![\"Hedging](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hedging-765px.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou\u2019ve probably heard the phrase \u2018hedge your bets\u2019 before, but actually not ever used it in its common context: sports betting.<\/p>\n
Mind you, it\u2019s thought that the original use of the phrase dates back to 1672 \u2013 specifically, George Villiers\u2019 play The Rehearsal. It\u2019s doubtful that George was thinking of backing both teams to score in a football game at the time given that the sport wasn\u2019t really invented for another 200 years.<\/p>\n
But the notion of hedging your bets remains nearly 400 years later after its first usage, and the idea of limiting the risk of your sports bets is as valid today as it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s imagine that you have bet on Liverpool to win the Premier League at odds of 5\/1. You\u2019ve put \u00a310 on, so there\u2019s a possibility of \u00a350 winging its way to you if the Reds oblige.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s imagine that with five games left of the season to play, Liverpool are three points clear at the top of the table. Clearly, they are now going to be favourites with the bookies to lift the trophy, and those odds will have undoubtedly shortened.<\/p>\n
As a punter, you might think that you don\u2019t have a decision to make, and instead can let your wager run until the bitter end: if Liverpool win the league, your bet pays out. If they don\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s consider a scenario where a key Liverpool player gets injured during the run-in, while Manchester City embark on an excellent run of form and win five games out of five. Your confidence in your bet may start to waiver\u2026 so what can you do about it?<\/p>\n
This is where the beauty of hedging your bets kicks in.<\/p>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/how-to-hedge-bets-400px.jpg\")
Remember, you have bet \u00a310 on Liverpool at odds of 5\/1, leaving you a potential prize pool of \u00a350.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s consider our options. If we don\u2019t want to let our bet run \u2013 and the title battle is a two-horse race between Liverpool and Man City \u2013 then we have another potential choice: backing City as well.<\/p>\n
The benefit of this is that, essentially, we can balance out our original bet to create a return covering both outcomes \u2013 if we have a bet on both teams, then whether it\u2019s Liverpool or Man City that get their hands on the trophy, one of our bets wins.<\/p>\n
Of course, the numbers still have to stack up.<\/p>\n
Remembering that we have bet \u00a310 on Liverpool to win \u00a350, we can now use some of our potential prize money to hedge our bets:<\/p>\n
Our potential outcomes are as follows:<\/p>\n
So by hedging our bets, we have bagged ourselves a \u00a330 return and eliminated the risk of a losing bet by covering both outcomes at different times.<\/p>\n
Sure, we might have won a little more by letting our Liverpool wager run to the end, but what\u2019s that old saying: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.<\/p>\n
![\"Smarkets](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/smarkets-765px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
If you bet at a betting exchange like Smarkets or the Betfair Exchange, the concept of hedging your bets has a different name: back to lay.<\/p>\n
In our Liverpool example above, we hedged our bets by wagering on two different market runners: Liverpool and Man City. But with back-to-lay betting, we can hedge a single runner instead.<\/p>\n
This time, let\u2019s say we\u2019re wagering on the Grand National ante post market.<\/p>\n
We back Ahoy Senor on the Betfair Exchange at 23.00 with our \u00a310 stake.<\/p>\n
The horse has a fantastic season, wins an eye-catching race at the Cheltenham Festival and his odds tumble to 14.00.<\/p>\n
Now, we can lay some or all of our stake back to hedge our bets and create a situation where we still get a return if Ahoy Senor wins, but lose nothing if he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Hedging a bet and back-to-lay are essentially the same thing, it\u2019s just that the way you manoeuvre your money around the market changes.<\/p>\n
![\"Should](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/SHOULD-YOU-hedge-your-bets-765px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Now here\u2019s the million dollar question: should you hedge a bet?<\/p>\n
The answer is the same as when punters ask should I cash out my bet? The answer is\u2026 it depends.<\/p>\n
Good bettors only place positive expectancy, i.e. value, bets in the first place. If you know that you\u2019ve taken value odds, why would you hedge or cash out? You should have complete confidence in your pick achieving what you want them to.<\/p>\n
On the flipside, sometimes things happen that are beyond our control \u2013 Liverpool might have been a value price at 5\/1 to win the Premier League, but if they suffer a spate of injuries to key players then maybe that value is eroded.<\/p>\n
But once you know about hedging your bets, concerns about whether to cash out become a thing of the past if a market only has two or three options \u2013 you can hedge the other live runners and keep your own bet alive, whereas with cash out you exit your bet and take the offer put forward by the bookies.<\/p>\n
Hedging gives you more control than cashing out, so if you feel as though your original bet wasn\u2019t good value enough or has lost some value along the way, this is usually your smartest next step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You\u2019ve probably heard the phrase \u2018hedge your bets\u2019 before, but actually not ever used it in its common context: sports betting. Mind you, it\u2019s thought that the original use of the phrase dates back to 1672 \u2013 specifically, George Villiers\u2019 play The Rehearsal. It\u2019s doubtful that George was thinking of backing both teams to score […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":69,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-2029","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2038,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2029\/revisions\/2038"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}