A Time and a Place For Football Teasers
 Back to Article Listing
|
| Jack Clayton - 10/23/2009 12:20 AM |
|
Teasers are a popular and enjoyable form of wagering on pro and college football and basketball games.
To “tease” a game simply means the bookmaker gives you extra points, allowing you to subtract or add points on a point spread. For example, if the Rams are a 12-point favorite, using a 6-point teaser you can bump them down to a 6-point favorite. On the same card, if the Vikings are a 2-point home underdog, you can tease them up to +8. So if the Rams cover the six points and the Vikings cover as a +8 dog, you win the teaser bet. These extra points are not dished out because the bookmaker has a big heart and feels generous that day. Rather, there’s a catch (in the world of eleven-to-ten, there’s always a catch.) The catch is that, like a parlay, you have to tease two or more teams together, and all the teams have to cover the teased numbers or the ticket is a loser. In the above example, if the Rams win the game 27-20 but the Vikings get blown out in a 30-10 loss, you only win one of the two teased games, which wouldn’t get you the money. In football, you can do various teasers getting 6, 6½, 7, 7½, and even 8-point teasers. The more points you get to play with, the lower the return is on your investment. For example, a 6-point, two-team football teaser pays 11-to-10, but a 7½ point-teaser is closer to 15-to-10, meaning you would lay $150 to win $100. 10 to 12-point football teaser cards can also be found, but require you to pick a minimum of four teams. You can do the same thing in basketball, teasing two or more hoop teams, with the teaser-numbers ranging from 4, 4½, 5, 5½, 6, or 6½. Some tips to remember when betting teasers: * If the bettor has two underdogs that he thinks have a legitimate shot to win outright. When these situations occur, a teaser provides maximum insurance and good value. If the Cowboys and Vikings are both 4-point home dogs and you think they can win straight up, a two-team teaser gives you both teams at +10 or more, rather than +4. This provides a nice safety net, because if you’re right and both teams win straight up, you win the bet. But if you’re wrong and the Cowboys lose or the game goes overtime, you still have plenty of wiggle room to collect. * When you like a team as a pick ‘em. Again, teasing gives you a safety net, because if the game is close or goes into OT, you can give the other team a field goal and still win. * If you want to leapfrog key numbers. “Key numbers” in football are the most frequent numbers that the final scores of games fall on. Those numbers, in order of frequency are 3, 7, 10, and 6. NFL games end with a 3-point margin 16% of the time and land on a 7-point margin 8% of the time, meaning nearly one out of every four pro football games (24%) ends in a 3 or 7-point margin. This is why linemakers will move a number from 4 to 5 easily, but it takes a lot more money for a line to move from 2½ to 3½, as it is leapfrogging a “key number.” “There was a time about five years ago when the sharpies were hurting the books playing teasers,” says Tom Smilanich, former race and sports book director at Sunset Station. “Two-team teasers used to be even-money and it was advantageous for the smart player. But they’ve since moved it to 11-to-10 and sometimes even a higher take, and that’s a huge difference.” Smilanich has seen both sides of the sports betting counter, having worked at the Castaways, Boulder Station, and Golden Nugget, in addition to Sunset Station. “I would advise bettors not to do anything more than a two-team teaser,” he adds, “because hitting two is tough enough. Trying to hit any more than that is nearly out of this world and you’re much more likely to lose.” The other option with a teaser is you can hedge your bet or attempt to hit the middle if the games are not being played at the same time. If, for example, you win the first part of your teaser in the early game and you’ve got the Rams on Monday Night teased to a pick ’em, you can bet on whomever the Rams are playing to “hedge” the bet. This means you won’t lose both bets and there is the possibility that you’ll win both bets, because the teaser gives you a 6-point middle with that second game. So be careful with teasers. Yes, they are a gimmick bet, but they’re not “sucker bets”, unless you try a four or five-team teaser. Don’t live by teasers, but don’t ignore them, either, because there are times when they provide good value for your betting dollar. |
|
Back to Article Listing |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
