Originally Posted by
Justin7
Here's a small excerpt from the book I'm writing.
Teasers
A teaser wager is one where you can adjust the spreads of several games in a parlay by a fixed number of points, but receive a different payout.
For example, consider these two plays:
Cowboys -6.5 (with a moneyline of -270)
Redskins -6.5 (with a moneyline of -270)
In NFL, a 2-team 6-point teaser typically pays at -110. This means you pick 2 teams, adjust the spread 6 points in your favor, win $100 for each $110 risked if both games win.
In this example, your teaser wager would be Cowboys -0.5 as the first leg, and Redskins -0.5 as the second leg. If you win both, your $110 pays out $100.
Compare this to a parlay of the two games. A parlay of two -270 favorites would pay
(370/270) * (370/270), or odds of -114. Although this play is nearly identical to the teaser, you are now risking $114 to win $100. You will frequently find value in the NFL playing teasers that cross the "3" and/or "7".
Here is a retail teaser payoff chart:
Basketball 4 Pts 4.5 Pts 5 Pts
Football 6 Pts 6.5 Pts 7 Pts
2 Teams -110 -120 -130
3 Teams +180 +160 +140
4 Teams +300 +250 +200
5 Teams +450 +400 +350
6 Teams +600 +550 +500
How do you figure out the breakeven win rate for a teasers? Algebra, of course!
Let P be the odds of winning a single leg. In a "N" leg teaser with odds O, your net win must equal your net loss. So
(P^N) * O = (1 - P^N)
OP^N + P^N = 1
P^N ((O+1) = 1
P^N = 1 / (O+1)
P = Nth root of (1 / O+1)
For a 4-team 6-point teaser
P = 4th root of (1/1+3)
= 4th root of (0.25)
= 0.707 = 70.7%
This formula works for any parlay, teaser or pleaser.
When evaluating teasers, you want to look at how much you gain from the teaser points versus how much your breakeven percentage increases. For example, in a 4-team 6-point NFL teaser, your breakeven percentage is 70.7%. If each leg gains at least 20.7% in the cover rate from the teaser points, that leg of the teaser has +EV.