1. #1
    Ganchrow
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    Fixed vs. True Parlay Odds (diverted)

    Good to see you around here, Data.

    Quote Originally Posted by Data View Post
    parlay +1000 $5
    GS -1.5 1Q -110
    Sea +1.5 2Q -110
    GS -1.5 3Q -110
    Sea +1 4Q -110
    You need to play your 4-team -110 parlays elsewhere if you're only getting 10-1 (corresponding to a single-bet line set of -121.78).

    At Bookmaker (for example), which pays out at true parlay odds, you'd receive +1,228.33 on 4-teamers.

  2. #2
    Data
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ganchrow View Post
    Good to see you around here, Data.


    You need to play your 4-team -110 parlays elsewhere if you're only getting 10-1 (corresponding to a single-bet line set of -121.78).

    At Bookmaker (for example), which pays out at true parlay odds, you'd receive +1,228.33 on 4-teamers.
    Thank you, sir. It is good to be around such a fine individual as yourself.

    Good catch with the odds, noticed that too. I think that was a glitch on TheGreek's side. They actually have the best parlays as they could be as the odds are multiplied, same as at Bookmaker/5Dimes. See for instance my other 4-teamers above with much higher odds.

  3. #3
    Ganchrow
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    Quote Originally Posted by Data View Post
    Good catch with the odds, noticed that too. I think that was a glitch on TheGreek's side. They actually have the best parlays as they could be as the odds are multiplied, same as at Bookmaker/5Dimes. See for instance my other 4-teamers above with much higher odds.
    It's actually not a glitch. Oddly enough it's by design. Many books offer so-called "fixed parlays odds" when the underlying wagers are all listed at . This frequently corresponds to 13/5 on 2-teamers, 6/1 on 3-, and 10/1 on 4-. Of these, only the 6/1 is better than true parlays odds (which would be ~ ).

    This results in a rather peculiar dynamic where a player would actually receive better odds when parlaying games at, for example, -110, -110, -110, and (true parlay odds of (1+100/110)3 × (1+100/120) ≈ ) than he would were he just to parlay 4 games all at -110.

    The moral of the story is that when betting -110 parlays at books not offering true parlay odds (i.e., because playing these bets at another book would for whatever reason be infeasible), try to abide by the following:
    • never bet -110 parlays of more than 3-teams and generally try to avoid 2-team -110s as well (fixed odds 2-team parlays at +260 are only slightly worse than their true parlay odds counterparts at ~ -- that's the equivalent of a single-bet line set of ).
    • if you need to combine more than 3 bets into a single parlay try to include at least one game line different than -110. This will cause the entire parlay to be graded at fixed odds.
    • if you have no candidate bets at odds other than -110, but still want to combine more than 3 bets, consider picking a large money line favorite (hopefully at fairly low vig) on which you have no opinion and adding that to the parlay as a dummy bet. This may actually lower the vig you're paying. Example:

      Let's say there are 4-games you want to parlay at -110 odds. Fixed odds on that would be , corresponding to vig of 1 - 50%4 × 11 = 31.25%.

      Now consider what would happen to vig if you were to add to that parlay a -1600 ML bet on tonight's NE Pats game, which, based solely on The Greek's / market, we'd expect to win with probability 90.82% (for single-game vig of ~ 3.15%).

      The new parlay would pay out at odds of (1+100/110)4 × (1+100/1505) ≈ for vig of 1 - 50%4 × 90.82% × 14.1659 ≈ 19.59%.

      So in other words, by including the large money line favorite in your parlay, you've manged to reduce vig from 32.50% to 19.59% (although you'll have reduced your win likelihood to 90.82% of what it had previously been).

      Just to be clear, I'm not advocating always including a large money line favorite in all a player's parlays, but rather doing so only as a last resort at fixed parlay odds shops in order to force parlay odds from fixed to true.


    (Anyway, Data, sorry to hijack your thread. If you want I can separate this out into its own thread.)

  4. #4
    Data
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ganchrow View Post
    It's actually not a glitch. Oddly enough it's by design. Many books offer so-called "fixed parlays odds" when the underlying wagers are all listed at . This frequently corresponds to 13/5 on 2-teamers, 6/1 on 3-, and 10/1 on 4-. Of these, only the 6/1 is better than true parlays odds (which would be ~ ).

    This results in a rather peculiar dynamic where a player would actually receive better odds when parlaying games at, for example, -110, -110, -110, and (true parlay odds of (1+100/110)3 × (1+100/120) ≈ ) than he would were he just to parlay 4 games all at -110.
    That is oddly indeed. I very much appreciate your comment as I was not aware of this. Please feel free to hijack my thread with whatever you feel is remotely relevant, I will be just thankful as I am now.

  5. #5
    SBR_John
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    -1505/+955 market, we'd expect to win with probability 90.82% (for single-game vig of ~ 3.15%).

    The new parlay would pay out at odds of (1+100/110)4 × (1+100/1505) ≈ 14.1659 for vig of 1 - 50%4 × 90.82% × 14.1659 ≈ 19.59%.
    funny i was just going to say the same dog-gone thing.

    Way to go Ganch!

  6. #6
    idontlikerocks
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    i believe we are seeing common sense put into formula

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