How exactly to Bet Parlays in Sports

The general rule regarding parlays is: DON'T.

Parlays generally carry a higher house edge than straight bets, which means you give the book a more impressive advantage over you once you play them. That, alone, is reason enough to suppress the misplaced feelings of greed combined with fear that often result in betting parlays. People think they are risking less with parlays, but they are not. They believe they can win more with parlays, however they cannot. The bigger win with parlays is far outweighed by the higher possibility of losing. Parlay bettors are in fact risking more, with less possibility of collecting.

A parlay is not a single bet. It is two bets -- a one-unit bet on one team and a two-unit bet on another. Which team gets the two-unit bet? In point-spread betting at constant money odds, if both teams win or both teams lose no matter which team gets the double bet. When one team wins and something team loses, however, the double bet is presumed to possess been on the loser. How smart is that for the bettor? Go ahead, make a parlay. We'll wait until both games are over, and in case there is a split we'll put the double bet on the loser. If your bookmaker sold you a parlay with that line, just how many of you'll still make the bet?

A parlay can be bad money management. In a parlay you either bet double on the second team, or nothing on that same team, dependant on if the first game won or lost. That adds some luck to your betting that doesn't have to be there. The skilled handicapper is definitely wanting to make smart investments. He tries to get rid of the effect of luck to the greatest extent possible to make his results as predictable as possible.

Much like every rule, however, you can find exceptions. The exception to the rule regarding parlays occurs when the two bets are co-dependent.

I knew one bookmaker who was simply taken for thousands because he didn't understand the co-dependency of certain bets. He allowed a new player to consistently parlay the initial half with the overall game. The ball player parlayed totals by combining the over in the initial half with the over in the overall game, and the under in the initial half with under in the game. Both parlays were manufactured in the same game. Each time the player won he would win 2.6 times his bet. Betting $100 on each parlay, if one of them won, the ball player would win $260 and lose $100 on another parlay for a net win of $160.  Link Jun88  could never win both parlays. If he lost both parlays he'd lose $200.

Initially, this were a great chance for the book. The standard coin-flip probability of winning one parlay from the two are 50-50. So far as the bookie was concerned the bettor ought to be winning $160 half enough time, and losing $200 half enough time. The bettor, however, making $500 parlays, was ahead a lot more than $20,000 after 6 months, and the book begun to look at what the bettor was doing more carefully.

The problem for the bookmaker was that the two halves of every parlay were co-dependent. By the end of the first half, the bettor was almost never in a 50-50 situation.

Take the Thursday night game between Utah and Air Force. The game total was 53 and the initial half total was 27. At the end of the first half, the score was 31-21, for a complete of 52 first-half points. The first half of among the parlays, the "over" in the first half was a winner. For the parlay probability to be correct, there should now be considered a 50-50 probability of winning the "over" for the overall game. Obviously the chances of winning the "over" in the game weren't 50-50 but better than 99% and only the "over." The ball player only needed to win the first 1 / 2 of the parlay to be virtually assured he would collect 2.6 times his money rather than just $10 for $11.

Before you rush out to use this, be aware that most off-shore books are far too smart to let you parlay first half to game. Should they do let you do this, start fretting about collecting because that book will soon be taken up to the cleaners.

You can find, however, some less obvious co-dependent parlays that may be made at many books. One type of co-dependent parlay may be the parlay of the medial side and total in exactly the same game.

Any game in which the total is less than double the spread can provide you an advantage in parlaying side to total in exactly the same game. We've already discussed, in a prior article, how exactly to use these anomalous side and total combinations to hedge each other and boost your win with very little increase in risk. This type of bet, however, required that you have an opinion privately or the total. Parlaying is another solution to increase your potential win on these games, or to create a potential win for those who have no opinion.

You can find two games this Saturday that qualify. They are Virigina -25 over Duke with a complete of 48 �, and Kansas St. -24 � vs. North Texas with a complete 46 �).

In the Virginia game, if you were to think that Virginia will cover the 25 points, then they must hold Duke to no more than 11 points or the overall game will go over the total. The more likely it becomes through the game that Virginia will cover 25 points, the more likely it becomes that the overall game will review 48 �. The wider Virginia's winning margin, the much more likely the game will go over. If you want Virginia to cover the spread, and you also believe that Duke will not be shut out, in that case your possibility of winning a parlay on Virginia and the over are greater than the normal 25%. Likewise, if the scoring stays low, it really is less likely that Virginia will cover the 25 points. Therefore, the probability that a parlay of the under with the underdog will win is higher than the normal 25%.

If you have no opinion on the overall game, you can parlay the favourite with the "over" and the underdog with the "under" and collect sufficiently often to exceed the losses when both parlays lose. In the only real other game meeting the qualifications this week -- Friday's game between California -30 against New Mexico State with a total of 58 -- the under has recently won with the underdog for an absolute two-parlay spread.

The closer the posted total would be to the spread privately, the better win-rate will be on the parlay "spread" bet. The co-dependency in side to total parlays is not as strong as parlaying first half and game totals (if it were, most books would not allow such bets), but there exists a sufficient co-dependency in the games with low totals and high spreads to make the strategy profitable long-term.

Not all bookmakers will help you to parlay the medial side to the total in the same game, because a lot more are realizing that these bets are occasionally co-dependent. But, enough books still do allow such bets for you to consider including such bets in your professional betting arsenal.

If your bookmaker provides "if/reverse" bets, it is possible to replace the parlay bet having an "if/reverse" bet and achieve greater success.