Croatia, Japan split opening Davis Cup singles

Tennis Betting Lines

02/10/2012 - Hyogo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatia and Japan split the opening singles matches in their first-round Davis Cup tie on Friday.

Japan picked up the first point of the day when Go Saeda made a stunning rally for a 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ivan Dodig, but Ivo Karlovic quickly halted the host nation's momentum with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Kei Nishikori.

The best-of-five will continue on Saturday with the doubles match that is scheduled to feature the Japanese tandem of Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita versus a Croatian duo of Karlovic and Lovro Zovko, while Sunday's reverse singles currently call for Nishikori to battle Dodig and Karlovic to take on Soeda.

Dodig appeared to have control of the opening match, as he raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker and picked up a late break of serve in the second set.

Soeda, though, broke Dodig in the 10th game to win the third set and carried the momentum into the fourth by winning the first three games. After Dodig broke back in the fifth game, Soeda broke serve again for 4-2 and went on to square the match.

Each player broke serve once midway through the fifth set, which went to 5-5 before Soeda set up another break point with a backhand. Dodig then sent a forehand long and Soeda cemented the incredible comeback with a hold at love in the final game of the more than four-hour match.

"I think it was my best win ever," said Soeda, who also beat Dodig last month in the second round of the Chennai Open en route to a semifinal appearance.

Karlovic, much like Dodig, also won the first two sets in the second match of the day, but he didn't allow Nishikori a chance to get close. He closed out the third by winning the final four games with a pair of breaks.

"I tried to mix a lot and not rally a lot with him," said Karlovic, who used his booming serve to his advantage. "I try to win as quickly as I can on every point and I was trying to be as aggressive as I could."

The 6-foot-10 Karlovic banged out 18 aces and didn't face a break point during the match. Nishikori won a mere 12 points on Karlovic's serve.

Team Croatia is captained by Zeljko Krajan, while Japan is led by Eiji Takeuchi. This marks the first-ever meeting between the two nations.

Croatia captured its lone Davis Cup title in 2005, while Japan has only ever reached one final, and that resulted in a loss against the 32-time champion United States way back in 1921.

The Croatia-Japan winner will meet the Argentina-Germany victor in the quarterfinals in April.

Wwwlassiters Tennis Betting News

<< Ryu grabs lead at Women's Australian Open
Victoria, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning U.S. Women's Open champion So Yeon Ryu fired a four-under 69 on Friday to climb into the lead after two rounds of the Women's Australian Open, while Hee Kyung Seo used a big round to get int

<< Pangos helps Gonzaga roll past Saint Mary's
Spokane, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Pangos is new to the Gonzaga-Saint Mary's rivalry. With performances like Thursday's, he could be an integral player for years to come. The freshman was 5-for-6 from long distance as part of a 27-po

<< Evans, Cousins lead Kings past Thunder
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyreke Evans scored 22 points, DeMarcus Cousins added 19 and the Kings made enough free throws down the stretch to take down the Thunder, 106-101. Marcus Thornton finished with 15 points, includi

<< Illinois tops Ohio State on Moore's basket
Champaign, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Amber Moore's bucket with two seconds remaining gave Illinois a 66-65 victory over No. 10 Ohio State. The Buckeyes went ahead by one on Tayler Hill's driving layup with 19 seconds to play, but Moore

<< Coyotes edge Flames on Doan's OT winner
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shane Doan scored the game-winner in overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Taylor Pyatt scored in regulation for the Coyotes, who extended their season- high

McIlroy, Bjorn share lead in Dubai >>
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and Thomas Bjorn both fired seven-under 65s Friday to move into a share of the lead after two rounds of the Dubai Desert Classic. The duo finished 36 holes at 13-under-p

McNeese State-Texas A&M game canceled >>
Lake Charles, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - McNeese State's scheduled football game at Texas A&M on Sept. 1 has been canceled, both schools announced. Texas A&M initiated the cancellation after it entered into an Aug. 30 match-up with Louisi

Hantuchova advances, Zvonareva retires in Pattaya City >>
Pattaya City, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Daniela Hantuchova was among the quarterfinal winners Friday at the Pattaya Open, while two-time winner Vera Zvonareva was forced to retire from her match because

Harvard battles Penn in pivotal Ivy League tussle >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 25th-ranked Harvard Crimson will try to maintain their spot atop the Ivy League standings, as they head to Philadelphia to take on the Penn Quakers tonight at The Palestra. Harvard is enjoying the best

First meets worst when Bulls visit Bobcats >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two streaks will be on the line this evening at Time Warner Cable Arena, as the Chicago Bulls go after their fifth straight win, while the Charlotte Bobcats attempt to avoid matching the longest losing streak in franchise his


Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Why Sports Betting is so much fun?

Betting Sports

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)

Points (or Runs) Scored

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.

Future Bets

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.

Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

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.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.