Teaser

A teaser is a multi-leg bet that combines two or more spread or total bets, with each line moved in your favor by a fixed number of points. The price you pay for the better lines is a much smaller payout than a straight parlay. Teasers are most common in NFL and NBA, almost exclusively on point spreads and totals.

How teasers work

A standard NFL 6-point teaser means every leg’s spread or total is moved 6 points in your direction. Examples:

• Original line: Patriots -7. Teased: Patriots -1.
• Original line: Total Over 48. Teased: Total Over 42.
• Original line: Cowboys +3. Teased: Cowboys +9.

Common teaser sizes:

• NFL: 6, 6.5, 7 points
• NBA: 4, 4.5, 5 points

Each leg is a bet that has to win for the teaser to cash. All the legs win → teaser pays. Any leg loses → entire teaser loses, just like a parlay.

How teaser payouts work

Teasers don’t pay parlay-level payouts because the lines are moved in your favor. Standard NFL 6-point teaser payouts:

• 2-team teaser: ~-110 (decimal 1.91, payout ~91 cents on the dollar)
• 3-team teaser: ~+150 (decimal 2.50)
• 4-team teaser: ~+300 (decimal 4.00)

Compare to a 2-leg straight parlay at -110/-110 which pays ~+264.

The book is selling you the better lines in exchange for the worse payout.

Are teasers good bets?

Mostly no. The book’s vig on teasers is higher than on standard parlays in most cases. The “Wong teaser” — named after pro bettor Stanford Wong — is the historical exception: NFL 6-point teasers crossing key numbers (3 and 7) provided enough EV to be sharp plays for a long time. Modern books have mostly priced this in by tightening teaser payouts and removing some line crossings, so even Wong teasers are marginal now.

Why retail bettors love teasers

The same trap as parlays: the better lines feel like a sure thing. “Patriots -1 instead of -7? They’ll definitely win by 1.” But you still have to be right on every leg, the cumulative probability of the multi-leg parlay collapses fast, and the payout is way less than a regular parlay.

Teaser variants

• Sweetheart teaser — bigger point move (10+ points), often locked to specific minimum legs and key numbers; payouts further reduced. Almost always -EV.
• Pleaser — the opposite: lines moved against you in exchange for higher payouts. Niche, almost always -EV.
• Same-game teaser — like an SGP but with teaser line movement. Books price these with correlation, similar to SGPs.

Modeling teasers

The Parlay Calculator doesn’t directly model teaser payouts because the line movement is bookmaker-specific. To analyze a teaser, look at each teased leg’s true win probability separately, multiply, and compare to the book’s quoted teaser payout. If your multiplied probability × teaser payout > 1, the teaser is +EV.