NFL teaser calculator
What the points really cost — and whether they cross 3 and 7.
Spreads as posted (negative for a favourite)
Varies by book and leg count — use the price you’re actually offered.
Teaser price
-120
Each leg must win
73.9%
Straight parlay needs
52.4%
Extra per leg
+21.5 pts
“Each leg must win” is the rate every leg needs for the ticket to break even at the price shown: all legs must land, so it is (1 ÷ decimal payout) raised to the power of 1 ÷ legs. Crossing 3 and 7 is necessary for a teaser to make sense, not sufficient — modern teaser pricing has shaved much of the historical edge, which is why the price field matters as much as the lines.
How a teaser actually works
A teaser moves every leg’s line in your favour by a fixed number of points and cuts the payout to pay for it. Tease a −8.5 favourite and a +1.5 underdog by six, and you are now holding −2.5 and +7.5 — both far easier. Both still have to win, and a two-team teaser typically returns around −120 where the same two sides parlayed straight would pay near +260.
That is the whole trade: much easier legs, much smaller payout. The question a calculator answers is whether the first outweighs the second, and the answer depends almost entirely on which numbers the six points cross.
Why only some six points are worth buying
NFL margins cluster on 3 and 7 because the scoring units are field goals and touchdowns. A margin of exactly 3 is the most common single result in football. So six points moved across 3 and 7 buys the two likeliest outcomes in the sport, while six points moved from −14.5 to −8.5 buys margins of 9 through 14 — a stretch games land on comparatively rarely, sold at exactly the same price.
This is what the Wong teaser pattern formalises: favourites of −7.5 to −8.5 and underdogs of +1.5 to +2.5, because those are the windows where six points cross both key numbers. The calculator flags each leg green, amber or red on exactly that test.
The number people skip
A two-team six-point teaser at −120 needs each leg to win about 73.9% of the time just to break even. Moving a line six points feels like it should make a game close to a certainty — it does not, and the payout cut usually more than swallows the gain. Adding a third leg at the same style of price pushes the requirement higher again, because every leg still has to land.
Teasers are not a trick, and the Wong window is real. But the edge lives in a narrow band of lines and depends on the price you are offered, which is why both fields on this calculator matter.
Common questions
- What is a teaser bet?
- A teaser is a parlay where the sportsbook moves every leg's line in your favour — commonly six points in the NFL — in exchange for a much lower payout. Every leg still has to win. You are buying easier lines with the money you would have won.
- What win rate does a teaser need to break even?
- Every leg has to land, so with n legs at decimal payout D the break-even rate per leg is (1 ÷ D) raised to the power of 1 ÷ n. A standard two-team, six-point teaser priced at −120 needs each leg to win about 73.9% of the time — against roughly 52.4% for the same two sides parlayed straight at −110.
- What is a Wong teaser?
- The narrow teaser pattern with a historical mathematical edge, named for author Stanford Wong: tease only NFL favourites of −7.5 to −8.5 and underdogs of +1.5 to +2.5, so all six points cross the key numbers 3 and 7. Modern teaser pricing has shaved much of that edge, so the price you are offered still matters.
- Why do 3 and 7 matter so much?
- NFL scores cluster on field goals and touchdowns, so margins of exactly 3 and 7 are far more common than any others. Six points that cross both are buying the two most likely results; six points that cross neither are buying margins games rarely land on, at the same price.
- Are teasers a good bet?
- Usually not. The payout reduction is typically larger than the points are worth, which is why sportsbooks offer them freely. The exception is the narrow Wong window, and even there the edge depends on getting a reasonable price. This calculator shows both halves of that trade so you can judge it rather than feel it.
Related: NFL teasers explained · how to bet NFL spreads · parlay calculator. Glossary: teaser · Wong teaser · key numbers
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