of left field and caused the game to go into a delay.
With Miguel Tejada at the plate w
<< Panthers sign Leopold, Wilson
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers bolstered their defensive
corps Thursday by signing both Jordan Leopold and Clay Wilson.
Leopold, who signed a one-year contract, was acquired on the NHL Draft's
second day from Calg
<< RSL, S.J. to battle in Friday fixture
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes travel to take on Real
Salt Lake in Major League Soccer action on Friday night as the two Western
Conference rivals battle for position.
Both team are in the bottom half of the con
<< Kim's record 62 leads AT&T National
Bethesda, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Anthony Kim set the course
record with an eight-under 62 at Congressional, taking the first-round lead
Thursday at the AT&T National.
Tiger Woods, the tournament host, shot a six-
Astros swarm Padres; bees delay game >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez threw seven strong innings to
help the Houston Astros take a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres in an unusual
finale of a four-game set.
Rodriguez (7-6) gave up just one run on seven hits w
Holy Cross tabs Kearney to replace Willard >>
Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Holy Cross named Sean Kearney its new head
men's basketball coach on Thursday.
Kearney, who becomes the 15th head coach in the history of the program,
replaces Ralph Willard who resigned last mo
Angels come to terms with first-round pick >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim came to terms
on a minor league contract with outfielder Michael Trout, the 25th overall
pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft.
Trout, who played his high school ball
Report: Artest joining Lakers >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Free agent forward Ron Artest is
reportedly leaving the Houston Rockets to join the Los Angeles Lakers and will
provide the team with more offensive firepower next season, as he'll join Kobe
Bryant
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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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