What Is A Pleaser Bet?

If only all bets were pleasing!

Bettors can’t win them all, but they can take advantage of an interesting bet known as a pleaser. More experienced bettors will have heard of teasers, but a pleaser bet is different. If you happen to be familiar with the teaser bet, a pleaser is simply the opposite of a teaser. Here’s how it all works.

Defining a Pleaser Bet

In its simplest terms, a pleaser bet is one in which a bettor can move the line in a sportsbook’s favor in return for better than normal odds. Why in the world would a bettor sacrifice “good” odds for worse odds? 

That’s a great question. The answer is simply that a bettor can receive a higher payout in the end. Like a teaser bet, the typical pleaser also includes anywhere from two to six teams. So, how does it all work?

Pleaser Bet Examples

We’ll do the more common two-team, six-point pleaser using two NFL examples. Here are the point spreads for the following games.

Colts -10.5         Bills -7

Jaguars +10.5    Broncos +7

There are a few different ways a bettor could approach this, but remember the odds will end up favoring the sportsbook. Let’s say you like the Colts to win big over Jacksonville. Instead of the -10.5 spread, you would take Indianapolis at -16.5. The same for the other game. The odds tip in favor of the sportsbook when you take Denver +1.

If the Colts win by 11 or more and the Broncos tie or beat Buffalo, your bet wins. A typical payout on a two-team pleaser is +600. That means your $100 bet just earned you an extra $600. If one of the legs of the pleaser loses, the entire bet loses. Depending upon the sportsbook, when one leg of a pleaser is a push and the other is a win, the whole bet is a push. 

Typical Payouts

As mentioned, a two-team pleaser usually pays out at +600. The more teams that are added, the higher the payouts. A three-team pleaser is typically paid out at odds of +1700. A successful $100 bet on a six-team pleaser can earn a cool $30,000.

Pleaser Bet Strategy

There is a line often uttered in reference to upsets in the NFL – “any given Sunday.” With the parity in the league, an upset is always on the table in the NFL. The best pleaser strategy is when you can find spreads in the +3 to +0.5 range. A three-point underdog can pull the upset a fair amount of time. From 1997 to 2020, underdogs of 0.5 to 3.0 points won 47.5 percent of the time. 

If you can find two teams that are slight underdogs and both may be primed for an upset, you can do a two-team pleaser that will pay out at +600. That’s a lot better than what a bettor could earn placing a wager on each game individually.

Pleaser bets require some research and pay out great when you hit one. They will pay more than the teaser bet in which a bettor gets the more favorable odds. Remember, odds are usually always in the sportsbooks’ favor anyway, so choose wisely when putting together a pleaser bet.