Teasers are a little bit more complicated than parlays, but we can break them down for you here. A teaser is a bet that can be placed only on spreads or totals, which means that you can’t bet teasers on sports that don’t use points, such as the UFC and other MMA promotions.
Basically what you’re doing with a teaser is adjusting the spread or total in your favor in exchange for a smaller payout. Similar to a parlay, you have to make several connected bets to make it a teaser.
‘Teasing’ is when you adjust the spread or total either way, but betting ‘teasers’ refers specifically to parlays where the spread or total has been adjusted to your benefit.
Here’s an example to help better explain. Let’s say you have the Steelers as -6.5-point favorites over the Ravens and the Vikings as -9.0-point favorites over the Packers. If you feel good about the Steelers and the Vikings but find that the spreads are a little too high, you can try a teaser instead of a regular parlay.
Teasing the spreads means reducing them in your favor by a number you can find on your sportsbook. For NFL games, these amounts are commonly 6, 6.5, and 7. If we do a 6-point teaser for the Steelers and Vikings spread, you’d have a much safer parlay of Steelers -0.5 and Vikings -3.0. With a teaser, you’re getting much better spreads while losing a bit of value in the odds and payout department.
A Pleaser is pretty simple: it’s the opposite of a teaser. Using our example, a 6-point pleaser on the Steelers and Vikings would make it Steelers -12.5 and Vikings -15.0. The spreads are much bigger and therefore riskier, but you’re also getting much higher odds and more returns.
Like for a parlay, you need to hit both or all of the outcomes in a teaser or pleaser for you to win your bet. Whether you get none or the majority or the minority of your outcomes, it will be counted as a loss as long as you miss just one.