[tecate1joe]

Good evening everyone,

My name is Giuseppe and I am new to these forums. I am also new to sportsbook betting, in fact I still have yet to place a bet.
Just had a question pertaining to Parlay betting. When you pick the number of games to play, say 5 NFL games, do you bet on which team of each game you think will win against the point spread, or just which team will win regardless of points?
I am just starting to do research on sportsbook betting, and being that I am new, it's still confusing to me on certain things. Anyway, thank you all for your time.

Giuseppe

[etothep]

You can pick all teams against the spread, all teams as straight up winners (no spread) or a mix of both.


Though 5-team parlays aren't exactly what some would call "smart bets" or good money management. But to just throw some money around for fun & maybe landing one, they aren't bad, just don't expect to be profitful with them.

[keystonekid]

Run Forest, Run!

If you are new to this, I hope you lose your first 10 bets. There is a reason for this.

[keystonekid]

Reason:

I have seen to many newbies win right off the bat. Instant hook! Then they see a new form a instant revenue. Then they really get serious. Then they start to invest. And, then they hit the losing streak. Then they are spending most of their time studying games. Then they start to gamble. Is that what you want to do?

[MickChunky]

If you really want to parlay NFL games, stick to 2 or 3 team bets. Winning 5 in a row on the moneyline in the NFL is hard enough. A 5 team against the spread is more like buying a lottery ticket. All it takes is a Mia/NE or Den/KC game to kill even a ML parlay. GL

[Brady2Moss]

5 teamers really arent that hard to hit, try finding 5 overs.

[veto]

On most books you can do a combination of the spread(final score plus or minus points depending on who the linesmaker thinks will win), moneyline (picking the winner with odds payout increasingly worse with how heavily favored a team is) and/or over/unders (how many points combined the two teams in the contest will score)......usually you can pick pick one side of of one of those factors for each game. for example 3 games, you take one team to win, in another game you take the team to win if you add the points from the spread to its final, and in another game- you choose a team to win.

As a side note, sometimes you can find consulation or progressive parlays where you can still win money if one or more of your parlay picks goes wrong.

[NardVa]

Hitting a 5 team parlay can be easy but the problem is there is always the one game that goes the other way that nobody saw coming and it kills the whole parlay. When I do parlays I usally do small favs on the money line and underdogs on the money line which makes it more profitable. I figure when you hit that once in a blue moon parlay you have to make it count.

[LT Profits]

Never parlay more than 2 teams in one parlay and always look for books that pay true parlay odds (i.e., CRIS family). It's ok to play 2-way round robin with 5 teams (10 parlays) as long as % of BR is tiny.

Should add that small round robin should be in addition to betting all 5 straight for higher BR%.

[etothep]

Originally Posted by LT Profits

Never parlay more than 2 teams in one parlay and always look for books that pay true parlay odds (i.e., CRIS family). It's ok to play 2-way round robin with 5 teams (10 parlays) as long as % of BR is tiny.

Should add that small round robin should be in addition to betting all 5 straight for higher BR%.

I'm going to go out on a limb here & assume if he's asking about being able to make parlay bets with just MLs or spreads that he likely didn't understand a word of that.

[arpeggiomeister]

Originally Posted by keystonekid

Reason:

I have seen to many newbies win right off the bat. Instant hook! Then they see a new form a instant revenue. Then they really get serious. Then they start to invest. And, then they hit the losing streak. Then they are spending most of their time studying games. Then they start to gamble. Is that what you want to do?

I can confirm this. Last year was my first year and I made a 625% gain. This year is my sophomore effort and I am getting pasted. It was beginning to look easy, especially when I won all my bets in week 1 of this year, but it has been a rough go since then.

I would recommend starting with straight bets or teasers. Parlays are very high risk. The big money can be a lure, but more often than not this is a trap. There are a lot of really smart cats here. Pick their brains. That is why I came here. I know that easy money doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean we can't learn to beat the system.

Good luck!!

[tecate1joe]

Thanks for all the replys. The other day I did a mock parlay bet on 5 games. I hit all 5 winners I picked for those games, but I am still confused on the numbers -, + ov, etc. But here's what the scenario was like for week 5 of the NFL, and what games I picked. I made the picks at Doc Sports:

Game 1- Indy @ Houston. Indy was favored @ -3
I picked Indy -115. Total point spread was 47. Indy won with a score of
I believe 31-27?.

Game 2- Washington @ Philly. Philly was favored, but I picked
Washington @ +6 -110. The point spread was 42.5. Washington covered the 6 points with a score of 23-17. Washington won.

Game 3- Seattle @ NY Giants. Giants were favored @ -7. I picked the Giants -110. The point spread was 43.5. I believe the final score was 31-7- Giants. Giants win.

Game 4- New England @ San Fran. New England was favored @ -3. I picked New England -120. The point spread was 41. The final score was 30-21- New England.

Game 5- Cinci @ Dallas. Dallas was favored @ -16. I picked Dallas -110. The point spread was 44. Final score was 31-22- Dallas.

I "bet" $20, and according to the online parlay calculator for the true parlay odds on the money line, my payout would have been $891. Does this seem correct? Sorry, but I'm still confused, and it's all the numbers stuff. If someone could clarify this scenario, I would greatly appreciate. Maybe I can start to understand the whole thing then. Thanks.

Joe

[EvilAlf]

^ You didn't win the Dallas game...

[tecate1joe]

Thanks for that heads up. So I not only have to pick the correct team to win the game, but they also have to cover the points they are favored by.

Thanks man,

Joe

[Doc JS]

Joe,
Before you place a real bet, you may want to get a copy of Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong. It is an excellent primer. It explains 110/100. It explains straight wagers, teasers, parlays, etc.

If you truly know NOTHING about this stuff. You need to read and UNDERSTAND the basics of this before "investing" your hard-earned money.

You can thank me later!

Doc