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07/11/2010 - Budapest, Hungary (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Agnes Szavay of Hungary again thrilled the home crowd by defeating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in the final of the Budapest Grand Prix for the second straight year.
Szavay posted a 6-2, 6-4 victory on Sunday for her fourth career WTA Tour title and her first since claiming this tournament last year with a three-set win over Schnyder.
The seventh-seeded Szavay dominated the first set Sunday with a pair of breaks and staved off two break chances by Schnyder. After a trade of breaks early in the second set, Szavay broke again for a 5-4 lead and held at love to finish the match.
Szavay improved to 4-2 all-time in WTA finals, while Schnyder dropped to 11-15.
The 31-year-old Schnyder had lost in the first round at both of her previous two events -- the French Open and Wimbledon -- before this week's run through the draw. She hasn't won a title since Bali in 2008.
This was the third all-time meeting between Szavay and Schnyder. After last year's title match in Budapest, the two also met in the first round of the Madrid Open in May and Schnyder prevailed when Szavay was forced to retire in the first set because of a right hamstring injury.
Szavay earned a first prize of $37,000.
<< LeBron's 'Decision' watched by nearly 10M people
NEW YORK (AP) -The Nielsen Co. estimates that 9.95 million people watched LeBron James announce on ESPN that he's leaving Cleveland to play for the Miami Heat, making it the third-most-watched program on cable television this year.``The Decision'' t
<< Djokovic lifts Serbia into Davis Cup semis
Split, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic notched a straight-set win
over Marin Cilic to lift Serbia to a Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over
Croatia.
Djokovic posted a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 triumph in the first of Sunday's rev
<< Kanemoto wins The Championship by Lexus
Bando, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Takashi Kanemoto eagled the final hole Sunday
to polish off a six-under 66 and win The Championship by Lexus on the Japan
Golf Tour.
Kanemoto, the third-round leader, finished at 18-under 270 and won by a
<< Davydenko keeps Russia alive against Argentina
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nikolay Davydenko kept Russia alive in its
Davis Cup quarterfinal match against Argentina with a victory over Eduardo
Schwank in the first of Sunday's reverse singles matches.
Davydenko rallied for a
Red Sox, Blue Jays to close out first half with rubber match >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays close out a three-
game weekend set in American League East action from the Rogers Centre, with
the rubber match to take place this afternoon.
Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on
Mets send out Santana in hopes of averting sweep by Braves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having Johan Santana on top of his game would go a long way
towards the New York Mets achieving their goal of overtaking the Atlanta
Braves for first place in the National League East. Coming off his best
performance of the s
Rookie Bumgarner tries to pitch Giants past Nationals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants got their first-ever look at
Washington Nationals rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg in Friday's opener of
this three-game series between the teams. Now they'll unveil their own top
pitching prospect
Phillies seeking sweep of hard-fought set with Reds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A terrific first half of the season is having an unwanted
ending for the Cincinnati Reds, who'll be out to avoid a four-game sweep at
the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies when the two postseason hopefuls square
off again th
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sports betting
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