Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

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There are countless 'handicapping services' available of providing people who have parlays. They'll tout win rates much like many of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, you will see that they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On several sites you may have the privilege of working with some sort of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will be fooled by this fiction again this football season.

The fact is that exotic wagers keep sports books running a business. Next time you are in Vegas have a look at the discarded tickets you see spread all over the place. It's safe to assume that you will find the majority of these losers are made up of such bets positioned on both sports and racing. Of all sucker bets available to sports bettors, the parlay is king. Bettors are lured in by the promise of an enormous payout while disregarding the fact that there is no reasonable expectation of any return on the investment.

The home edge on a standard straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is actually a fairly raised percentage. A great deal of table games and slots offer a better value for the average bettor placing a random wager. However, everybody knows that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing a pair of dice at the trunk wall.

Chance plays a role in everything the house has to offer. Additionally, there are steps that may be taken to reduce the edge in just about every game. Nowhere in mocbai team are elements such as skill and preparation more useful than the sports book. The edge on a straight wager could be reversed in the bettors favor through the use of statistics and expertise in an activity. However, a double digit house edge can never be overcome in the end.

# of Teams | Actual Odds | Typical Payout | House Edge

2 | 3/1 | 2.6/1 | 10.00%

3 | 7/1 | 6/1 | 12.50%

4 | 15/1 | 10/1 | 31.25%

5 | 31/1 | 20/1 | 34.38%

6 | 63/1 | 40/1 | 35.94%

7 | 127/1 | 75/1 | 40.63%

8 | 255/1 | 150/1 | 41.02%

9 | 511/1 | 300/1 | 41.21%

10 | 1023/1 | 700/1 | 31.54%

As you can plainly see every parlay it is possible to possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages are more in line with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome over time. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are drawn to risking a small amount of money for large payouts. The games which are frequently played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands or even millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of the bettors is 'Go big, or go home.' The casino is clearly happy to oblige as millions of bettors go home with nothing within their pockets every year.

It is fair to assume that the largest amount of losing bets that a book accepts are exotic wagers of add up to or double the home minimum. Simply because most bettors don't have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Since they don't believe they can make any real money by placing $25-50 on a few games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. Using this method they essentially ensure a significant loss by the end of the growing season. Meanwhile, if they only placed straight wagers at that same level they might limit their potential losses to a few units at most.

Many bettors assume that because they are keeping the size of their bets low they're not taking on a substantial risk. This analysis is flawed since it ignores several factors. Most of all, it is my experience that a lot of bettors usually do not place just one parlay per week. In football this implies at the least 34 parlays are put during the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a minimal unit bet that is still a dangerous amount of wagers to place with such a high house edge. For instance, when you are placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for each and every $100 you wager. Because the amount of bets you place increases it really is inevitable that you'll hit that $100 mark several times over.


Using parlays as a side bet will most likely result in increasing your losses or erasing any profits you were able to make on straight wagers. In 2009 2009, I had a client who broke even after increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He managed to do that by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. That is an expensive lesson to understand especially when you take into account I issued a similar warning to him.

If you are going to follow his lead and continue using parlays I've a few pointers that will assist you in the long run. First of all, the very best value of most parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between your house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is a lot more than twice as much. If you take a glance at the graph you should understand why I'd never bet a parlay of 4 teams or more. However, if you're going to make such an investment listed below are two useful tips:

If you are likely to bet a four or five 5 team parlay, always ensure it is 6 or even 10. The difference between your house edge to include one or two 2 more teams is at 5 percentage points and the payout is significantly higher for both options. The home edge on a 10 teamer is virtually the same as a 4 team parlay, but the actual odds of hitting it are over 1,000 to 1 1.
If you are going to throw your cash away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. THE HOME edge is about 10 points lower than all three of those bets and it typically pays about 700/1.

Setting reasonable goals and being patient while working to achieve them may be the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed should be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. You can chase high returns while assuming plenty of unnecessary risk. Or it is possible to minimize your contact with a few units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The choice is yours.
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