I never play the parlay teaser cards, there’s no real money in it without parlaying an insane number of teams, or wagering more than you’re comfortable with losing. That’s why I only make my parlays off the board, and limit my parlays to three teams. Make no mistake about it bringing in a three team parlay is not as easy as it sounds, and that’s why I like the 3 team round robin.
As opposed to a straight bet, a parlay is when you bet more than one team (or game) on a ticket. With a normal 3-team parlay, if you lose one leg, or game, the ticket’s dead and your money’s gone. But when you round robin the ticket, by two’s and three’s, if you lose one but win the other 2 games bet, you get paid a two team parlay, which could pay you back your wager, or more, or a little less depending on how you manipulate the odds. (Don’t lose more than 1 game though.) Allow me to provide a couple of example tickets and explain.
The first example is a ticket on the week 4, 2007 NFL Sunday games. (Refer to photo #1.)
Somehow the Raiders were an underdog at Miami, and instead of take the points, I put them on the money line, which returned 1.90 for every 1.00 bet, thus the +190. Taking the points on an underdog will usually reverse the potential payout to a -110, which means you have to put up 1.10 to win 1.00, not quite even money. You can see the difference. So if you like an underdog to win, why take the points and a cut in pay when your team straight up wins? I always use the money line when I bet a dog. So anytime you see a minus (-) with the number (odds) that is the amount you wager to win 100 or 1.00, if there is a plus, or no sign with the number, that is how much you will win for each 100, or 1.00 bet.
The first leg of this ticket I had:
For the third leg I switched up a little bit and only bet the first half of the Arizona/Pittsburgh game. I took the Cardinals and +3 points. For some reason I was surer they would be ahead at the half, than win the entire game. Boy was I wrong, Arizona didn’t score a point in the first half and the three points I took didn’t cut it when the Steelers had 7. You’ll notice I had a +105, which reflects how much of an underdog the Cardinals were when the norm is a -110 on a first half bet. (There is no money line in first half wagering, and sometimes there isn’t one on a full game, e.g. “pick”) But guess what, the Cardinals wound up winning the whole game. I kicked myself for that one because Arizona was more than a 2 to 1 underdog. My 20.00 would have turned into 200.00 easily if I’d have taken them on the money line for the whole game, but even with the loss, my two team back up paid over 40 dollars. I doubled my money on a losing ticket so to speak. A +190 parlayed to a +180 came back 35.00 dollars and change, add to that my original 5 dollars bet for the 40.
A note on first half wagering: A football game can and often does end in a tie at the first half, so even if you take a half point with an underdog, you will win by that much in the event the game is tied at the half. A complete football game rarely ends in a tie. (I use a similar principle when betting the first 5 innings of a baseball game, but that’s another article.)
I’m just betting 5 dollars a leg on these tickets, and on each ticket is a total of 4 bets, (or legs) I will explain exactly what happens with the next ticket, which by the way was a huge success.
So lets get crackin’ and look at the anatomy, and the construction of a winning three team round robin parlay.
The second ticket brought all three games in for me. (Refer to photo #2)
Week 6 of the 2007 NFL Sunday games I took:
CHIEFS +130 MLB (money line bet) I was surprised a bit by Kansas city being a slight underdog at home against the somewhat diminished Cincinnati Bengals. Chiefs won 27 to 20
RAVENS -110 PLB (points line bet) -9.5 I took the favorite here and gave nine and a half which meant I needed to win by at least 10 points. The way the Rams are playing this season I really don’t see them winning more than 2, or 3 games. Baltimore Ravens nearly shut the St Louis Rams out, 22 to 3.
SAINTS +250 MLB (money line bet)
This was the scary one to bet. With the Saints 0-4 coming into Seattle you would think I was crazy to take New Orleans straight up over the Seahawks in Seattle. But Seattle’s running back wasn’t 100 percent and looking at the injury report the team was banged up anyway. Granted, Deuce McAllister is out for the Saints, but they have Reggie Bush to help disperse the load. The losing Saints have thus far mystified when you look at the tremendous season they had last year, but I knew the losing wouldn’t last. I picked my spot and nailed it.
I cashed this ticket for a little over 150.00 dollars. (Plus my original wager back, $20.00)
The pay out breakdown of my 3 team round robin parlay at 5 dollars a leg:
The 3-teamer +130, -110, and +250 paid 71.00 dollars and change
The two-teamer +130 and -110 paid nearly 17.00 dollars
The two teamer +130 and +250 paid 35.00 and change
The two teamer -110 and +250 paid 28.00 and change. Plus when you win, you get your initial bet back, so I have an extra 20.00 coming to top it off for the maximum payout of just over 170.00 dollars.
On a regular parlay the (potential) win, and max pay amount will be printed on the ticket, but with the round robin, you will need to calculate the combinations yourself. (There are many parlay calculators on the web.)
A note on betting round robin, and regular parlays off the board: As opposed to the parlay card, which only has one sport, you can build your own ticket using any sport available to bet. For instance, you could parlay a boxing match, to a hockey game, to a soccer game. (Just make sure you tell the ticket writer the number that is next to the team you want to bet instead of the team’s actual name, or person’s name.) Did I mention the money lines? You don’t get those on a parlay card. And If you’re crazy, you can parlay as many bets you want. You can make a 10 team parlay if you want, and you could round robin that, but depending on the number of combinations possible, you could be wagering a lot of money. What I have shown here is, in my book, definitely the best way to go. Betting more than a two, or three team parlay is like betting the pick 6 at a horse track – – a suckers bet.
Backing up my ticket with the round robin has brought back as much as 70.00 dollars when one of the games tied, say you give 7 points and win by 7 points, its a draw, or push. On a normal 3-team parlay, if a game is cancelled (weather) or you tie, the parlay drops to a 2 teamer, not nice. But with the round robin, you get your initial bets refunded, because in essence you have 3, two team parlays, and one 3 team parlay on this type of round robin, so I get back 15.00 for the two, 2 teamers and the 3-teamer that didn’t come in due to the push.
What to say to the ticket writer.
Referring to my winning ticket, I said to the writer thusly, “Give me a three team round robin parlay by 2’s and 3’s at 5.00 dollars a way, 208, with 218, to 229.”
I am normally a 5 and 10-dollar bettor but could practically make a living betting this type of ticket if I had 50.00 or 100.00 dollars a leg to bet. I hope have shed some light on the 3 team round robin parlay, its just good sound betting strategy – – plain and simple.
