Originally posted on 12/17/2010:

Quote Originally Posted by ryanspeer2001 View Post
Sharpcat when you can please specify how it is not 3:1. I am interested as I know your on top of your stuff but I can't figure out elsewise how they would not be.
To figure out the odds, treat each leg as separate bets and then just roll them into each other in series.

Example: $110 bet at -110

1st leg: $110 wins $100
2nd leg: Now you have $210, risk that at -110, wins $190.91

That is $290.91 in winnings. So the win/risk ratio is $290.91/$110 = 2.64 or +264 US odds.

Example 2: $100 bet at Even odds, no vigorish
1st leg: $100 wins $100
2nd leg: Now you have $200, risk that at even wins 200.

$300 in winnings, win/risk is $300/$100 = 3.0 or +300 US Odds. This means no-vig odds are +300. This makes sense as each leg has implied 50% probablity, with odds to win both of 25%.

Break even rate on +264 is 27.47%. Square root of .2747 is .524 or 52.4%, so you have to find legs that have 52.4% chance of winning if you want to use parlays (although they are useful for other things).

If offered +290 odds, you are still below mathematical odds, but not by much. Break even rate is 25.64% implying each leg must win at 50.6%. This means each leg is being offered at -102.6, aka reduced juice.

I'll leave it up to you to figure out how to beat a -102.6 line.