How exactly to Bet Parlays in Sports

The general rule regarding parlays is: DON'T.

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

A parlay is not a single bet. It really 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 one team loses, however, the double bet is presumed to have been on the loser. How smart is that for the bettor? Go ahead, create 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 is also bad money management. In a parlay you either bet double on the next team, or nothing on that same team, depending upon whether the first game won or lost. That adds some luck to your betting it doesn't have to be there. The skilled handicapper is always seeking to make smart investments. He tries to eliminate the result of luck to the best extent possible in order 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 once 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 game. The ball player parlayed totals by combining the over in the first half with the over in the game, and the under in the initial half with under in the game. Both parlays were made in the same game. Every time the player won he'd win 2.6 times his bet. Betting $100 on each parlay, if one of these won, the player would win $260 and lose $100 on another parlay for a net win of $160. He could never win both parlays. If he lost both parlays he would lose $200.

Initially, this appeared to be a great opportunity for the book. The normal coin-flip probability of winning one parlay out of your two are 50-50. So far as the bookie was concerned the bettor should be winning $160 half the time, and losing $200 half the time. The bettor, however, making $500 parlays, was ahead more than $20,000 after 6 months, and the book started 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 overall game total was 53 and the first half total was 27. By 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 initial half was successful. For the parlay probability to be correct, there should now be a 50-50 possibility of winning the "over" for the game. Obviously the odds of winning the "over" in the overall game were not 50-50 but much better than 99% and only the "over." The player only needed to win the first 1 / 2 of the parlay to be virtually assured he would collect 2.6 times his money instead of just $10 for $11.

Before you rush out to try this, be aware that most off-shore books are much too smart to enable you to 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 can be made at many books. One type of co-dependent parlay may be the parlay of the side and total in exactly the same game.

Any game where the total is significantly less than double the spread can provide you an advantage in parlaying side to total in the same game. We've already discussed, in a prior article, how exactly to use these anomalous side and total combinations to hedge one another and increase your win with hardly any increase in risk. Such a bet, however, needed that you have an impression on the side or the full total. Parlaying is another method to boost your potential win on these games, or even to develop a potential win for those who have no opinion.

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

In the Virginia game, if you were to think that Virginia will cover the 25 points, then they must hold Duke to only 11 points or the overall game will go over the total. The more likely it becomes during the game that Virginia covers 25 points, the much more likely it becomes that the game will go over 48 �. The wider Virginia's winning margin, the much more likely the game will review. If you like 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 higher than the standard 25%. Likewise, if the scoring stays low, it is less likely that Virginia will cover the 25 points. Subsequently, the probability a parlay of the under with the underdog will win is higher than the normal 25%.

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

https://typhu88top.com/  posted total is to the spread on the side, the better win-rate will undoubtedly 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 is a sufficient co-dependency in the games with low totals and high spreads to help make the strategy profitable long-term.

Not all bookmakers will allow you to parlay the medial side to the total in exactly the same game, because a growing number of are realizing these bets are sometimes co-dependent. But, enough books still do allow such bets that you should 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.