Bet-ology: “Straddle” 🎥

There are several terms associated with “transaction costs” of sports betting. “Juice” is the fee that enables the house to lock in a profit. Straddle is a way to measure that advantage.

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Sports betting is complicated and it can be intimidating as a new bettor. We’re here to help.

Bryan: All right time now for bet-ology where this guy here he educates us on the different terminology  in the betting world I love this segment because I don’t know anything about the betting world for the no tiny tiny like tiny 

Doug: sure you do yeah 

Bryan: um yeah I know oh tilt I remember that one I’ve been on tilt before so we’re going with straddle I know it from poker but 

Doug: so I was told there’ be no math but there’s a little math 

Bryan: oh come on 

Doug: okay so we know about the juice or the viig is minus 110 okay so both bets are minus 110 that straddle is 20 cents so 20 which you get 10 on each side right mhm so times things aren’t always minus 110 they’ll go from it’ll be like minus 130 okay and the other side will be plus 110 so that’s still a 20 cent straddle because it’s just a subtraction of one or the other okay so it’s just 20 cents so sometimes like like boxing and UFC and baseball things that typically don’t use point spreads you’ll just be a money line difference so it’s the difference in money line that’s all it is so it could be minus 150 and then plus 130 that’s a difference of 20 so that’s a 20 cent straddle because it’s all in relation to 100 now what happens is and I and this is too complicated to figure out but like there’s a hold percentage when you do the minus 110 on each side whole percentage is what they’re going to retain the house 

Bryan: we’ve talked about that 

Doug: which is what they’re at yes so as these money lines go crazy high and high and high kind of like when Mayweather fights and when he not just McGregor but over the years 

Bryan: yeah 

Doug: so you’ll get like minus 400 which is a one to four favorite it won’t be plus 380 that it doesn’t the math doesn’t work that way in terms of the whole percentage it’ll have to be plus like 250 

Bryan: gotcha 

Doug: so in theory that’s a 150 Cent straddle but it’s never discusted the straddle is really only applied when it’s like between like 170 and 130 that’s a 40 Cent Strat like the gap between the two money lines it’s kind of like in the stock market where there’s a gap between what you can sell it for what you can buy it for so that’s the same concept but the reason behind it is is the house has wants to have an advantage of built-in hold percentage and so that’s why the straddle gets wider and wider and wider as these money lines go higher and higher and higher because it actually the math works out where it’s actually like the same hold percentage you wouldn’t think that just looking at the numbers like how is minius 400 plus 250 the same hold is like minus 140 and plus 120 it just is based on the math we don’t have to get into it but it’s about converting it to percent chances and things like that 

Bryan: okay 

Doug: so like minus 400 translates to an 80% chance things like that so in this case it’s a really you want to keep it’s really about baseball lines and hockey lines people might have just like you see like a 30 Cent stradle a lot unnecessarily which is like minus 115 on each side gotta which is just the how house trying to juice you and like have a bigger Edge it’s really unnecessary minus 115 on either side is ridiculous it should be minus 110 now they do that sometimes on prop bets or on like first half lines and things like that where they think it’s harder to have a true market so they need to build in a higher uh Holden Edge to the house because they don’t trust their numbers that well so you’ll sometimes see minus 120 on both sides and that’s a 40 Cent straddle which I is a better hate and think it’s ridiculous but the house argues then don’t bet it because they think they need to put that up there because they don’t think they have edges on some of these markets 

Bryan: I got you 

Doug: it’s kind of like a WNBA team total in like the game three of the Season like they the market isn’t mature enough so they’re so what they do is they just build in a higher hold percentage and they make it a larger straddle so sometimes they’ll do you know 130 on each side or something ridiculous to just sort of scare you away from betting yeah and if you do bet there’s a 60 Cent straddle or something OB scene yeah and that’s what it is so instead of saying it’s minus 120 on both sides it’s just saying it’s a 40 Cent straddle or it’s a 20 cent line that’s a similar sort of vernacular in the whole world in the whole betting world 

man that’s crazy the house uh they manipulate it so they do well crazy 

Doug: shocking yeah those casinos on the Strip were just built on taxpayer dollars now that is 
Bryan: okay so straddle now you know