Teasers and Pleasers Betting in Kentucky

Parlays may be the most popular way to bet on sports. All you have to do is combine two or more bets into one, and you’ll get much better odds than placing those same bets individually. Multi-leg parlays often allow you to win big with just a small bet. Of course, you have to win every single leg in a parlay to win anything, making parlays as hard to win as they are popular.

There are ways to make football and basketball parlays easier to win or force sportsbooks to offer you even longer odds. Teasers and pleasers are the two types of parlays that let you manipulate lines, giving you an increased chance of winning a parlay with shorter odds or longer odds on a parlay that’s harder to win.

Keep reading to learn everything there is to know about teaser and pleaser parlays, exactly how they work, and how you can give yourself a chance to win more or get paid more with these parlay bets.

What is a teaser sports bet?

Teasers are parlays that let you change each leg’s spread or total. These changes can be made to work in your favor, but there is a price to be paid. The trade-off is that teasers pay shorter odds than traditional parlays. Teaser bets allow you to buy points on the spread, and you pay for these points with odds.

With teaser betting, you can change the line in your favor anywhere from four or six points for basketball games and six to 10 points for football games. Each leg in your teaser bet has to change by the same number of points.

In theory, taking more points as underdogs and giving away fewer points as favorites increases your chances of winning each leg. There’s also an advantage to betting unders against higher lines and betting overs against lower lines. That’s why teasers pay shorter odds.

However, that’s just in theory. In practice, stringing together multiple winners is still quite hard, even when you can manipulate the lines in your favor. That’s why teasers still pay longer odds than you’ll get placing the same bets individually.

Betting on teasers

Teasers are a very popular way to bet on the NFL. For example, a traditional three-team NFL point spread parlay, including Cincinnati -3, Cleveland -7 and Pittsburgh +4.5 will offer +590 odds. That means a $100 bet would get you a total of $590 in profit if all three teams cover these spreads.

Make it a teaser, and you can change the spreads to make it easier on you. With a seven-point teaser, you’d be looking at Cincinnati +4, Cleveland even and Pittsburgh +11.5. Cincinnati is now getting points, Cleveland doesn’t have to give any away, and Pittsburgh is getting even more than before, giving each leg a better chance to win.

Of course, there’s a  trade-off. This teaser pays +130 odds. That means a $100 bet would profit you just $130 back if all three teams cover the new spreads.

Even if teasers are easier to win than traditional parlays, keep in mind that stringing multiple winners together is hard no matter what you do to the lines.

You also have to consider that the true odds of winning a teaser are often far less than the odds it pays. This makes most teasers so-called “sucker bets.” Ultimately, you should probably avoid betting teasers unless manipulating the lines increases your edge.

What is a pleaser sports bet?

Pleasers are the flip side of teasers. You’re shifting the lines or spreads in the sportsbook’s favor, making these bets even harder to win. However, you can get paid for it. Pleasers pay much longer odds than traditional parlays using currently posted lines with no changes. Essentially, a pleaser bet allow you to sell points and get paid at longer odds.

With pleasers, you can also change the line to work against you anywhere from four or six points for basketball games and six to 10 points for football games. Each leg must also change by the same number of points.

In theory, taking fewer points as underdogs and giving away more points as favorites decreases your chances of winning each leg. There’s also a disadvantage to betting unders against lower lines and overs against higher lines. That’s why pleasers pay much longer odds.

Stringing together multiple winners is hard enough. Doing so after changing the lines to work against you is even harder. That’s why pleaser bets will pay far longer odds than you’ll get placing the same bets individually with the original lines or alternatives.

Betting on pleasers

Once again, the most popular pleasers surround NFL parlays. For example, that same traditional three-team NFL point spread parlay outlined above has Cincinnati -3, Cleveland -7 and Pittsburgh +4.5. It offers +590 odds, which means a $100 bet gets you a total of $690 back if all three teams cover these spreads. (That’s $590 in profit, plus your $100 stake.)

Make it a seven-point pleaser, and suddenly you’re facing lines like Cincinnati -10, Cleveland -14 and Pittsburgh -2.5. It will be much harder for the teams to cover these spreads. Therefore, it will be much harder for you to win this parlay. Cincinnati and Cleveland are giving up way more points, and Pittsburgh is giving away points instead of taking them.

Of course, this pleaser pays +2500 odds. That means a $100 bet would return a total of $2500 in profit if all three teams can cover the new spreads. Not only are you looking at a bigger potential payday, but +2500 odds are much closer to the true odds of winning a three-team parlay.

That said, you must ensure you’re not being wooed by a potential payday with minimal real-world winning potential. In other words, you should bet pleasers only when the changes made to the lines don’t eliminate the chances these teams will cover. That means you should look for teams you consider a more significant favorite or less of an underdog than oddsmakers do.

Teaser and pleaser odds

You’ve got some leeway regarding how much you change the lines and the number of legs in your teaser or pleaser. It’s anywhere from four or six points for basketball games and six to 10 points for football games. As for the number of legs, most sportsbooks will allow you to book teasers and pleasers with anywhere from two to eight legs.

The odds paid depend on the number of points and legs. As a general rule, take more points, and you’ll get paid shorter odds; give away more points and get paid longer odds. Plus, the more legs, the longer the odds.

That said, the following chart outlines the typical traditional NFL parlay, 7-point NFL teaser, and 7-point NFL pleaser odds found at most KY online sportsbooks:

Teasers, pleasers and key numbers

Key numbers can help you place better NFL bets. These numbers represent a typical margin of victory in NFL games and closely follow NFL scoring. That means the key numbers in NFL betting are the value of a field goal (3), the value of a single-point converted touchdown (7), and the combination of the two (10). These are also the most common margins of victory in NFL games, in that order.

With key numbers, you’re looking for spreads that represent deviations. Find spreads set just over or under a key number and take advantage of that deviation. When oddsmakers make a spread 3.5 points, and you think the underdog will keep it close, you can take advantage of the key number of three and the fact the most common margin of victory in NFL games is three points.

If oddsmakers make a spread 6.5 points and you think the favorite is for real, you can take advantage of the key number of seven and the fact the second most common margin of victory in NFL games is seven points.

With teaser and pleaser betting, you can manipulate the spread to land just over or under a key number and put yourself in a similarly advantageous position.