What is Teaser in Sports Betting?
Definition
A teaser is a type of parlay that lets you adjust the point spread or total in your favor on two or more selections by a fixed number of points. In exchange for the more favorable lines, the payout is lower than a standard parlay. Teasers are most common in NFL and NBA betting, where moving through key numbers like 3 and 7 in football provides significant value.
Teaser Explained in Detail
Teasers work by giving you extra points on every leg of a parlay. In the NFL, the standard teaser is 6 points. If you like the Chiefs at -7, a 6-point teaser moves them to -1. If you also like the Packers at +3, the teaser moves them to +9. Both adjusted lines must cover for the teaser to win.
The most profitable teasers in football cross through the key numbers of 3 and 7. A 6-point teaser on a -7.5 favorite moves the line to -1.5, crossing through the most common margin of victory (3 points) and the second most common (7 points). This specific type of teaser, sometimes called a Wong teaser after Stanford Wong who popularized the strategy, has been shown to have positive expected value.
NBA teasers are typically 4 or 5 points. While basketball teasers can be valuable, the key numbers are less pronounced than in football. The most common basketball margins are 1 through 5, with no single number dominating like 3 and 7 do in football.
Like parlays, all legs of a teaser must win for the bet to pay. The reduced odds mean that even though your lines are more favorable, a two-team NFL teaser at -110 requires you to win more than 52.4% of the time just to break even. The value comes from selecting the right games where the extra points cross critical thresholds.
Teaser Examples
You build a 6-point NFL teaser: Seahawks -8 becomes -2, and Bills +1.5 becomes +7.5. Both must cover their adjusted spreads. This two-team teaser typically pays -110, so you risk $110 to win $100.
A 6-point teaser on the Cowboys -7 (to -1) and the under 49.5 (to 55.5) gives you more favorable numbers on both legs while still needing both to hit.
Related Terms
Parlay
A parlay is a single bet that combines two or more individual wagers into one ticket. All selections...
Spread
The spread, also called the point spread, is a handicap set by oddsmakers to level the playing field...
Push
A push occurs when the final result lands exactly on the spread or total number, creating a tie betw...
Hook
The hook is the half-point added to a spread or total to prevent a push. A line of -3.5 instead of -...
Expected Value
Expected value, or EV, is the average amount a bettor can expect to win or lose per bet over the lon...
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