- Burrow: 5 years, $275 million, $219 million guaranteed
- Chase: 4 years, $161 million, $112 million guaranteed
- Higgins: 4 years, $115 million, $60 million guaranteed
Mathematical Considerations For Teasers
Following on from last week's post on parlays on Sportspicks I'd like to explore the mathematical underpinnings of teasers. This is prompted partially by Robert Barnes' allusion to teasers showing an edge in college football last season and Will's analysis on teasers for NFL. I'll be posting this on Sportspicks too so that hopefully we'll all find a good edge on teasers this year in college football and NFL.
A teaser is an adjusted parlay that combines spreads and totals from either American football or basketball leagues. Whatever line you take, you adjust it by the same number in the same direction of action. Since spreads and totals are generally quoted on average a little bit below even money, parlays and teasers are quoted at odds that lengthen exponentially with each added leg. The primary difference is that teasers lengthen slower such that a two leg teaser has a similar price to its original constituent spreads and subsequent legs will diverge from even money more slowly.
Why might this be important? The crucial component to profitable parlays is having a positive edge compounded over all legs (preferably every leg should have a consistent edge). The drawback is that since parlays tend to be very much plus money, the iteration to iteration variance is rougher so you have to contend with feasts and famines. Teasers can give you the same compounded edge but with the more even short term returns of regular spread betting.
In order to evaluate the profitability of teasers compared to straights and parlays, you will have to estimate the probabilities of each leg hitting as well as the break even probabilities from the quoted odds. The shorthand for the break even probability is to take decimal odds and take it's reciprocal (divide the number one by it). Multiply the probability for each leg together and convert back to whichever odds format you're comfortable with. Compare this with the quoted teaser/parlay odds and you will know at a glance whether the bookmaker is ripping you off or not. To do this calculation for teasers, you will need to look up the relevant alt lines. Not all bookmakers do this but many do. Whichever of these gives the lowest implied probabilities (and hence best odds) is your candidate.
Now to calculate expected value. Here you will need your own estimates for the probabilities that the base spreads hit as well as the alt spreads used in the teaser. Expectation value is stake multiplied by decimal odds multiplied by estimated probability, then minus your original stake. Divide result by stake and that is your edge.
This may seem tedious but it's key to determining if a bookmaker has mispriced a derivative betting option. I've posted before about how draw no bets and double chances can be better or worse value than betting synthetic moneylines. Similarly, Will has posted that teasing a 6 point favourite down to moneyline can be worse value than taking them moneyline. Since a two leg teaser roughly corresponds to parlaying two bets at about -280 odds each, this is something you'll want to check for yourself because every bit of edge counts. You can't directly evaluate a teaser this way but you can cross reference it against the other leg alt lines and determine which is the best option to take.
So if you made it through all that, I will go through a little more practical stuff. It has become very popular to tease lines through magic numbers as Wong teasers do. This involves teasing a line to +3.5, +7.5 and some others as these are very common margins. Correspondingly, teasing through 0 is not recommended by this logic since a draw is a very low probability outcome.
From my preliminary investigations, I would disagree with the above logic (or at least caution that it may be dated). Bookmakers are well aware of Wong Teasers and will make you pay a premium to put them on. You can verify this by noting the odds on alt spreads, translating them into implied probabilities and observing the jumps over magic numbers. It generally gets priced in. Correspondingly, I think bookmakers may be discounting the jump over the 0 line as they can't totally rip you off. They have to make the lines tempting enough for you to bite.
More generally, I suspect that alt spreads are not as tightly set as there's way more betting action on the primary lines. Teasing may well be a good way of taking advantage of inefficiencies on these lines and compounding the edge in a similar way to parlays. Perhaps multiple teasers can function similar round robin parlays where you distribute the risk over multiple fixtures but collect the compounded edge on them all.
Anyway it's early in the season and I'm still learning the ropes of teasers so hopefully we'll all find some good edges over the coming months!
Welcome to our Rumble Premium reaction videos! This playlist will be from the book "Stugotz's Personal Record Book".
You can find a copy of the book here on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/9Rny595
Welcome to our Rumble Premium reaction videos! This playlist will be from the book "Stugotz's Personal Record Book".
You can find a copy of the book here on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/9Rny595
Welcome to our Rumble Premium reaction videos! This playlist will be from the book "Stugotz's Personal Record Book".
You can find a copy of the book here on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/9Rny595
Here's where the money is at in MLB today!
Rumble link:
https://rumble.com/v2xmf3k-mlb-daily-betting-report-july-2-2023.html
Here's today's games!
Rumble link:
https://rumble.com/v2x0jvl-mlb-daily-betting-report-june-29-2023.html
Since 2 out of 3 legs have hit on one of my 3 leg teaser parlay, I'm going to hedge and try to middle.
Currently I have PIT +3.5 left to cash my teaser. I will tease NYJ up and tie it to an afternoon game.
NYJ +8.5 / HOU +9 -115
If PIT wins by 8 or less OR loses by 3 or less I'll cash the first leg and be alive for the hedge teaser with HOU +9
NFL Week 1 Teaser Pool
FOOTBALL IS BACK! Which means TEASERS ARE BACK! Those of you who haven’t followed me in the past will find out quickly teasers are my favorite and best things to bet. I take a unique approach when betting them. I do a lot of the things the ‘sharps’ would tell you not to do and don’t simply stick to the Advantage Teasers (aka Wong teasers). I also mainly bet 3 leg teasers. The key is to make sure you are at least getting +150 or better on a 3 leg teaser. What I also like to add to the mix is making sure 1 game is outside the play time of the other 2, that way I have an opportunity to hedge if I choose and create a middle.
Listed below is the pool of teaser options that I like and below that are the ones I bet.
PHI -2.5✅
PHI/DAL U54✅
LAC +9✅
PIT +3.5✅
CAR/JAX U53✅
NYG +12❌
CLE +11✅
LV +8.5✅
ATL +8✅
DEN -3✅
SF +3.5✅
GB +4✅
BAL/BUF O44.5✅
MY 3 LEG TEASERS
PHI -2.5 / LAC +9 / PIT +3.5 +150✅
PHI -2.5 / CLE +11 / SF +3.5 +155✅
LV ...
Here's everything I'm on for the big game. I have several big bets, parlays, props, and long shot props!
I'm betting this game to make a profit, not how I think it will play out. I honestly don't care either way who wins this game, nor do I have a strong feeling on how it will play out. It's all about making money. I'll specify my strategies with certain bets on how I'm going to play them.
My overall thoughts on the game is the Eagles have the better roster, are the better team, have the ability to control this game and drain clock. Which is exactly why I expect the Chiefs to end up winning.
WILL ADD MORE OVER THE WEEKEND SO CHECK BACK
We are down to 8! Let's dive into each of these games breaking down the stats and trends. Then I'll give you my thoughts and best bets! Check back in throughout the week for my updated picks because I'm going to try and get the info out to you ASAP and as I place bets I will update this article with my picks.
The over/under in Chiefs/Texans is 41.5. Of Mahomes’ 18 career playoff games, this would be his lowest total, his previous low was 43.5 against the Dolphins last year. Of his 69 career home starts, this would be his 2nd-lowest total ever behind Christmas of last year against the Raiders at 40.5, a game KC lost.
We’ve seen 17 over/under’s in the playoffs with a total of 55 or more, they are 9-8 to the over all-time, but just 4-7 to the over since 2013-14, going under the total by 7.1 PPG. If you break it down by indoors vs. outdoors, 5-2 to the over indoors and 6-1 to the under outdoors.
Favorites in night games are 48-13 SU (79%) this season, including 6-0 SU from this same Lions team. Under Dan Campbell, the Lions are 10-0 SU as favorites in primetime, winning by over 10 PPG, and in games starting at 4p ET or later, they are 15-1 SU under Campbell, with their one loss coming to the Bills this season.
Three of the four matchups this week are rematches of games already played this season: Chiefs/Texans, Eagles/Rams, Bills/Ravens. Last decade in the playoffs, teams who played rematches in the same season, the team who won the previous game is 42-24 SU (64%) and 35-29-2 ATS in the rematch. For Baltimore, teams to win by 20+ pts in that first game are 10-1 SU and 7-4 ATS last decade.