How To Hedge Your Sports Bets

admin  4/15/2022
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What is Hedging?

Hedging bets are essentially bets on the opposite side of your original bet to reduce the risk of your initial bet. Arbitrage betting is essentially an extreme form of this, where the odds are so different that your hedge guarantees profit regardless of the outcome.

How Can I Calculate a Hedge Bet?

Full Article at Oddsmarket: Basics Part 1: How To Bet Straight Bet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v. Firstly you need to calculate how much you need to lay. The equation is very simple: Hedging calculation = (back price. back stake) / current lay odds. Example: (1.55. 20) / 1.33 = £23.31. So you would need. The Basics of Hedge Betting The best way to view hedge betting is to think of it as a form of insurance. It’s actually a relatively straightforward strategy at its core, with the basic idea being to protect existing.

The formula for calculating a hedge bet that splits the possible profit between both scenarios is actually quite simple:

HB = (P1 + B1) / O1

where:

HB = Hedge bet amount

P1 = Profit from original bet

B1 = Original bet amount

How to hedge sports bets

O1 = Hedge bet decimal odds

You can then determine the profit you would make regardless of outcome using the following formula:

P = (HB – P1)

where:

P = Profit regardless of outcome

HB = Hedge bet that was just calculated

P1 = Profit from original bet from previous equation

Hedge His Bet

Tip: Based on the hedge bet equation, you should odds shop while hedging. Go to an odds aggregator like Oddschecker and pick the highest decimal odds possible on the team for your hedge bet. The higher the odds, the more profit you will be able to extract from hedging bets.

Why and When Would I Hedge a Bet?

There are certain circumstances where hedging bets would be very beneficial.
This can either be to lock in profits or to minimize losses on an existing bet.

Futures Bets

Let’s say that you placed a $100 bet for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the super bowl at the beginning of the season at +10000 odds.

How To Hedge Your Sports Bets Without

They just won the AFC championship and are headed to the super bowl to play the Seattle Seahawks. Clearly, the payoff for you, if the Steelers win the super bowl, is quite large. Although, if they lose, you don’t want to lose all of your winnings. You can hedge this bet by betting on the Seahawks to win the super bowl at their current pregame odds of +200 (3.0 decimal odds). Now in either scenario, you will make money.

Hedge Bet on Seahawks = ( $10,000 + $100) / (3.0) = $3,367

Hedge A Bet

Profit Regardless of Outcome = ($10,000 – $3,367) = $6,633

Hedging Parlays

In the scenario where you are on the last leg of your parlay bet, it is a smart idea to place a hedging bet on the last leg of your parlay.

Since you don’t want to lose all of your parlay gains if the last leg fails, it is wise to hedge against the outcome you bet on in the last leg of your parlay.

Hedging to Minimize Losses

Let’s say you bet on a team to win a match. Then their star player gets hurt before the match and is not able to play anymore. This greatly diminishes the team’s ability to win.

You can minimize the losses you would expect by placing a hedge bet against your original team. In this case, you will likely be guaranteed to lose money, but the losses are much lower than you would have incurred had you not placed the hedge bet and the opposite team wins.

Cancel a Bet Made on Accident

Accidently placed a bet?

Sportsbooks don’t really offer the ability to cancel bets, or everyone would cancel bets if the match started to go in the opposite direction.

By placing a hedge bet against the bet you placed on accident, you will likely just incur a small loss instead of losing more money if the accidental bet lost.

Hedging In-Play

You place a bet on the Steelers to win vs. the Seahawks pregame, and they are crushing it, but they are playing a team that could come back.

Hedge Bet Calculator

By placing a live hedge bet on the Seahawks during the game, you can protect yourself from incurring losses if they come back and win.

Define Hedge A Bet

Conclusion

How To Hedge Your Sports Bets Bet

Hedging may not always be worth it. Sometimes you place a small bet just for fun. Is it really worth taking the time to hedge this small bet? Probably not. Although, by using hedging in some of the scenarios above, you can lock in profits. Over time this can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful sports bettors.
If you’re interested in a way to make easy, low-risk profits in a strategy similar to hedging, we recommend you check out our Guide to Arbitrage Betting. Arbitrage betting is one of the only ways bettors can actually make money sports betting in the long run.
Already know what arbitrage betting is? Live in the U.S? Feel free to check out our service! Surefire Betting is the only U.S.-focused sports betting arbitrage database.