Opinion: What Types of Football Bet Are Available?
If you are a casual punter, your main exposure to football betting probably comes in the form of ‘single’ bets (a wager on one outcome such as Liverpool to beat Manchester City), or ‘accumulators’ (where you place a bet on several outcomes, and they all must win for you to profit). You may even have tried the occasional ‘double’ (two bets) or ‘treble’ (three bets, like a small acca), but have you ever heard of a Patent, Yankee, or Trixie?
Even if you know the basics, do you have an idea whether or not they are good ideas for your bet? If not, this guide is for you. Just one thing to note: As is the case with staking plans, no ‘magical’ bet type gives you an edge any greater than what you find for yourself.
Trixie Bets
This is a fairly straightforward bet. It involves a total of four selections: 3 x doubles and 1 x treble. As a result, you won’t make any profit unless at least two of the three selections win. As it consists of four bets, a £5 stake will actually cost you £20.
Although it is popular with horse racing bettors, you can use a Trixie bet to your advantage when betting on football. It always amazes me to see sites recommend this type of bet when backing short odds favourites. If your Trixie consists of three Even-money shots, you only get your money back if two of them win. You don’t need me to tell you that this represents terrible value!
As a result, you should consider a Trixie bet if at least two of your bets are at odds of close to 2/1. While it works well when trying to pick winners of a match, it is also a useful tool if you prefer to bet on goalscorers. As you probably know, the thing about betting on goalscorers is to look for players in great form; and determine if their Anytime Goalscorer (AGS) odds are worth consideration. As a result, I chose three Premier League players who seemingly offer good value:
- Glenn Murray for Brighton. He has 5 goals in 8 matches, and his team plays away to a poor Newcastle side. Odds of 3.10 look value.
- Eden Hazard for Chelsea. Hazard is in exceptional form with 7 goals and a huge proportion of shots on target. Considering Chelsea will be expected to beat Man United at home, and he is their main man, odds of 2.05 seem fair.
- Aleksandar Mitrovic for Fulham. He has 5 in 8, and while he didn’t find the net against the likes of Man City and Arsenal, he scored against Burnley, Watford, and Brighton. Odds of 2.62 against fellow strugglers Cardiff also represents value.
Using this example, you could try a speculative £20 on all three at odds of 16.68 for a possible profit of £313.60. Imagine your frustration if two of the trio nets?
If you choose a Trixie instead, you can place £5 on each of the four outcomes for a total stake of £20. As you can see, you are guaranteed a profit if two of the players score. A combination of Mitrovic and Murray doubles your money. If all three score, you make a profit of £162.75.
Patent
This bet is basically a Trixie bet plus bets on the three singles. Its proponents say it adds an element of safety to the bet because you get something back if only one of the three selections wins. The trouble with Patents is that you are making seven bets, and from a value perspective, it doesn’t make much sense unless you choose high-priced bets and aim to shoot for the moon profit wise.
Using our initial three AGS bets, it makes for grim reading. With these odds, you are better off sticking with the Trixie! If only one of the three players scores, you lose anywhere from £19.50 to £24.75, compared to the £20 you lose with a Trixie. Moreover, if none of them score, you are down £35!
It is only at the higher odds that you could make a case for a Patent, but in reality, it is something I believe punters should avoid.
Yankee
It has a similar feel to the Trixie bet, but it involves a whopping 11 bets! These include 6 x doubles, 4 x trebles, and 1 x fourfold. To make a Yankee bet, you need to make four selections in total. To fulfil this obligation, I added Jon Dadi Bodvarsson to score for Reading against Millwall in the Championship. He has seven league goals this season, including four in his last three, and is 2.87 to score.
At £55 for a £5 stake, a Yankee bet is a serious investment. Even a casual £1 per line becomes a £11 investment.
As it transpires, these particular bets are not a good fit for a Yankee bet. If two of the four scores a goal, you will lose anywhere from £10.44 to £28.10. Things get more interesting if three of the four players scores a goal because you benefit from four winning lines. Let’s say Murray, Hazard, and Bodvarsson all score; your profit would be £142.14. If you get four winners, it’s bonanza time with a profit of £764.97!
If you eliminate the six doubles, £5 a line would equate to a wager of £25. Two of the four doubles will result in an even greater loss, with another one (selection 1/2) losing you £23.23. With a much lower initial investment, it is tempting although you would miss out on greater profit if 3 or 4 of your bets win.
There is also a Lucky 15 bet which is a Yankee plus four singles. Frankly, that’s only a bet you should consider in horse racing or if you are taking a big chance with four long odds bets.
Canadian
You are entering into very serious territory if you decide to pick a Canadian bet; which is sometimes known as a Super Yankee. It involves five selections for a whopping 26 bets! They are 10 x doubles, 10 x trebles, 5 x fourfolds, and a fivefold. I have added Billy Sharp AGS to the other four bets. Sharp has scored seven league goals, including four in his last four matches and is 3.10 AGS.
There are so many lines that you have to scroll down the page to see them all! A £5 per line bet equates to £130, a substantial bet for all but a handful of people. Using our five-bet example, you need at least three players to score because two AGS winners only reduce your overall loss. If you have three AGS winners, you should see a profit as it gets you three doubles and a treble. If four players score, it opens up a new world of winnings, and you don’t need me to tell you what happens if all five win!
In what is a similar situation to the Yankee bet, you could remove the 10 x doubles and reduce your bet to 16 lines. You are arguably better off if only two of the five bets win. You would lose out if there are three of more winners, however.
The Lucky 31 bet is the Canadian plus five singles.
Heinz
Named after Heinz’s 57 varieties, this bet involves six selections for a total of 57 bets: 15 x doubles, 20 x trebles, 15 x fourfolds, 6 x fivefolds, and a sixfold. If you bet £5 a line, your total stake is £285! With such an investment, we would almost certainly make a loss if three of the six bets win unless their odds are relatively high. You would see decent profits with four or more winners though.
As you can guess by now, the Lucky 63 bet is the Heinz plus six singles.
Super Heinz
I doubt that many readers have ever, or will ever, attempt a Super Heinz. It involves seven selections for a total of 120 bets: 21 x doubles, 35 x trebles, 35 x fourfolds, 21 x fivefolds, 7 x sixfolds, and 1 x sevenfold. At £600 for a £5 per line bet, a Super Heinz is only for high-rollers, and people who don’t like money.
Goliath
Although there may be an even bigger version of this bet, the Goliath is likely the largest you will find with well-known bookmakers. It involves eight selections for an insane 247 bets: 28 x doubles, 56 x trebles, 70 fourfolds, 56 x fivefolds, 28 x sixfolds, 8 x sevenfolds, and 1 x eightfold.
I can’t imagine any situation where you would attempt a Goliath. A £1 per line wager is a £247 stake; £5 per line is £1235.
Final Thoughts
Generally speaking, there is seldom any value in going beyond a Yankee bet. At that stage, you are betting on 11 lines. A Trixie is usually as far as you should go. Once you get to Canadian level, the stakes are far too high. As I mentioned in Accumulators Part 1, it is better to try 10 x trebles involving five selections at £2 apiece than a £20 five-team accumulator, or a Canadian bet with £0.77 or thereabouts per line.
Ready to take your betting from amateur to professional status? It's never been easier to upgrade your betting with the complete betting portfolio solution from Football Advisor.
Free Report:
Step by step guiding to building a successful and profitable betting portfolio. Download for free here
Weekly Best Bets:
It is designed to be a really easy and enjoyable service to follow along with just a couple of emails a week and a handful of well researched and supported bets recommended to you each week. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy why not join us for the full European season for just £9.95 a month or £77 for the whole season.
Jon is the Founder and Chief Tipster at Football Advisor and Predictoloy. He started life as data analyst in the digital marketing field before find his true calling in the world of Football and Horse Racing Betting.
Jon has been sharing his professional expertise since 2009 and specialises in using objective data analysis and subjective experience of betting built up over more than a decade of professional betting.
In 2014, Jon also launched (and continues to run) the trusted Football Advisor service service which provides a variety of football and horse racing betting models and portfolios. A few years later, Jon launched the Predictology platform which is the worlds first betting system builder and analyser covering a wealth of football betting related statistics covering more than 200,000 matches.
Jon has also lent his knowledge and expertise to several of the trusted Premium Services offered by the respected Secret Betting Club, including Football Lay Profits. Racing Bet Profits and, most recently, Racing Lay Profits.