If you want to hedge a bet - which means placing another bet to guarantee a profit or mitigate your loss - it can be next to impossible to work out manually. Using a hedge bet calculator can do the hard work for you.
In this short guide, I’ll give you the 101 on hedging, as well as take you through what to expect from a hedging calculator, so you'll know what it can do and what it can’t. This way, you’ll be able to use one when you need to and get the most from each of your wagers.
There’s no doubt about it, working out how to hedge a bet manually is nothing most people would be willing to do. On the other hand, theoretically guaranteeing a profit or minimizing a loss is something you are likely to want to do, and using our free hedge calculator betting tool can help you do that. Like all betting calculators you’ll find here, it is simple to use, but is only as effective as the data you put into it, and it will not help you win more bets.
In short, by using a hedge betting calculator like the one on this page, you’ll see what size compensatory bet you’ll need to lock in a profit or reduce a loss, so you’ll know the outcome of your wager.
Hedge betting is when you place bets on different outcomes of the same event in an attempt to put yourself in a profitable position, or at least provide some insurance should your initial bet not go as planned. This is likely to require more than one sportsbook, or where available a betting exchange, where you can wager on an event not happening by using a lay bet.
You have backed the Bulls but you are not as sure as you’d like even though they are winning. If you have access to a betting exchange you can place a lay bet that the Bulls will not win, so you’ll be covered if your fears become reality. If you don’t have access to a betting exchange, you will have to go and place a compensatory wager on the Knicks to get the same result. The question here is how much would you need to wager to cover yourself or even make a profit no matter what happens? - this is where the sports betting hedge calculator.
Just like our dutching calculator, the sports betting hedge calculator is simple to use, but you need to enter your figures precisely. A common error is selecting the wrong odds type so make sure you know if you are using decimal, fractional or American odds. You will also need to enter
Now enter odds of your compensatory hedge bet - and let the calculator do the hard work for you. You are likely to see three different results, which will need some explaining and you can choose which one you want to use depending on your betting style.
Bias | Description |
---|---|
None | The stake for your hedge bet is calculated so you get the same return regardless of which team wins |
Toward original bet | The stake for your hedge bet is calculated so that all the profit is in the original bet, and you only break even if your hedge bet wins. |
Toward hedge bet | The stake for your hedge bet is calculated so that you break even if the original bet wins, and all the profit is in the success of the hedge bet |
This works well if you have just two possible results - using the example above, whether the Knicks or the Bulls win - but what if you have a sport like soccer where a draw is also a common result. If you have access to a betting exchange this would not be a problem as the lay bet also covers the draw, but if not you would need to use a 3 way hedge bet calculator to include the draw or tie. You might also wish to hedge a parlay or accumulator bet, and in cases like this you will need more than a parlay calculator and instead use a multi bet hedge calculator take care of all the permutations.
As you can see, our free hedge calculator betting tool needs to take place alongside our arbitrage betting calculator aon your list of essential tools for the savvy bettor. It can help you lock in a profit no matter what - albeit a small one - or cut down the size of losses. This might seem like extra effort but over the course of a month or so a few hedged bets could make an impact on your balance. This is not the only calculator here, and each will take the legwork out of working out the returns on bets yourself, and improve your overall experience - so they are worth checking out yourself.
A hedge bet calculator will help you work out the stake on a compensatory bet designed to lock in a profit or mitigate a loss. This can be hard to work out manually so saves time and effort.
To use a hedge bet calculator, you’ll need to first enter your original stake and odds, and also the odds of the compensatory bet you wish to place. The calculator will then give you the stale for your hedge bet.
Working out a hedge bet manually can be very difficult, especially in a hurry , whereas to use a hedge bet calculator you just need to enter three numbers. You can see and use one for free in our betting school, which also has a range of guides.