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Sports Explained: Glossary P

Sportsbook Glossary: Pp

P


Par Golf
Par means scoring even (E).

Parlay
A type of bet that allows players to place multiple bets (at least two) and ties them together, you need multiple events to all win for higher payouts. This is a risky proposition, but also a highly lucrative betting type.

Past Post
To make a bet after an event has started.

Pass Interference Football
In American and Canadian gridiron football, pass interference (PI) is a foul that occurs when a player interferes with an eligible receiver’s ability to make a fair attempt to catch a forward pass. Pass interference may include tripping, pushing, pulling, or cutting in front of the receiver, covering the receiver’s face, or pulling on the receiver’s hands or arms.

Penalty Flag Football
The penalty flag (or "flag") is a yellow cloth used in several field sports including American football and lacrosse by game officials to identify and sometimes mark the location of penalties or infractions that occur during regular play. It is usually wrapped around a weight, such as sand or beans so it can be thrown accurately over greater distances.

PGA
Acronym for Professional Golfers Association.

Photo Finish
A close race where the use of a photograph is required to determine the result.

Pick and Roll Basketball
Also called screen and roll or shortened to screen roll, the pick and roll is an offensive play in which a player sets a screen (pick) for a teammate handling the ball and then slips behind the defender (rolls) to accept a pass.

Pick ‘Em
An instance in which neither team is favored. A game with no favorite or underdog. The point spread is zero, and the winner of the game is also the spread winner.

Pick 3 Horse Racing
Type of horse betting wager that includes picking the first place finishers of three consecutive races. If one leg of the pick 3 is a loss the entire wager will be deemed a loss.

Pick 4 Horse Racing
The first place finishers of four consecutive races must be picked in order to win this wager. The wager must be placed before post time of the first race. If one leg of the pick 4 is a loss the entire wager will be deemed a loss.

Pinch Hitter Baseball
Term referring to a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, American football, or ice hockey, baseball does not have a "free substitution rule" and thus the replaced player in baseball is never allowed back into that game. The pinch hitter assumes the spot in the batting order of the player they replace.

Pitch Count Baseball
In baseball statistics, pitch count is the number of pitches thrown by a pitcher in a game.

Plate Appearance Baseball
In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting.

Playoffs
The playoffs, postseason and/or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.

Pointspread
The start that the favorite gives the underdog. Also known as the "line" or "handicap".

Pole Position Auto Racing
The term "pole-position," as used in motorsport, is the number 1 qualifying position of the vehicle and its driver, atop the starting grid. The number 1 qualifier is referred to as the pole-sitter.

Preakness Stakes Horse Racing
American flat thoroughbred horse race held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the second leg of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes.

Price
Betting odds.

Prop Bet Proposition Bet
A bet on something other than the outcome of a game. Common prop bets include an over/under on points scored, passing yards, or strikeouts by an individual. Type of bet on which specific sub-outcomes occur during a game in which multiple sub-outcomes normally have the same value, for example: Number of strikes, strike outs, hits, errors, etc.

Public Betting Percentage
Also referred to as public betting trends, we offer real betting percentages from seven contributing sportsbooks. These numbers represent real bets placed at real sportsbooks. These percentages are integral for our betting against the public philosophy.

Pucks
A slang word used to indicate the game of hockey.

Puck line
In hockey, if you bet against the spread, you are betting on the Puck Line.

Punt Football
A punt is a kick performed by dropping the ball from the hands and then kicking the ball before it hits the ground.

Push
When a contest ends without a winner. In a moneyline sport this would happen if the game ended in a tie. In a spread sport, this would happen if the favorite wins by the exact spread.