Football bets for beginners

Football is the coupon most people meet first. Home, draw, away. That is a 1X2 single. Add a second match and you have a double. Add a third and you have the Saturday accumulator that pays the taxi or pays nothing. The shop has been printing that hat since before the app had a push notification. You already know the sentence. The arithmetic is what this page is for.

Worked example. Arsenal 4/6, Villa 6/4, a £10 double. 4/6 is 1.67. 6/4 is 2.50. 10 × 1.67 × 2.50 = £41.67 returned. One of them draws and the slip is paper. Put the same two names through the accumulator sheet and change a price — that is the whole skill at this level. The coupon will invite you to add a 5.30 and a Monday night. You can. The sheet will multiply. The third name still has to win.

The other hats

Correct score is a single on 2–1 or 1–1. Both teams to score is a yes/no single. Asian handicap gives one side a head start in goals so the draw can be pulled out of the market. A spread firm (StarSpreads, Spreadex) lets you buy or sell total goals. Same match, different sentence. The 1X2 is the hat Britain grew up in. The others are the same ninety minutes, priced as if the draw were an inconvenience or a number you could trade by the tenth.

A Trixie on three 3pm kick-offs is four bets: three doubles and a treble. One loser still leaves a double. That is why people use the full-cover sheet on a Saturday instead of one long acca. The acca is a column. The Trixie is the column with a spare tyre. Neither will save a hat-trick of draws. One of them will still pay a double if only the 3pm favourite rolls over.

Accumulator / parlay · Trixie to Lucky 15 · Back and lay · Dead heat and Rule 4

Next: rugby