There are a lot of different ways to bet on sports. Probably as many as there are sports themselves - and they vary from country to country, from sport to sport and even from bookmaker to bookmaker. Unless you've been raised right inside the world of the bookmaker, chances are you are only familiar with a few methods of sports betting and you could stand an introduction to a couple of the more obscure betting types.

The Parlay

The Parlay is a type of combination of sports betting that can be stretched to include any type of sport, any game and, specifically, many games simultaneously. The bettor is able to bet on several games at once, for example four: one football match, one tennis match, one rugby match and one aerobics meet. Each of the teams bet on must win their game, or the entire bet is lost and the other three outcomes will amount to nothing. If one game results in a draw or is cancelled, it is stricken from the record and the bet is redrawn based on only three of the original teams. It is possible to include spread and other types of specific sports betting within the Parlay, however you must keep in mind that all teams bet on must win.

The Teaser

A teaser is a two-part bet that is essentially a spre
ad bet. Instead of one spread bet that involves one team over another, the Teaser is a way to bet specific point spreads for two teams at once. If you take on a Teaser bet, the odds are adjusted in your favour and you stand to gain (and lose) more than in the traditional spread bet. For the Teaser bet to be a winner you must predict the correct results for both teams.

Buy Points

Buy points are another take on the spread bet, giving more freedom to the bettor for a price. If the spread is 4, and the bettor wants to take it at 3, he or she will need to pay a fee for that one point. Either way the spread is changed, and according to the number of points you wish to add or subtract your fee will be a different amount. Obviously the more you change the spread, the higher the fee, so this is really only a bet to make if you're very sure about what you're doing. Whereas with the standard point spread you can still win money if your spread wasn't exactly dead on, you need to have predicted the exact spread and winner for the spread bet in which you've bought points.

All in all the Parlay, the Teaser and the Buy Points option are all ways to make spread betting more accurate and therefore more likely to pay off the big money - if you want to tackle these kinds of odds you'd better have more experience than the average bookmaker customer!