A round robin essentially creates multiple smaller “parlays” together from a larger set of games selected. A parlay is simply a combination of 2 or more bets, in which the odds improve, but all selections need to win in order for the bet to win. Below is a quick explanation of parlays, as a precursor to round robins.

For example, lets take two games:

TeamAvTeamB, TeamB has a -3 Spread with -110 odds

TeamCvTeamD, TeamC has a -5 Spread with -110 odds

A parlay would combine TeamB’s -3 spread and TeamC’s -5 spread. For the bet to win, both TeamB and TeamC would need to win. The benefit to this that comes with the increased risk is better odds. In the example listed above, the odds would be +260 for the 2 team parlay. If 2 individual bets were placed at 1 unit each, there would be 2 units staked and 1.81 units returned if both teams won. If a single parlay was placed at 1 unit though, the return would now be 2.61 units!

A round robin needs a minimum of 3 games. A round robin is a series of smaller parlays between all the teams selected. The more games than are selected, the more combinations of smaller parlays there will be.

Start with a 3 team example:

TeamAvTeamB, TeamB has a -3 Spread with -110 odds

TeamCvTeamD, TeamC has a -5 Spread with -110 odds

TeamEvTeamF, TeamF has a -1 Spread with -110 odds

If the round robin were based on these 3 games, there are 4 possible combinations: TeamB/TeamC 2 team parlay, TeamB/TeamF 2 team parlay, TeamC/TeamF 2 team parlay, and TeamB/TeamC/TeamF 3 team parlay.

With round robins that involve more than 3 teams, there is a further option of the number of teams per parlay. For example, with 4 games, a “2 pick” round robin would combine all combinations of 2 team parlays (This would amount to 6 parlays). A “3 pick” round robin would combine all combinations of 3 team parlays (This would amount to 4 parlays). An “All pick” round robin combines all combinations of 2 team parlays AND 3 team parlays AND the parlay for all 4 teams (and so on and so forth depending on the number of teams in the round robin). For a 4 team “All pick” robin, this amounts to 11 parlays, (6 from the 2 pick, 4 from the 3 pick, and 1 for the 4 team parlay).

Note that the model selection will assume an “All pick” round robin. The unit size will be TOTAL unit size for all combinations. For example, in the 4 team parlay listed above, there would be 11 total combinations possible. If the unit size is 10U, then this would imply 0.909 (10/11) per combination, NOT 10U for each combination. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments!