A college football consensus pick is the bet that’s favored by the majority of bettors. It’s usually expressed as a percentage of bets provided from the sportsbook to give you a look at what the general public is betting on a given game. A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers for a high payout. A 2 team parlay might pay 13/5, a three team parlay might pay 6/1, a four team parlay might pay 10/1, and so forth with the payouts getting higher with more teams or totals selected. For a single bet, 2 to 8 teams or totals can be selected. College Football Parlay Picks. It's common to hear a disclaimer before any good handicapper talks about teasers and parlays. It usually starts off acknowledging that parlay bets are usually bad.

College Football Parlay Bets Rankings

I'm sure we've all been in a situation before where we stare at the list of games and think to ourselves -- if only I could hit a nice 10-team parlay. Now, depending on the odds of the games you selected, or the amount of money actually wagered on the parlay, this bet won't necessarily make you rich, but it could offer up a very nice four- or five-digit return. The problem with hitting a parlay that size is that it's damn near impossible to do. Most experienced bettors refrain from ever making parlay bets. Thankfully, for sportsbooks, parlays will always be a staple of the betting game since there is always the potential of that one big payout every square bettor chases.

In case you are new to the industry, a parlay is a type of bet that involves two or more teams. In order for a parlay bet to be successful, each team involved must win, or cover the spread - depending on how you bet them. A parlay can also be called an accumulator or a combo bet. Parlays are the most popular bet amongst amateur bettors since it has the potential for the biggest payout.

Different Types of Parlays

Ncaa Football Parlay Bets

A parlay can have a combination of moneyline bets , point spread wagers and even include the 'over/under' option. Some sportsbooks allow bettors to include different kinds of prop bets, half-time wagers, different sports and sometimes even futures bets .

Depending on the type or parlay you make, the payout could be minimal or significant. A lot of things go into determining the odds, but the main thing you need to know is that not all sportsbooks offer up the same odds.

Generally speaking, a two-team point spread parlay will pay about 2.5/1, while a three-team parlay pays 6/1, a four-team parlay pays 10/1 and a five-team parlay pays 20-1. Obviously, the more teams you decide to put in your parlay, the higher the odds go.

If you decided to go the parlay route with your money, you must be completely educated on the rules. Do you know what happens if one of the games in your parlay is canceled or pushes on the total or point spread? If you're reading this, I'm assuming you don't, so let me give you a better understanding.

What Happens to My Bet If My Parlay Has a Canceled Game?

Whether you are playing a point spread parlay on football Sunday, or a moneyline parlay on Tuesday's baseball card, the answer to this question remains the same; 'it depends'.

It all depends on which sportsbook you are using and what their rules are for parlays. Most sportsbooks do not punish bettors for having a canceled game on their parlay ticket. The ticket will go on as if that canceled game never existed.

For example, if you put together a five-team parlay and the fourth game on your ticket between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals gets canceled due to rain, your parlay is still live, but it just reduces to a four-team parlay and the payout is adjusted accordingly.

What Happens to My Bet if My Parlay Has a Push On it?

This is where it gets a little bit dicey, but as I said above the answer still depends on which sportsbook you use. Most sportsbooks try to avoid setting full-point point spreads such as -3 or -7 in order to be able to declare a winning and losing side. If by the off chance you can get a whole number and that game happens to fall right on that number, most sportsbooks just void that leg of the parlay and reduce the payout to the next number - which is the same procedure as above. A five-team parlay would then turn into a four-team parlay and the odds would adjust.

However, it should be noted that some sportsbooks treat pushes as losses. That means that just because you got a great number of -3 instead of -3.5, you are still needing to win by four in order to avoid losing your parlay. These parlays increase the difficulty of the wager and should be avoided at all costs.

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You may be confused as to what that means. For years it was a battle cry amongst my roommates and me, particularly during football season, and when you got to yell it, chances were you were buying drinks that night. But what does it mean, and what’s a parlay?

What is a Parlay?

A parlay is a type of sports bet in which you combine multiple individual bets (typically 2-10 bets) into one bet or “card.” Combining the bets gives you worse odds to win, but a larger reward for winning. The larger the amount of wagers included in your parlay, the larger the payout.

In order for a parlay bet to win, you must win each individual bet on the card. For instance, let’s say I bet the Patriots, the Ravens and the Texans all to win their games on any given Sunday. If all three win, I will get a much larger payout than if I just bet each game individually. However, if any of those teams lose their bet, the entire card is lost.

The only exception is in the case of a “push,” which is the gambling term for a tie. If one of the games on the card pushes, that wager is removed from the parlay. So, in the case of our three team bet above, if the Ravens tied their game, it becomes a two bet parlay. If the Patriots and Texans then win their games, the bet pays out as a 2 team parlay. The payout will be smaller than if they all three won, but hey, you still win some money!

While the odds of winning large parlays (5-10 wagers combined) are relatively low, they allow you to risk a small amount of money for a potentially large reward. For instance, a 10 team parlay bet purchased for $25 would pay out over $16,000 if you won every game.

Now that you understand the basics, let’s look at what kinds of bets you’ll be pairing together to make your fortune!

Types of Parlays

Over/ Unders

Over/Under bets (or bets on the “total) are wagers made on the total amount of points that will be scored during any given game by both teams. The sports book sets the “line,” which is the number you will be basing your decision on. You bet on whether you think the total amount of points scored will be over or under that number.

Over/Under, or Totals, bets are very common in betting parlays because they allow you to make multiple bets on the same game. A common strategy is to bet which team you think will win, and then parlay that bet with whether you think the game will go “under” or “over.”

So, let’s say your Uncle Tony got a tip that Aaron Rogers has a secret shoulder injury, and it will be difficult for Green Bay to throw the ball. The line is set a 53.5. Plus, they are playing the Browns, so you still think they will still win. You may want to bet Green Bay and the under. So you are betting that Green Bay will win the game, but it may be lower scoring due to the injury, and thus the total points scored by both teams will be less than 53.5.

You may have noticed the half a point I included in the example above. In sports betting these half points are called “the hook.” The sportsbooks use half points for most bets, especially over/unders, which limit the opportunities for a push. They “hook” bettors into one side of the bet or the other.

Point Spreads

Point Spreads, commonly referred to just as “the spread,” are what makes sports betting interesting. Without them, we could all just bet the favored team every week, make a lot of money and break Vegas within a month.

A point spread evens the playing field between teams by taking points from the favored team and giving them to the underdog. So, for instance, the Chiefs are playing the Colts in what is expected to be a tightly contested game. The Colts are favored to win by a field goal.

On the sportsbook board, or the betting site, this would look like “Colts -3” or “Chiefs +3,” depending on which side you wanted to bet. So, if you bet the Colts -3, but the Colts win by 1, you actually lost that bet by 2 points. If you bet the Chiefs +3, congratulations, you won!

College Football Parlay Bets Matchups

How many points the underdog gets, or the size of “the spread,” depends on how mismatched the teams are. In the NFL, the spread rarely goes about 13.5 or so, but in sports like college football, you routinely have teams cover 60 point spreads.

While the point spreads themselves add a degree of complication to the bets, there are additional options that can really add to the fun. They’re called Teasers and Pleasers—my heart rate picks up a little just typing those words out for you!

Teasers

As far as I’m concerned, Teaser parlays are the greatest thing to happen to sports betting since the invention of the online casino. A teaser bet allows you to move that point spread that we discussed above in a way that’s favorable to you, the bettor (typically between 6 and 7.5 points). You get less of a payout if you win a teaser parlay, but it does improve your odds of winning.

So, in the example of the Colts and the Chiefs above, we had the Colts favored by 3 points. If you “teased the line” 6 points, then you’d move that Colts spread from -3 to +3.

You add 6 points to the spread that’s already given. Now you have a bet on the team that’s already favored, and now you win your bet whether they win outright as is predicted, or if they lose by less than 3. I like your chances!

College Football Parlay Bets Predictions

What’s even better is that you don’t have to just tease the point spread, you can tease the total or over/under as well! So, if the point spread was 53.5 as it was in our example earlier, you could tease that line all the way down to 46.5 (7 point teaser), and then bet the over. Or, you could bet the under by moving the over/under up to 60.5. Like taking candy from a baby.

Pleasers