If you’ve been wagering on sports for any amount of time you’ve undoubtedly experienced both hot winning streaks and and the dreaded cold losing streaks. During a rough patch, betting against the spread directly can leave you second guessing every half point and decision. One of our favorite betting techniques to help push odds in your favor is the teaser bet. Of course there are no sure things with any wager, but if you play a teaser strategically you can drastically increase your odds of winning. Think of it as playing the odds in Blackjack. Even if the dealer has a 6 card showing, it doesn’t guarantee a winning hand, however the odds are pushed heavily in your favor and you’re going to feel very confident placing that bet. If you are newer to sports betting or want to branch out your options we’ll share some pointers here:
What is a “Teaser” Bet?
A teaser bet is sometimes confused with a parlay bet and they do have some similarities. Each require a bettor to win two or more games in order to win the overall bet. Losing any leg of a teaser, just as a parlay will result in a loss. The big difference with a teaser bet is that you can actually give yourself a point spread or over/under total advantage against the house. This is not the case with a parlay bet. Although your winnings can be larger with a parlay, your actual odds of winning are much lower.
Teasers are generally bet on two teams, however you can potentially bet up to five or more depending on the sportsbook. The more teams that you involve the more you can potentially “tease” to move the spread/line in your favor. The NFL and NCAAF are the most “teased” sporting events and a standard teaser is generally 6 points. In simple terms, in exchange for having to win two bets, you receive 6 points towards a point spread or over/under total. For further clarification, if you are betting a team that is +3, if you tease them, you would move their line to +9.
When Should You Bet a “Teaser”?
As far as we’re concerned, you should be looking to bet teasers often, although there are clearly ideal times to do so. (One thing to note is not all sportsbooks offer teaser bets). Assuming you are working through a bookmaker that does provide this option there are a couple of key things to consider. First and foremost you’ll want to make sure that your teaser propels you through a key number. In football we know that getting past 3, 7, and 10 are critical spots. Our favorite teasers to play bring a favorite under 3 points or bring an underdog over 10 points. If you have a favorite that is laying 8 points there are very good odds that they will win the game. However, we know that football games can often end in field goal decisions. If you tease a team from -8 with the 6 point teaser, they’re now only needing to win by 2. Obviously there is a very strong chance that will happen. So can you find 2 of these type of games to pair together? Usually you can. Another opportune time to tease is if you have a game you like but the juice is high. For example, maybe you want to bet a team but they’re -125 or -130 juice. You can actually improve your juice to a standard teaser juice of -110 or -120 (depending on the sportsbook) in addition to getting yourself those 6 points.
A Week 1 NFL Teaser As an Example
A lot of sharp bettors won’t place a wager in July for an NFL season that doesn’t start until September due to potential injuries, etc. We completely understand that but we’ve already locked a week 1 teaser in if you want to come along for the ride. In selecting a teaser we looked for two teams we felt were near “locks” to win their games. Both had high spreads to cover but with the 6 points we were able to get them under that critical number of three. See below:
The Philadelphia Eagles have owned the Washington Redskins and should play well at home. The Dallas Cowboys have owned the New York Giants and are also playing a team that is very thin at home. It’s possible that both teams could cover the actual spreads with blowouts but being divisional games it’s also possible these games could come down to a late field goal or some scoring in garbage time. With the 6 point teaser you can see the bet card below:
Have any teaser bets you like in week 1 of NCAAF or NFL? Let us know!
