5 Team Parlay

Sucks...I feel for the guy.  He seemed pretty hyped up hope he isnt too much in the dumps. 

Ugh, that's rough

I was at the game and literally started crying... that was all I had.

Damn man I was pulling for you. Last week I missed a parlay 4 by .5 points. Thanks Ohio State

Yeah stuff sucks. I was at the Iowa game all hyped and then it came to this. 

Dont think the guy had a grand to hedge with....looks like he bet "all he had" on this parlay.  I have never been in a spot where I've had to hedge out on a big parlay but from reading all these horror stories I sure as hell am going to position myself so I can do it if I have to....

He won the first 4 legs of his parlay.  So in essence that last game turned into a $2500 game for him.  So what he should have done either before the game started (probably not possible due to his other games finishing up) or during the game is bet on Wisconsin to lock in a decent sized profit.  I myself probably would have bet somewhere around $700 on Wisconsin.  So you've locked in a decent sized profit no matter the outcome of the game.

I used to think like you.  And I still do to some extent ie the only bets I make in NFL are parlays and they are small amounts just for fun.  But if you do the math, you have a better EV doing parlays than individual games.  With that, though, comes a much higher variance.  So in the long term, you are actually better off doing parlays but you could be waiting around quite a while for "the big one" and because most bettors dont have bankroll management skills, most would go broke doing parlays.

So to say that parlay bets are for "suckers" is 100% incorrect.

Here is a link to the math regarding parlays on Wikipedia.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlay_(gambling)#Profitability_of_parlays_in_sports_betting

I'll take it one step further......look at my parlay record so far this NFL season.....I'm 1-4 but have a ROI of 100.79%  The first week of NFL I would have been 5-2 with my picks (I hit a 3 teamer).  Last week was terrible as i went 0-3 in my parlays and 0-5 in my individual picks.  So I'm 7-7 on individual picks yet I have a 100% ROI on the season.  If you can withstand the variance (which I can because I dont go crazy) parlays are actually the way to go.....Right now in college I'm doing individual games but as the season goes on I might add in some parlays or I might even go 100% parlays......