Kvitova, Sharapova, Serena reach Aussie round of 16

Tennis Betting Lines

01/21/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Petra Kvitova, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova and five-time champion Serena Williams were a trio of third-round winners Saturday at the Australian Open.

The Wimbledon and WTA Championships titlist Kvitova was pummeling 27th- seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 1-0 when the Russian glamour girl retired because of a thigh injury on Day 6 of the fortnight.

Kvitova is one of four women who could be No. 1 at the end of this fortnight.

"I don't know who lost and who win," Kvitova said. "No, really, for me doesn't care."

Kvitova's fourth-round opponent will be former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.

Sharapova, who was last year's Wimbledon runner-up to the left-handed Kvitova, leveled 30th-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 in 87 minutes.

The former world No. 1 Sharapova, who captured the 2008 Aussie Open for her third career Grand Slam championship, will take on tough German Sabine Lisicki here on Monday.

A 12th-seeded Williams, meanwhile, dominated helpless Hungarian Greta Arn 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 59 minutes at Melbourne Park.

Leading 5-0 and a point away from winning the opening set, the former top- ranked Williams set-up for an overhead smash, only to shank it wide of the court. The powerful American screamed and put a hand over her face.

"It was an awkward smash. Then she missed one and I felt a little better," Williams said. "I felt like, 'Am I losing my mind out here?' Everyone sometimes hits a shot that's a little bit insane -- you just got to allow yourself to get over it."

The 13-time major champion Williams has now won her last 17 matches in Melbourne, where she titled back-to-back in 2009 and 2010 before missing last year's event because of a series of health issues.

"I'm nowhere near where I want to be," Williams said. "I'm just trying to play through it. A little rusty -- just trying to play through my rust."

Up next for Williams will be surprise Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who stunned her seventh-seeded compatriot Vera Zvonareva, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1. Zvonareva was a Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist in 2010.

Another upset came when ninth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli of France was ousted by surging Chinese Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-3. Zheng captured a title in Auckland just two weeks ago.

A 14th-seeded Lisicki needed all three sets to overcome 18th-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, while the 21st-seeded Serbian Ivanovic was a straight-set winner over American Vania King, 6-3, 6-4. The former top- five star Kuznetsova is a two-time major champ. The former No. 1 Ivanovic was the '08 Aussie runner-up to the Russian Sharapova.

Also advancing Saturday was Italian Sara Errani, who rallied for a 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-2 victory over Romanian Sorana Cirstea. Errani will meet Zheng in the round of 16.

The fourth round will get underway on Sunday, including matches for top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and reigning Aussie champ Kim Clijsters.

The former U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki will face 13th-seeded former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, while the 11th-seeded Clijsters will battle fifth- seeded Chinese Li Na in a rematch of last year's Melbourne finale, which was won by Clijsters in three sets. Clijsters is a four-time Grand Slam champ, while Li captured her first-ever major title at the French Open last spring.

Also on Sunday, third-seeded Belarusian slugger Victoria Azarenka will face veteran Czech left-hander Iveta Benesova and eighth-seeded Pole Aggie Radwanska will encounter 22nd-seeded German Julia Goerges.

Azarenka titled in Sydney last week by beating Li in the marquee finale.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

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

Sportsbooks to bet on football

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.