This Week: Hansel Wei on Parlays. Read the whole article in Hansel's Zone at GoSportsBet.

Now let’s look at how to bet parlays. Like most aspects of sports wagering, a successful approach to parlays involves being familiar with the math involved. Let’s take the example of a 2-team parlay, where the player must pick the winner of the game Team A vs Team B, and correctly pick the over / under. There are four possible outcomes:
1. A wins, under
2. A wins, over
3. B wins, under
4. B wins, over
Thus, the real odds are 3 to 1 against the player. A standard payout for 2-team parlays is 2.6 to 1, giving the house a 10% edge. The difference in odds divided by the total number of possible combinations equals the house’s edge—in this instance, 0.4 / 4 = 10%. If you are just looking for a slim change at enormous payouts, then by all means, take the largest parlays offered by your book. However, if you are a serious parlay bettor and are looking to maximize your payouts, obviously the solution is to make bets where your odds are best. On 2-team parlays the house’s odds are 10%, and on 3-team parlays the odds are 12.5% against you. After that, the house’s edge gets much greater: 31.25% for 4-team parlays, and more after that. Look to eliminate possible outcomes that have little chance of happening. For instance, in a college football game where the spread is -30 and the total is 42, it is highly unlikely that the favorite will cover and stay under the total. If the dog scores one field goal, the favorite needs 34 points to cover and can score no more than 39 points or the total goes over. Thus, the chances of this option happening are slim enough that we can discount it. Removing this option from consideration now gives you a +30% advantage over the house. I often advise readers who enjoy parlays to include a Monday Night game as the last leg of their weekly parlay. All too often, players hit all but the last game of their parlay and have such a promising start ruined. By having the last game delayed until a day later, players who have hit all the games leading up to the final leg can lock in a profit by making a straight wager against their final parlay pick. Be advised, however, not to make secondary wagers where there is a possibility of losing...

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