Sportsbooks 101
Teasers 101 - Tease Please

A teaser is that girl in the office place, gym or on the street that keeps her thong showing so you get some ideas. A teaser in sports betting is a different matter altogether.

Teasers are bets that are offered in spread sports like football and basketball. First and foremost, a teaser is like a parlay in the sense that every game has to hit or you lose the entire bet. You hit them all, you win. You lose any game in the teaser and you lose the entire bet.

There is one big difference between teasers and parlays: you are allowed to move the point spread in any direction that you like on a particular game.

For example, if the Lions are favored by 8 points over the Bills, teaser bettors have the option of moving the point spread in either direction. You can tease the Bills up to +14 or tease the Lions down to -2 (assuming it’s a six-point teaser).

In football, bettors are given the option to move the line anywhere from six points per game all the way up to 20 points at some sportsbooks. The difference is that the more points you get, the lower the payoff in return.

Similarly, there are teasers in basketball but obviously since the scoring system is different in that sport, so is the points breakdown in a basketball teaser.

Double-check the rules of what happens when you push on a teaser. In some places, you get your money back regardless whether the other outcomes win or lose. In other places, it can be graded as a loss or the teaser may just drop down one game, as in a parlay.

The benefits of betting a teaser is that it allows you to move the point spread. Bookies spends hours on end coming up with the right point spread and then all of the sudden, you can walk up to the window and change the line however you want.

The main goal of a teaser is to cross as many key numbers as you can – especially in football. If you are playing a teaser, you want to cross key numbers like three, seven, 10 and 14 to protect yourself as best as possible.

Below is an example of a teaser:

Bills +7.5 -110
Lions -7.5 -110

Seahawks +8 -110
Patriots -8 -110

Bears +7.5 -105
Giants -7.5 -105

Three-Game, Seven-Point Teaser:

Pick 1. Lions -0.5
Pick 2: Seahawks +14
Pick 3: Giants -0.5

In this case, we are teasing the Lions and Giants down to -0.5, and teasing the Seahawks up to +14.

Keep in mind that payouts vary from sportsbook to sportsbook depending on how many points you take, how many teams you include in the teaser and depending on the sport.
 
Shopping Around - How to get value out of your sportsbook
(2 votes, average 4.00 out of 5)

You’ve heard of shopping around for the best airfare, the best insurance rates and the cheapest apples, so why not the best betting lines?

There are plenty of services out there that allow you to see the entire display of lines at every sportsbook and choose which line you want so that you get the best value.

But what does getting the best value mean? And is it worth it?

Getting the best value means that you get the best line. If you’re playing points spreads, that can mean a differences of anywhere between a half-point all the way up to two or three points in some cases.

Sportsbook A:

Bills +7.5 -110
Lions -7.5 -110

Sportsbook B:

Bills +8 -110
Lions -8 -110

Sportsbook C:

Bills +7.5 -105
Lions -7.5 -105

If you are getting a better spread (betting the Bills in Sportsbook B) – even if it is only a half-point difference – what you are really doing is increasing your chances of winning. Or if you would rather get the lower juice, you can bet at Sportsbook C and save some money on the exact same spread but pay less for the money line.

There are a few downfalls to shopping for lines – just as there are to shopping for the best deals in any area of the market.

For starters, you have to have multiple sportsbook accounts. For some people, they consider that a security risk, a hassle and more work than they want to deal with. Obviously, it’s much easier just calling up your book and placing a bet but if you want the best price, you have to work for it.

And that’s exactly another reason why people don’t shop around: too much of a time commitment. Even though there are tools that flash you the lines of every sportsbook on the net and show alert you the second the lines change, that still takes some time and care to pay attention.

All in all, shopping around is what the professionals do. It involves some extra work with your betting and some extra care, but it pays off.
 
Rollovers - Be Ready to Rollover
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Sportsbook’s “free” bonuses are included.

While every sportsbook would love you to deposit and accept the terms and conditions of their sexy bonuses, there is a string attached to that carrot. Its name is rollovers.

A rollover is what a sportsbook makes you do before prior to withdrawing your money. In other words, if you don’t fulfill your rollover, you will either forfeit the money or they won’t let you withdraw until you have met the rollover.

By now, you are wondering what a rollover actually is. So, without further a due, here is the definition: it’s the amount of action you have to generate/play before you can withdraw your money.

Say you deposit at a Sportsbooks ‘R Us and they give you a 10% bonus on your $1000 deposit. With a 3 x rollover, you have to bet three times the total amount in your account (deposit and bonus) before you can withdraw anything.

$1100 x 3 = $3600

In this case, you have to bet $3600 worth before you can withdraw. Keep in mind that this is just the amount of action that has to be played and not an amount of how much money you win or lose.

Say on your first day, you bet $330 and win $300, but lose a $200 bet. In total, your account is now at $1200 but your rollover requirement has dropped to $3070 because you placed $530 in bets.

Keep in mind that different sportsbooks have varying levels of rollovers. Some places have rollovers that are as low as 1 x where as other places can have rollovers of 10 x or higher.

Clearly, you want to play at places where the rollovers are lower because that way you have access to your money much sooner.
 
Low Juice - Why less juice is sweeter
(2 votes, average 4.00 out of 5)

One common conversation that comes up among bettors is whether lower juice makes a difference. Without a doubt, the answer is yes.

All it takes is some simple math to understand the benefits of lower juice. At the end of the day, who wants to pay more when you can pay less?

Lower juice affords you the benefits of paying less for your bets overall, which means you save more on your losses and win more in the long run. Here is a simple example:

Sportsbook A:

Bills +3 -110
Lions -3 -110

Sportsbook B:

Bills +3 -105
Lions -3 -105

In Sportsbook A, regardless of whether you are betting the Lions or the Bills, you are betting $110 to win $100. In Sportsbook B, you are betting $105 to win $100 and in turn saving $5 per $100 increments.

Overall, that’s 5% of your money that you are saving, theoretically speaking. Now keep in mind that that is theoretical because if you were to win the bet, it doesn’t matter whether you layed $110 or $105 because you still won $100.

But whether you ‘to win’ or play ‘to risk’, the end result is the same because one way or another, you are saving those $5 every single time.

So assuming for a second that you save 5% overall, but only half of that since half of the time you are winning and half of the time you are losing (roughly speaking), then you are really saving 2.5% on your money.

What does that mean? It means that of all of your action in a sportsbook, you save 2.5%. That’s quite a bit of money no matter how you cut it. That’s why it’s always better to bet at a place where there is low juice opposed to a bigger bonus up front.
 
Bonuses - Have a bonus to pick

Every sportsbook wants to entice you with their bonuses but not all bonuses are the same. Some are free plays, some are match plays and some are cash. Here’s a description of the three avenues you can take and what they mean:
 


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