Over the years there have been many famous double acts… Laurel & Hardy, Torville & Dean, Shearer & Sheringham and not forgetting of course – Howard Webb & Manchester United!
In betting, pairing two good bets as a double act can be a great way to increase your returns, but there is obviously some extra risk. For those not aware, with a double bet, you need both bets to win instead of betting on single outcomes. As this is less likely to happen, the odds are much bigger than betting on singles. Allow me to explain in a bit more detail.
Lets take a couple of football fixtures from this weekend as an example to help showcase how it all works in practice:
So, if you think that Aston Villa to beat Fulham and Wolves to beat Huddersfield are both 50/50 shots, then the odds in theory should be 2.0 (evens).
If you are able to get anything above 2.0 (evens) on those matches, then you’ve got a value bet and should make a profit in theory.
A quick check at the odds available at the bookies shows that both Wolves and Aston Villa are available at around 2.20 (6/5).
My options if I wanted to back both are as follows:
- 2 Single Bets: Back Wolves & Aston Villa at 2.20 as 2 single bets. Potential profit if both win: 2.40 points.
- 1 Double Bet: Back Wolves & Aston Villa at 2.20 as 1 double bet. Potential profit if both win: 3.84 points
If you continue to back enough 50/50 shots at 2.20 then your long term profit will be a 10% Return on Investment (£10 won for every £100 staked).
As a comparison, if you placed those exact same bets just as doubles, your return on investment rockets to 21% (£21 won for every £100 staked).
Would You Swap Bigger Profits For A Lower Strike Rate?
The general accepted theory when investing in anything is that to make bigger % profits, you have to take bigger risks.
Unfortunately this is the same when it comes to betting on doubles.
If we placed simple single bets on 50/50 shots at 2.2 like the ones above, we can expect to win 50% of the time and make a 10% Return on Investment.
With the double bets however, we will only win 1 in 4 times (25%), but when we do will make a 21% Return on Investment. So a higher risk, but also a higher reward.
It’s the strike-rate for success (50% vs. 25%) that can make all the difference and really test your patience when doubling up. Are you willing to accept the risk of taking a longer losing run in exchange for higher profits?
Why Bookies Love Doubles and Other Multiple Bets
Doubles betting of course is only as good as the bets you are placing or the tipsters you are following. If your bets don’t make a profit as a single, they won’t magically make a profit when bet as a double.
Many mug punters roll up short priced football bets in an attempt to push up their returns with no concept of value. This is why bookmakers love you betting on doubles – If not used correctly, they can double your losses as well as profits.
It also applies to football accumulators – again another form of bet that bookies love.
The Right Way To Bet On Doubles
When done right though, doubling up can be an excellent string to your betting bow. One of our Hall of Fame tipsters proved this last month when they shrewdly advised a double horse racing bet.
The advice was for a £5 each way double on two horses -one at 9/2 and the other at 2/1. Both horses won their respective races.
Had you backed them as two £2.50 each way singles your profit would have been a total £19.50.
However backing as a £5 each way double, returned a profit of £85.80. A difference of £66.30, which just goes to show how selecting which bets to double up on is key.
More Expert Help Doubles Betting
To re-cap, doubles betting can be very lucrative when done right, whether you pick them yourself or follow a tipster who advises them.
If this is of interest and you are keen to find out more about this topic, we have a whole range of strategy articles to assist. Our two part series on this topic explains everything about how to make this work for you, understanding the maths, how to obtain the best odds and where to bet.
We also feature a number of tipsters within our Hall of Fame that either advise double bets themselves or whose tips could help form the nucleus of a good doubles strategy.
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Peter – SBC Editor