Sports Betting Tips: Teaser Bets

by richallen

Continuing our discussion of sports betting tips, a Teaser Bet is a modified form of a parlay bet, meant to reduce risk to the player by offering the opportunity to bet on point spreads and/or game point totals. The spreads or totals are adjusted, or “teased” to give the player a better chance of winning, but at reduced odds. Teasers are usually only offered on football and basketball.

Teaser bets may seem a little complicated at first, but the best thing to do is break them down into individual smaller bets, and then look at it as one whole bet, like a parlay.  For example, let’s suppose the Ravens are playing the 49ers. The teaser bet allows the player to wager on the spread and/or point total, so we’ll first use the point spread for our matchup:

Step 1 – The Spread - Player selects Ravens to win at +11.0 points, which means the Red Skins must either beat the Raiders, or not lose by more than 11 points.

Step 2 – The Total - Player selects the game total points ( The final combination of points scored by both the Ravens and 49ers) to be 40 or under.

Therefore, for this bet to win, the Ravens must win outright, or not lose by more than 11 points AND the total points scored in the game must be 40 or under.  So far, this looks a lot like a parlay bet, but now we’ll add the Teaser bet factor in, which will increase the bettor’s odds of winning, but will also mean a decreased payout.

Step 3 – The Teaser Points - The player is offered 7, 8, or 9 point teaser on the bet. The player selects an 8 point teaser, which means that 8 additional points are added to the spread from Step 1: 11 + 8 = 19 point Spread, and 8 points are added to the total from Step 2: 40 + 8 = 48 point total – or under.

Result: Now, for this Teaser bet to win, the Ravens must either win or not lose by more than 19 points AND the game point total must be 48 points or under.

As you can see with these sports betting tips, it’s best to think of teasers in pieces, and base your wagering decisions on each part of the bet. Remember, however, that adding points to the spread and point total will give you a better chance of winning, but you’ll also get a smaller payout. Thus, a Teaser Bet turns a parlay bet into a bet with flexibility and better odds for the player.

When is it a good idea to bet a Teaser? If you’re looking for a safer bet than a regular parlay, a Teaser bet is a good substitute. The teaser points allow for a little more risk tolerance, but this privilege also means you’ll get paid out less. In some cases, Teasers are better because you might still come out a winner, even though you would have lost had you placed a standard parlay bet.

Most sportsbooks offer teaser bets in their lineups. Be sure to search through the betting options carefully, and also check out the “Exotic” bet section just in case Teasers aren’t listed in the regular lineup of betting options. Teasers are a fun way to given your wagers some flexibility and margin of error, so that you’re more likely to win. Furthermore, you’re not facing the long odds of a parlay, which for some players, makes placing Teaser bets a bettor option.

Generally speaking, teaser bets are a sucker bet just like Parlays.  We are writing about them merely to explain the existence, just as we did for parlays.  We advise staying way away from teaser bets.

Reverse bets are essentially two if Win, Tie or Cancel gambling wagers. Reverse bet wagers can be placed on both sides and totals.

Therefore, a reverse bet with two sports picks is arranged into two separate if bets with the teams in both possible orders. In both cases, the second bet in each sports betting if bet will be placed only if the first bet is a win, a push, or is cancelled.

In order to gain a better grasp of this bet, it will be useful to consider an example using some sports betting odds. Imagine you would like to bet on the sports betting odds of two separate games – Jets -7 at -110 and Texans -3 at -110. Your reverse bet would look like this:

Jets -7 (risking $110 to win $100)

If win, tie, or cancel then
Texans-3 (risking $110 to win $100)

also:
Texans -3 (risking $110 to win $100)

If win, tie, or cancel then
Jets -7 (risking $110 to win $100)

This shows that, two different if bets have been made using the betting odds of the two individual plays.

Now, we need to consider the different possible outcomes that could happenfrom this sports betting example using the betting odds listed above. Here they are:

both teams win: +$400
one team wins, one ties: +$200
one teams wins, one team loses: -$120
one team loses, one team ties: -$220
both teams lose: -$220

Most betting action with reverse bets is implemented with only two teams, giving the bettor two separate if bets, as shown in the above example. Nevertheless, its possible to implement reverse bets involving more than two teams.

In these cases, two team if bets are created in every possible combination. For example, a three team reverse would have six possible combinations, a four team reverse would have 12 possible combinations, a five team reverse would have 20 possible combinations, a six team reverse would have 30 possible combinations, etc.

Although these wagers can be very enjoyable, keep in mind when using these sports betting tips that most sports betting enthusiasts play only two team reverses in order to prevent them from becoming too complex.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: