Parlays Defined
Also see
Round Robins,
ROI, and
ATS
A parlay wager links two or more wagers together. To win a parlay wager, all games in the parlay must win. A push on any game reduces the parlay by one wager (a 3-teamer becomes a 2-teamer).
Parlay wagers have a higher house edge than straight wagers. This leads many people, even so called "experts", to insist that playing parlays is a bad idea. Actually, it is a bad idea for average players. However, parlays can be very rewarding to the stronger handicappers. The parlay strategy page demonstrates through the use of ROI (return on investment) tables that you can show a much higher profit from parlays (compared to straight wagers) if you are a strong enough handicapper to hit 55% ATS. If you are a weaker handicapper who hits 50% or less ATS, you will end up losing quicker playing parlays. Hitting 55% is not as easy as it sounds. You need to be disciplined enough to lay off the borderline games. See the parlay strategy page for more detailed information.
It is important to use top rated sportsbooks when playing parlays. Many sportsbooks really sock it to the parlay players by taking ridiculous house edges. See my Sportsbook Review pages for our sportsbook recommendations
Round Robin wagers
Round robins are multiple parlay wagers where you cover all possible parlay combinations in a group of teams. Say you like four teams to cover the spread. To keep it simple, let's use teams A, B, C, and D. You could play this in the following ways:
A single 4-team parlay A-B-C-D
Round robin on the 4 teams using 3-team parlays. This consists of four combinations:
A-B-C, A-B-D, A-C-D, B-C-D
Round robin on the 4 teams using 2-team parlays. This consist of six combinations:
A-B, A-C, A-D, B-C, B-D, C-D.
When you play a round robin on 4 teams, you are playing all possible combinations of parlays of whatever size you choose, 3-teamers or 2-teamers. When you play 5 teams on a round robin, the parlay sizes are between 4-teamers, 3-teamers, or 2-teamers.
See my Parlay Strategy section on the best ways to use round robins in your wagering.
