The general rule regarding parlays is: DON'T.

Parlays generally carry a higher house edge than straight bets, therefore 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 lead to betting parlays. People think they are risking less with parlays, but they aren't. They believe they are able to win more with parlays, however they cannot. The bigger win with parlays is far outweighed by the bigger probability of losing. Parlay bettors are actually 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 nhà cái Jun88 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, create a parlay. We'll wait until both games are over, and in case of 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, depending upon whether the first game won or lost. That adds an element of luck to your betting it doesn't should be there. The skilled handicapper is always seeking to make smart investments. He tries to eliminate the effect of luck to the greatest extent possible to make his results as predictable as possible.

Much like every rule, however, there are 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 tens of thousands because he didn't understand the co-dependency of certain bets. He allowed a 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 first half with under in the overall game. Both parlays were made in the same game. Each time the player won he'd win 2.6 times his bet. Betting $100 on each parlay, if one of them 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 were a great chance for the book. The standard coin-flip odds 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 the time, and losing $200 half enough time. The bettor, however, making $500 parlays, was ahead more than $20,000 after six months, and the book began to look at what the bettor was doing more carefully.

The issue for the bookmaker was that the two halves of each parlay were co-dependent. At 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 first half total was 27. By the end of the first half, the score was 31-21, for a total of 52 first-half points. The initial 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 chances of winning the "over" in the overall game were not 50-50 but better than 99% in favor of the "over." The player only needed to win the first 1 / 2 of the parlay to be virtually assured that he would collect 2.6 times his money rather than just $10 for $11.

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


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

Any game where 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 one another and boost your win with very little increase in risk. This type of bet, however, needed that you have an opinion privately or the full total. Parlaying is another method to increase your potential win on these games, or even to create a potential win should you have no opinion.

There are 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 covers the 25 points, then they must hold Duke to no more than 11 points or the game will go over the full total. The more likely it becomes through the game that Virginia covers 25 points, the more likely it becomes that the overall game will go over 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 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 standard 25%. Likewise, if the scoring stays low, it is not as likely that Virginia covers the 25 points. Consequently, the probability a parlay of the under with the underdog will win is greater 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 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 already won with the underdog for an absolute two-parlay spread.

The closer the posted total is 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 wouldn't normally allow such bets), but you will find 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 help you to parlay the medial side to the total in exactly the same game, because more and more 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, you can replace the parlay bet having an "if/reverse" bet and achieve greater success.