Dogs are howling this week! 10-2 SO FAR THIS WEEK!!

[widestrides]

Dragon, you mean to say Teasers, not Parlays when you get the 6.5, 7 or 10 points. Parlays are playing multiple teams with the actual point spreads for a long odds payoff.

I've been reading about the best teasers. Some say it's a much better % to just play sides. Totals often end up way off the original number, whereas sides stay closer to the actual line.

[dragon1952]

Totals can definitely get screwed up by unexpected events like pick 6's, punt/kick/fumble returns, TO's in the red zone or just the way the ball happens to bounce but I guess those same events can screw up a side just as easily. I definitely play way more sides than totals unless it's a 2 teamer like tonight. You definitely have to be much more careful picking a game to play a total in.
As for what I call them, teaser is probably the correct term but it all means the same I guess if you specify the pts.
But looking back at totals, tonight's example is a good one. I think the oddsmakers don't like to make totals too low because they know the majority of the squares like betting overs.I thought the total line in this game might even come down by game time (it's currently 37.5) In a game with 2 great defenses like this you could easily have a total as low as 30 or even less. I think reaching 45 is just too unrealistic unless some really weird things happen.
Looking at next Sunday Night between Pit/Cin as another example I would go for OV 39 on a 7 pt teaser. Cincy, when playing a decent offense, has given up 44, 27, 31 and 34. And when not playing a good defense they've scored 34, 38, 27 and 24. With Pittsburgh's banged up defense (especially losing Polamalu) and their play on the road so far this should be a fairly high-scoring game. The Steelers gave up 31, 34 and 26 in their 3 road games and lost all 3. So I would also take the home dog there at +8.5. I really think there's an excellent chance of that teaser winning.

[widestrides]

I think the point about totals is that on average, they end up farther away from the actual total than sides do and so they are more volatile and likely to fall outside the Teaser net of + or - 6.5 points.

Like that Cinci and Pit over.

[dragon1952]

Sometimes they go as expected and sometimes they don't