What we have above are the betting lines for one game. The first two lines, Marlins 165 Vargas and Mets -185 Traschel are the money line. I like the Mets to win this game but the reward for my dollar is only .15 cents, that's not going to make any money when you're betting 5.00 and 10.00 bucks. To still bet the Mets but turn the payout around we move to the next line, the "Points Line". METS -TRACHSEL -1.5 110, this allows us to give one and a half points to the Marlins, which increases our return to 1.10 for every 1.00 we bet instead of fifteen cents, but the Mets must win by two runs, (or more of course).
Now to have a two team parlay you've gotta have a second proposition to go with our "Mets on the Points Line", and that's where the "Total Points Line" comes into play. We bet if the combined score of both team is either over, or under a certain number, in this game that number is 8 and 1/2 (All the half point does is take away the possibility of a push, we'll discuss confronting the 1/2 point later on.) I like the possibility of this game scoring 9 points or more and even money is always good, but we are confronted with one problem. The sports book won't let you parley the "Points Line" to the "Total Points Line" on the same game. We could go and find another game, or game total to put with the Mets on the Points line, but I'm just using this game and its lines as an example to explain the betting lines.
I do however have a two team parlay ticket to show you. (It's called a "two teamer" regardless whether you're actually betting on two different teams to win, two different game totals, or a combination thereof.)
Here's a breakdown of this winning ticket of the very first game of the 2006 MLB regular season.
$10.00 2 Leg Parlay
902 WHITE SOX vs INDIANS
-120 MLB
902 BUEHRLE, M vs SABATHIA, CC
EVEN OVR 8
1 Bet. Max win $26.65 Max Pay $36.65
Ticket Cost $10.00
I liked the White Sox for this one and possibly would have made a Points Line Bet to increase my payoff, (they did win by more than 2 runs) but as I said before you can't parlay the Points Line to the Total on the same game, and this was the only game that day, so I put them on the Money Line at -120 which gives me back .80 cents on the dollar, (I can live with that). Now I parlayed that to the total at EVEN money, betting the total score of the game would be OVER 8 (a total of 15 runs were scored).
As you can see the payoffs are listed on the ticket. I figured the payout myself and somehow I lost the .65 cents.
The bet, $10.00x.80=$8.00 for the Money Line Bet add my original 10 dollars to get $18.00 now that goes on the total at even money which returns the $36.00 Max Pay (minus .65 cents)
I liked the White Sox that evening because they just came off a World Series Championship. I didn't get involved looking at pitching and other statistics, (don't worry that comes later). I didn't even check if the wind was blowing out. (You can check game weather conditions at The Sports Network)
It is interesting howeverto look back at both pitchers: Buehrle with an ERA (earned run average) over 6 for the last ten games. Not good but Sabathia had an 11.57 ERA for the same timespan, and the White Sox can, and did, score runs. Incidentally Sabathia left the game with a muscle pull after giving up 3 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings. My bet of over 8 runs was an underdog at even money as the under was -120, suprising in light of the statistics. That comes to this weeks tip: As a rule I never bet the under on a "Points Line Total" Look at it this way, you can always put more fire on a steak, but you can't take it off. Pitchers get tired and managers always seem to leave them in too long. Runs have a way of being scored in late innings.
That does it for this weeks seminar. I've got a live 3 Leg Parlay (3 teamer) I'm watching it right now. One of the games is already in, Cleveland Indians, this time I bet them to win and bet them to win on the Points Line at +130, giving me a buck .30 on my dollar if they won by 2 runs. Final score, 11-6 Cleveland.
I'll show you that ticket, and break it down for you tomorrow, (See if I win). Ciao
