For Those of You That Take Parlays....

airbag · Jan 20, 2005

.....DON'T!

I'm sure many of you already know this, but this is for the rest.

For a 2-team (A and B) parlay, you risk $120 and win back $280. If either team loses, you lose the whole $120. You need both teams to win.

Instead, do an: If A wins, then B. Take either one of the 2 picks (Team A) and risk $120 to win $108. If that wins, risk $228 to win $205 on Team B. You still risk $120, but you win back $313.

Anyone disagree?

madclown99 · Jan 20, 2005

Yeah, but what if the teams are playing at the same time (ie., NFL Sundays)? How about taking an additional teaser to hedge the 2 team parlay?

airbag · Jan 20, 2005

madclown99 said:
Yeah, but what if the teams are playing at the same time (ie., NFL Sundays)? How about taking an additional teaser to hedge the 2 team parlay?

All bookies and books I know let you do If Win bets. It doesn't matter that the games are at the same time. The 2nd bet only goes through if the 1st one wins.

Berlino · Jan 20, 2005

airbag For a 2-team (A and B) parlay said:
Yes, at these horrible parlay odds you're much better off sticking with straight bets at -110.

However, it's rare to such poor odds offered on 2-team parlays.

The only times I've seen 12/28 is at some greedy local outs. Even in those cases they normally deal two sets of parlay odds: 12/28 and 10/50 for 2 and 3-teamers to customers too naive to know or care and 11/29 and 11/65 for everyone else.

In Las Vegas two-teamers normally pay $26 for a $10. Of course offshore one can do much better than that.

Whatever the actual odds are, the type of math you performed applies.

SHACK · Jan 20, 2005

120 X 2.6 = 312. A dollar difference. You need a shop that pays 2.6x on two team parlays.

airbag · Jan 20, 2005

SHACK said:
120 X 2.6 = 312. A dollar difference. You need a shop that pays 2.6x on two team parlays.

It looks like there are better odds out there. My point is, it doesn't matter. You don't ever have to use a parlay since the method I described accomplishes the same function. Of course, it is easier to say "Give me a $120 parlay on A and B." versus "Give me an If Win on A then B for $120 on A and $228 on B."

In any case, I don't even like parlays and usually do reverses which are a better value.

Ihateken · Jan 20, 2005

First off if you pay juice on parlays you need help.

Secondly please introduce me to the book that lets you wager more on the 2nd part of an if bet.
Please enlighten me to how laying 220 to win 400 at -110 odds is better value than 200 to win 520.
Thanks in advace for your help on this matter

airbag · Jan 20, 2005

Ihateken said:
First off if you pay juice on parlays you need help.

Secondly please introduce me to the book that lets you wager more on the 2nd part of an if bet.

The one I use, beteagle, does. In fact, I can do a string of IFs (up to 5), with each bet progressively higher than the previous one.

Ihateken said:
Please enlighten me to how laying 220 to win 400 at -110 odds is better value than 200 to win 520.
Thanks in advace for your help on this matter

If you're talking about my preference for reverses, it's because if you get 1 of the 2 games right, you only lose half + vig. Since it's pretty damn hard to get both part of the parlay correct, I'd rather sacrifice the upside from the parlay for the downside hedge. But this is just a matter of preference.