Learn About Betting Systems

Double Up

Increasing the size of your bets to make up for losses, whilst still making a profit, also known as the Martingale strategy.

Uses:
Punters should be careful with this strategy – a bad run is the fastest way to get bankrupt! However, it does have its uses. Although it originated on the roulette wheel, it can also be used in sports.
So let’s look at using this in football – in the Premier League there has never been a team that has not won a game in a season. So why not identify some of the worst teams (as they’re likely to offer better odds) and back them to win every game, double your stake each time until it comes in as history indicates, it will eventually win.

Let’s say you were unfortunate to pick the three worst teams in the 2017/18 season who were Swansea, WBA and Stoke.

You back each team to win every game starting with £10 and doubling your stake until they win.

Swansea won in their third game. Total staked £70. Total returned £160. Profit £90.

WBA won in their opening game. Total staked £10. Total returned £25. Profit £15.

Stoke won in their second game. Total staked £30. Total returned £86. Profit £56.

(All odds taken from William Hill)

£150 profit. Seems easy. Now punters come into trouble when they don’t have enough for the stake. Let’s say a team has a terrible start to the season and don’t get a win in their first 10 games. You’d have spent nearly £10k! And if you have £10k sitting in the bank you’re probably not fussed about £150.

Martingale

A type of betting strategy involving doubling up (also see doubling up) used in roulette. Essentially you choose something on the roulette table that offers 1:1 and if the bet doesn’t win, you double the stake to make back the original amount staked and the profit that bet would have made. Make sure you don’t start too high with your stakes, cause it can disappear fast.

Arbitrage

Although not strictly a ‘system’ it’s another method punters you to beat the bookies. Occasionaly there is a discrepancy between odds on an event, usually between two different bookmakers, that allows a guaranteed profit on any outcome by backing each side simultaneously. Whilst it doesn’t carry the same thrill as traditional gambling – it guarntees money.

D’alembert

A betting progression. It is a system where the bettor raises the bet one unit after each loss and lowers the bet one unit after each win. So let’s say the player starts out by betting 1 unit. If he wins, he continues to bet one unit. If he loses, he cancels out the 1 and moves to the 2 and adds one unit to the last number, now having a series of 2, 3, 4, 5. At any point in the series where the player wins his bet, he reduces his bet by one unit. If he wins enough bets to return to a one unit bet, he starts over. If he loses during the series, he cancels out the last number he played and adds another number to the series.

Fibonacci

ANother betting progression. It is based on the FIbonacci equation where the previous two number in the sequence equal the next amount e.g. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 Best applied to draws when used in football, as odds are often high – usually above 2.5. So pick your favourite team and see how much you would have earned last season (check out our stats centre). For West Ham in the 2017/18, applying this technique with average odds of 2.5 and a starting stake of £10 – the most you’d have to have wagered would have been £130 and you’d have made a profit of at least £425. Pick a team in every league? If a team didn’t draw a game all season however…

Labouchere

A betting progression, also known as the cancellation system. A bettor chooses a series of two or more numbers which add up to the profit they intend to make. They then bet the total of the two outside numbers in the series and cancels those numbers if they wins. They continue betting the two outside un-cancelled numbers until they have completed the series. If they lose a bet, they add the amount of their loss to their series as a single number. They must therefore cancel out two numbers for each number added.

Cash out & in-play betting

A feature more and more online bookmakers use to allow early settlement for a guaranteed amount, which is less than 100% of the full winnings. You can choose whether to settle some bets early, at a live price quoted by the bookmaker to buy you out of the bet.

Uses:
Can be an extremely useful feature.
Minimising losses is a what often sets apart successful gamblers over your average joe punter. If you can see something isn’t going to work out, cutting your losses is often better than losing everything all together or chasing.
In some instances, it’s possible to guarantee a profit on an event. Let’s say you fancy tennis player A at odds of 2.32 before the match and put a ton down. Lone behold they make a good start and break serve, switching the odds around in favour of player A, making player B now placed at 2.00 – if you put £117 on player B you are guaranteed a profit of £16. Easy work.
Other instances where cash out’s are useful are when the odds shorten closer to the start of the event and you can often find yourself in profit before it’s even started! (see ante-post betting)

Ante-post betting

This is for those interested in longer term bets. This can be often used for outright winners for example choosing the winner of the World Cup, Premier League of Grand National in advance.
The advantages are of course if that is looking increasingly more likely, odds will often have shortened and should you have the chance you can cash out and make an immediate profit. Additionally odds will always enhanced prior a tournament as there are so many potential outcomes still.