Best Parlays

Correlated parlays can work to the bettor’s advantage. The most common correlated parlay is betting the underdog and the under or the favorite and the over. But beware, the more additional legs that are.

1. NBA Picks (Today's Predictions, Tips, Parlays) Here you will find the best NBA picks as well as parlays for all of today's games. All of our expert NBA predictions are against the spread.
2. In that case, you total parlay is reduced by one team. For example, if you put together a four-team parlay at 12.28/1 betting odds and one of your plays ends as a PUSH, it would be reduced to a three-team play at 6/1 odds. The betting odds for parlays using point spreads is fixed and based on the total number of teams you group into one bet.

One of the most lucrative sports bets you can make is a parlay, but unless you employ some kind of betting strategy it can also be one of the toughest bets to actually cash-in on. In simple terms, a parlay is when you combine two or more picks into one single wager. The plus side is that the top online sportsbooks as featured on SportsBettingStats.com offer some very attractive odds for groupings of two to even 16 teams. Our favorites are Bet365 for non Americans and 5Dimes for US players. The down side is that the more teams you add to a parlay play the higher the odds are stacked against you to win.

Sometimes it can be hard to pick even a single winner so the catch to winning a parlay is that you have to win every one of your picks. The only exception is in the case of a PUSH when two teams tie with the closing point spread. In that case, you total parlay is reduced by one team.

For example, if you put together a four-team parlay at 12.28/1 betting odds and one of your plays ends as a PUSH, it would be reduced to a three-team play at 6/1 odds.

The betting odds for parlays using point spreads is fixed and based on the total number of teams you group into one bet. Betting parlays for MLB games is an attractive option since you will be working off money line odds as opposed to a point spread that is commonly used in sports such as football and basketball. When betting money lines you only have to pick the straight-up winners, but keep in mind that your payout odds will be based on the actual money line odds for each of your picks. The top online sportsbooks should have a parlay calculator on their website where you can enter the actual money line for each of your individual picks to provide a projected payout of that particular parlay if you win.

Whether you are betting money line parlays for baseball and hockey or point spread parlays for football and basketball, there are a few betting tips and strategies that you should always employ to give yourself the best chance to win. First and foremost, you need to properly handicap each game as an individual pick before grouping them together in a parlay bet.

For example, if you decide to go with a two-team NFL parlay at 13/5 odds, you should probably take the time to breakdown three or four games to come up with your top two plays. Winning parlays is all about your overall confidence level for each one of the picks you decide to group together. If you are not absolutely in love with each one of your picks individually, then do not risk your money by grouping them together in a parlay.

A second tip is to avoid the temptation of parlay picks of three or more teams. You may get excited over the 91.42/1 return you would get if you hit a seven-team parlay, but this is nothing more than lottery ticket when you start calculating your true odds of actually winning all seven games.

Finally, make sure you have some kind of set money management system in place if you are going to be betting parlays. There is a reason why sportsbooks are willing to give you such a generous return on multiple team parlays. The odds are already stacked in their favor that you are going to lose one of your picks even in a two-team wager. Parlays should always be reasonable unit plays that will not break the bank if you lose.

1. Don’t be afraid. Be ambitious.
2. Choose a parlay time span that suits you.
3. Avoid the points spread.
4. Expand your parlay horizons, Include multiple sports.
5. Look for a hedge opportunity
6. Use free bets
7. The home underdog
8. Combining two favourites
9. The ‘Double Dog’ parlay
10. Keep bet size under control
11. Use a system bet
12. The overnight parlay
13. Actively search out bookmakers promotions
14. Use multiple online accounts

1. Don’t Be Afraid. Be ambitious.

Parlays are a wonderful way to turn a small stake into a juicy bank boosting payout. Be ambitious, swing for the fence, this is not a time to be conservative. This is the time to link together some of those ‘gut feel’ wagers’ that you might otherwise not be eager to stake a full unit or even multiple units on.

The small stake multiplying through to large payout odds works in your favor here. Double figure odds are par for the course. This is how successful parlay bettors turn a 10 – 1 half unit parlay into a 5 unit betting bank booster.

Landing a big parlay not only kicks your account balance along but it gives you bragging rights over your buddies for weeks. Heck even the bad beats that go oh so close can be worn as a badge of honor.

Fortune favors the brave!

2. Choose a Parlay Time Span That Suits You.

A parlay by nature does not payout until all legs are settled. The time it takes for this to occur should really meet your needs as a gambler. If you are not comfortable with your stake being tied up for a long period of time then ensure your parlay legs all conclude at a similar time or at least on the same day.

The opportunity cost of having you stake locked into a multi day, week or even month long parlay can be expensive. This is magnified when several legs have already come through for you and your stake may have already triple or quadruple bagged but you can’t access that money till a final leg plays out. Even a hedge, while guaranteeing a result, will still cost you another portion of your capital.

On the flipside you may be a gambler who loves to milk maximum entertainment from your parlay, and in this case, you may like to string it out across an entire weekend or even season. Futures markets are your friend. Having your stake spoken for over a long period let’s you soak up the anticipation and affords you the chance to enjoy the prospect of a potential big win, perhaps dreaming of how you will spend it or reinvest it!

Each to their own, but be sure to build a parlay that fits your time frame.

3. Avoid the Point Spread

The cardinal sin for all recreational punters is the parlay that groups together points spread (handicap) wagers. At first glance this seems like a wonderful way to land yourself some juicy odds, after all, three bets ATS (against the spread) multiply to just shy of 7-1. Surely a great bet? Wrong!

The true odds for this 3 leg parlay are actually 8-1 given that each individual leg is a 50/50 chance of landing. No wonder sportsbooks actively promote the points spread parlay!

The only caveat to the poor value of the point spread parlay is if the bettor firmly believes they have found games where the sportsbooks have the handicap wrong. This is possible but beware you are taking on the pros. It is better in this case to bet on each outcome outright as opposed to the parlay.

For a comprehensive look into the points spread parlay click here.

4. Expand Your Parlay Horizons, Include Multiple Sports.

The best value bets often don’t congregate in the one sport. Bookmakers encourage betters to keep their picks to one sport as finding value across multiple matches in the one league is a difficult task. With a wider variety of options available to the better, value will be easier to find. A key ingredient in to successful parlay strategy.

Expand your parlay horizons in the following way:

• Broaden your search to multiple sports,
• Create a short list of possible value picks
• Decide on the length of your parlay
• Narrow down short list to suit
• Load up!

5. Look for a Hedge Opportunity

One of the wonderful opportunities afforded by a well placed parlay is the chance to hedge against the last leg should the earlier legs have already landed. A hedge will give you guaranteed winnings or at the very least safeguard your stake. One of the best ways to ensure you don’t blow your account up is to play defense.

Hedging is not negative play and it does not demonstrate a lack of confidence in your original bet. It is simply playing the numbers and buying some insurance. All experienced bettors know that fate can, and often will intervene at inopportune times. An injury to a key player here, a horrible call from a referee there and your parlay can come crashing down.

Lock some profit in, kick back, and watch the game, or better still start researching your next parlay!

6. Use Free Bets

Many online sports books reward clients for loyalty, making deposits, regular betting or for wagering on promotional markets in the form of bonus or free bets. The issue with these is that as the bettor, you only receive the profit from your free bet and not the original stake. For example in the case of a $10 free bet, if you were to wager on a -110 moneyline favourite and they win, you will only receive $9.20 as a payout. The $10 free bet acting as your original stake is not returned. Doesn’t seem very exciting.

The solution; use your free bets on parlays. This way you can take a shot at a combination of wagers that deliver you final odds much more enticing than an uninspiring favourite.

For example a $10 bet on a parlay offering odds of 9 – 1 will see your eventual payout being $80. That is the usual payout of $90 less the free bet stake of $10, leaving you with $80.

7. The Home Underdog

Home field advantage is an amazing thing in the world of sports. Teams seem to grow an extra leg when they run out in front of their families and legion of faithful fans. Unique weather conditions, stadium layouts, home cooking and the chance to sleep in their own bed without question motivates athletes. That overconfident star studded visiting team may just find themselves in an ambush.

It is for these reasons that home underdogs (pick and choose carefully) are always worth consideration in a parlay. The underdog status carries with it a powerful odds multiplying effect. Just the thing every well played parlay needs. You could expect a home underdog to be paying well above 2 – 1 odds, essentially at the very least doubling the parlay total odds.

8. Combining Two Favorites

Loading up on a big favorite is always a temptation for the online sports bettor. A quick in and out to bank some profit to boost your account. The issue here is normally the gambler has to wager quite a large stake to see any significant return. Not always the best idea for long term success. One run of losses and your account balance cops a beat down.

This is where the favourites parlay double comes in handy. Find two carefully chosen favorites, bundle them together into a parlay and let your stake and profit from the first win ride into the second leg. The end result is a much smaller stake at risk but still an excellent return.

For example the NBA parlay below sees two strong home favourites combine together to make a solid bet at decimal odds of 1.82. Nice return.

9. The Double Dog Parlay

An underrated but powerful parlay is the underdog double. By carefully scanning available markets and choosing two value underdogs and sneaking them into a double you will be staring down odds of +400 (Decimal odds 5.00) or better without too much trouble.

Many a gambler has a story of a 4 or 5 leg parlay of strong favorites offering combined odds of about 3 to 1. The first four legs roll on and win easily and sure enough the last one has ‘one of those days’ and gets beaten by a heavy underdog. You in turn do your dough and are left asking the question, if only I had wagered on that dog.

In many ways the double underdog parlay represents considerably more value that bundle of favourites. Major League Baseball and the NBA throw up double underdog winners seemingly on a daily basis.

10. Keep Bet Size Under Control

Juicy odds can sometimes blind a gambler. Even before the parlay has been placed the blinded bettor is already doing the math and dreaming of a tsunami of cash. Self talk can creep in and soon the bettor has convinced themself that an increase in bet size is the clever move here. More often than not the simple answer is it isn’t.

Just like the golfer, who wants to hit the ball further, maintains the same swing but changes the club to not upset their rhythm,so it is with the successful parlay bettor. If it is big payout they are chasing, the stake remains the same, but the parlay becomes more elaborate. That way if the parlay loses (which happens regularly) the bettor has not be taken to the cleaners but blowing an oversized stake.

Best Parlays Tonight

11. Use a Parlay System Bet

A parlay system bet builds into the bet some insurance in case one leg fails. It actually gives you multiple winning combinations and there is plenty to like about that!

Best Parlays For Today

There are many systems available to choose from and they are based around the amount of legs within your parlay and are typically available on parlays of between 2 and 8 legs. A great example is a ‘yankee’ which called into action on a 4 option parlay. When placing ‘yankee’ instead of one bet you in actual fact are placing 11 separate bets across which your stake is divided evenly.

Instead of one four leg parlay the yankee looks like this:

• 1 four-fold
• 4 trebles
• 6 doubles

Depending on the odds of each individual leg you may be able to cover your original stake with just two legs landing.

For more a more comprehensive breakdown of all the system bets available click here.

12. The Overnight Parlay

The overnight parlay is a rarely spoken about use of the humble combination wager. It is essentially where a bettor loads up a parlay that will result while they are sleeping. It is often used as an attempt to build a bank for the next days local action. More often than not it is placed on sports played abroad, where the time zone differences are used to the bettor’s advantage.

Time zones in Asia, Australia and Europe are suited to the US sports bettor. These markets also have established sports betting communities and as a result thousands of markets are on offer. A small amount of knowledge on some overseas sports can have you earning while snoozing. What a great combination!

13. Actively Search Out Bookmaker Promotions.

Sportsbooks constantly offer excellent promotions on parlay betting. They know that a poorly placed parlay is loaded in their favor and do their best to encourage more action on these types of bets. This presents a rich vein of opportunity for the bettor and you need to go after it!

Some classic promotions to look out for:

• Free Bet matching the stake if the parlay loses by one option. (usually capped at a certain figure eg $25)
• A daily odds boost on your first parlay (invariably about 5% boost).
• A promotional odds boost on parlays that meet certain conditions (eg. 50% extra on 4+ legs NBA parlay)
• Percentage of your stake returned on losing parlays (eg 20%) if certain conditions are met. (eg 4+ legs all on Major League Baseball)

Best Parlays Nfl

14. Use Multiple Online Accounts

Multiple online accounts is a sophisticated way to take advantage of the sportsbooks parlay promotional markets. While the obvious disadvantage of owning more than one account is that it makes it much more difficult to keep track of your betting history (clearly this can be dangerous), its upside is that you can lock in on any promotional parlay in the marketplace.

Often the books are running concurrent parlay promotions but on differing sports. For example in the month of April one book’s promotion may be targeting major league baseball while others may be focused on the NBA playoffs. Owning accounts at both books means you can hit both promotions. Consistently winning is difficult so any way to improve your chances should be jumped at!