How to Bet on Futures, Parlays, Teasers and Pleasers

Advanced Sports Betting Tactics: Futures, Parlays, Teasers & Pleasers

We’ve been covering a lot of progressive sports gambling topics lately, and today is no different. In this latest segment, we’ll be discussing a range of advanced sports bets, how to place them, and what it takes to win.

Note that these are more advanced wagering options. You must learn to crawl before you can walk. If you are not yet familiar with sports betting, reading odds, and placing basic wagers, we suggest to visit some of the previous articles in our comprehensive sports betting tutorial.

How to Bet on Sports Online (includes guide to Straight Up betting)
Understanding Sports Odds: US, UK & EU
Easy Alternative Sport Bets: Spreads, Totals and Prop Bets

Advanced Sports Betting Tactics

In or first segment on advanced sports gambling, you’ll learn how to bet on futures, parlays, and American favorites, teasers and pleasers. The first two are much more common—if not too common, in the case of parlays—here in Canada.

How to Bet on Futures

Futures (aka Outrights) are extended wagers with long odds and substantial payouts, if you manage to make the right pick. The idea is to predict the eventual winner of a division, league, tournament, bowl, or other multi-team competition.

Some examples include the FIFA World Cup, NBA Championship, NCAA Tournament, NFL Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, WSOP Main Event, Wimbledon, etc.

More specifically, at the start of the NFL season, you could pick an American football team to with the Super Bowl. At this point, the odds are often anywhere from -500 to -50000.

How to Bet on Parlays

In Canada, parlays—or as we know them, Pro-Lines or Sports Select lotteries—are the only legal sports betting option (unless you conduct your wagering at internationally regulated online sportsbooks). A parlay is a bet on a series of outcomes. You must correctly pick the winners of at least two contests in order to win the bet. The odds increase proportionately with the number of contests selected.

For example, you could bet on the Toronto Maple Leaves, Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks to all win their 2018-19 NHL season openers in October. The typical payout for a 3-team parlay is 6.5 to 1 (or $650 for a $100 wager). But if just one team loses, the entire bet is lost.

There are ways to protect your parlay wagers, though. Learn more about Complex Sports Parlays: If Bets and Reverse Bets.

How to Bet on Teasers and Pleasers

Teasers and pleasers are very popular in the United States, but not too much elsewhere. Still, their an interesting option for serious punters seeking advanced sports betting knowledge. Both are akin to parlays, except that they must be placed on points spreads or totals. The difference between the two is the way the spread/total can be moved.

With teasers, the bettor is allowed to move the spread or total in their favor, thereby increasing the odds of winning, but decreasing the potential payout.

Pleasers are opposite, wherein the spread or total is moved further from the bettors favor. The odds of winning the bet decline, but the payout for correct selections rises substantially.

Teaser Example: Let’s say the point spread for three basketball games is as follows:

Raptors +3
Lakers -6
Rockets +5

You choose a teaser on these three games with a +4 spread. This moves the point +4 in your favor on all three games, like so:

Raptors +7
Lakers -2
Rockets +9

If the Raptors win, or lose by less than 7 – and the Lakers win by 3 or more – and the Rockets win, or lose by less than 9 – you win your bet. If any of these things don’t happen, you lose.

Pleaser Example: Using the same match-ups and spreads above, you might select a pleaser with a -2 spread, moving the spread further from your favor. This time, the bet is:

Raptors +1
Lakers -8
Rockets +3

Now, the Raptors must win or tie – and the Lakers win by 9 more – and the Rockets win, or lose by less than 2. If so, you win a hefty profit. If not, all is lost.