At some point we have all been there where one team has let our accumulators down or the one horse you have bet on falls at the first fence. The emotional response to those losses can on occasions lead to you making poor decisions and try to chase back those losses or what you deemed as potential winnings. There are many ways you can bet on sports and some of the bet types we cover in this article offer a different angle to betting and one which can ensure the enjoyment is spread further.
Accumulators
Accumulators are one of the most common bets placed by punters. You pick several selections which all need to win for your bet to be successful. They can offer large returns for a small stake and this is appealing to punters.
The downside of accumulators is it only takes one of those selections to lose and your bet is finished. I have certainly placed many accumulators on the weekends football only to see the first team lose in the Saturday lunchtime kick off. In the past I would then place another accumulator on the afternoon games as I want to bet on the selections I picked before that have not yet played. This means you are placing another bet and what was originally one small stake has turned into two.
Some bookmakers do offer Acca insurance whereby you get your money back if one leg loses. By having the insurance option on the acca you may have to take slightly lower odds because of this.
Combination Bets
As an alternative to accumulators or single bets, combination betting allows you to bet on multiple selections with the security of the bet not ending just because one selection doesn’t win. A combination bet works by breaking down your total stake into smaller bets covering a variety of outcomes. As your stakes need to cover more options you must be aware of what each bet will cost you before placing. Let’s look at the types of bets you can use and what the stakes will look like for each.
| Bet Type | How it is broken down | Stake |
| Trixie | A bet made of three selections. The selections are covered by four different bets. 3 doubles and 1 treble. | 4 x Stake
|
| Patent | 3 different selections covered by 7 bets. 3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 treble. | 7 x Stake |
| Yankee | A bet made up of 4 selections, featuring 11 bets. six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator. | 11 x Stake
|
| Lucky 15 | A bet covering 4 selections split into 15 bets. 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold accumulator. | 15 x Stake |
| Lucky 31 | This covers 5 selections made up of 31 bets. 5 single bets, 10 doubles, 10 Trebles, 5 four-fold accumulators plus one five-fold accumulator. | 31 x Stake |
| Heinz | A combination of seven selections covered by 57 bets. 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four folds, 6 five folds and a sixfold accumulator. | 57 x Stake |
| Lucky 63 | A bet on 6 different selections covered by 63 bets. 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four folds, 6 five folds and a sixfold accumulator. | 63 x Stake |
| Super Heinz | A bet consisting of 7 selections covered by 120 bets. 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four folds, 21 five folds, 7 six folds and a sevenfold accumulator | 120 x Stake |
| Goliath | This consists of 8 different selections and is covered by 247 bets. 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 four folds, 56 five folds, 28 six folds, 8 seven folds and an eightfold accumulator. | 247 x Stake |
As you can see there many ways you can cover your selections using some of the bets above. The key with combination bets is understanding the stakes involved for the bets you are using.
Let’s say you are heading to the races for the day. There may be seven races that day and you want to have a horse to cheer on in each of them. You could go through the race card and pick out 7 horses for the day. By placing a Super Heinz, you can back those 7 selections across 120 different bets. If you staked £0.10p per selection the total cost of the bet would be £12, not bad for a full day at the races.
It is important you understand that depending on the price of your selections you may see a return of less than your stake if only 3 of your 7 selections were to win. If you just placed a £12 accumulator on those 7 selections and the first one lost, not only is your £12 lost you no longer have a bet covering any other horses you picked out. This is where you may then decide to place further bets through out the day. That isn’t the case with the combination bet as you will still have money on the other horses even if that first one loses.
Betting should be enjoyable and exploring different ways of betting can help you get the most enjoyment from your betting. Make sure you research what types of bets are available to you when you have picked your selections. The dream of a big pay out from an accumulator can be appealing but the enjoyment can be short lived. By using a combination bet the big win maybe smaller but the enjoyment will be spread out for longer and there is definite value to be had in that.
Want to find out how much to stake on each bet type? Click here!
