Basic strategy teasers are one of those almost-forgotten tricks of the sports betting trade that can earn bettors an extra bit of profit during any NFL football season. Imagine a betting system that tells you who to bet and how to bet them simply based on the spreads? Some teams qualify, others don't, but no matter what wagers you make, they are supposed to bring back a profit at the end of the year.

Of course, nothing is that simple in sports betting, but basic strategy teasers do come awfully close. The teasers were popular during early 2000s and were based off the research of professional handicapper and sports bettor Stanford Wong. The idea behind a basic strategy teaser is to move points spreads past the strongest NFL key numbers of three and seven in order to gain a positive expected value bet. Let's take a closer look at the teasers and explain how to wager on them during the upcoming football season.

What is a basic strategy teaser?

A basic strategy teaser is a six-point, two-team teaser that moves 7.5- to 8.5-point favorites down into the 1.5- to 2.5-point range and 1.5- to 2.5- point underdogs up into the 7.5- to 8.5-point range. A little confused? Don't worry, let's take a step back.

What is a teaser?

A teaser is a popular bet offered by nearly all sportsbooks that allows bettors to move a football spread a certain number of points in either direction. Sporsbooks offer six- to 10-points teaser options (and sometimes higher at some books) that allow bettors to move a point spread in either direction. Let's say the New England Patriots are a 10-point favorite against the Miami Dolphins. If a bettor were to wager on a seven-point teaser, he would have to move either the Patriots down to a three-point favorite or the Dolphins up to a 17-point favorite.

Teasers, however, are multi-team bets, similar to a parlay, and require a bettor to wager on two to eight teams. A football bettor could make a two-team, six-point teaser (basic strategy) all the way through to a 10-point, eight-team teaser. The odds change from bet to bet, and a basic strategy teaser will come along with -110 juice where as a monster teaser with eight teams will bring a large payout (with very heavy juice, of course).

Are teasers a bad bet?

Teasers in general are usually considered to be a "suckers bet" by the educated gambler. Taking a huge eight-team teaser turns out to be a shot in the dark, similar to the way taking an eight-team parlay would be. The payouts are simply wrong for those large bets. Even on the rare chance that a bettor would hit one of those teasers, the payout would not justify betting on it in the long run.

Why are basic strategy teasers different?

In sports betting and gambling in general, math is king. A casino can open up a game where it is a 50.1-percent favorite and make a killing because in the long run that 0.1 will win money. The reason that a six-point, two-team teaser is such a strong wager is because statically adding those six points to underdog and subtracting them from favorites has historically won at a 70 to 73 percent rate over the last 15 years (depending on the exact stats you look up).

What that number means is that blindly wagering on a basic strategy teaser will get you close to the break-even point or even slightly ahead based on the juice that you get. The key to these teasers is getting them at -110 or better. Some online sportsbooks offer basic strategy teasers at a reduced -105 juice (which is great for the bettor), but getting the teaser at -120 juice would make them a losing bet.

A few tips

If you plan on wagering on basic strategy teasers during the football season, remember that all spreads do no qualify. A one-point underdog and seven-point favorite do not qualify as a basic strategy teaser bet, and at those numbers a gambler is better off taking the wagers separately. The foundation of these teasers is the math involved, and even if you do not understand it, following the rules is still essential. Check back with Doc's Sports through the 2014 NFL season for in-depth basic strategy teaser coverage as I will give and rundown of games that qualify as well as my top plays for the week.

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Read more articles by George Monroy