There are countless 'handicapping services' in the business of providing people with parlays. They will tout win rates similar to many of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, you will see that they make reference to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On several sites you may have the privilege of working with some type of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will undoubtedly be fooled by this fiction again this football season.
The truth is that exotic wagers keep sports books in business. Next time you are in Vegas take a look at the discarded tickets you see spread everywhere. It's safe to assume that you will find nearly all these losers are made up of such bets placed on both sports and racing. Of all the sucker bets open to sports bettors, the parlay is king. Bettors are lured in by the promise of an enormous payout while disregarding the truth that there is no reasonable expectation of any return on investment.
The house edge on a typical straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is really a fairly raised percentage. Plenty of table games and slots provide a better value for the average bettor placing a random wager. However, everybody knows that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing some dice at the trunk wall.
Chance is important in everything the house provides. Additionally, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the edge in only about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as skill and preparation more useful than the sports book. The edge on a straight wager can 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 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 in the long term. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking handful of money for large payouts. The games that are most often played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands or even millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of these bettors is 'Go big, or go home.' The casino is clearly happy to oblige as millions of bettors go back home with nothing in their pockets every year.
It really 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. This is because most bettors do not have a meaningful bankroll reserve for sports betting. Since they don't believe they can make any real cash by placing $25-50 on several games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. Using this method they essentially ensure a substantial loss by the finish of the growing season. Meanwhile, should they only placed straight wagers at that same level they would limit their potential losses to a few units at most.
Many bettors assume that because they're keeping the size of their bets low they're not taking on a substantial risk. This analysis is flawed because it ignores several factors. Most of all, it is my experience that a lot of bettors do not place just one single parlay weekly. In football this implies a minimum of 34 parlays are placed during the regular season. In baseball that number can easily exceed 100. With a low unit bet this is still a dangerous number of wagers to put with such a high house edge. For example, for anyone who is placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for each $100 you wager. As the number of bets you place increases it 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 managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had a client who broke even with increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He managed to do this by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. That is an expensive lesson to learn especially when you consider I issued an identical 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 best value of all parlays is clearly the three team parlay. The difference between your house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is more than twice as much. Invest the a look at the graph you need to understand why I'd never bet a parlay of 4 teams or more. However, if you are going to make this investment here are two useful tips:
If you are likely to bet a four or five 5 team parlay, always make it 6 or even 10. The difference between your house edge to add 1 or 2 2 more teams is at 5 percentage points and the payout is significantly higher for both options. The house edge on a 10 teamer is virtually the same as a 4 team parlay, however the actual odds of hitting it are over 1,000 to at least one 1.
If you are going to throw your money away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. The House edge is about 10 points less than all three of these bets and it typically pays about 700/1.
Setting reasonable goals and being patient while working to achieve them is the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed must be kept in check in order to be successful. In Link new88 , every bettor has two options. It is possible to chase high returns while assuming a huge amount of unnecessary risk. Or it is possible to minimize your exposure to a few units while maintaining a reasonable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The decision is yours.