Double chance betting has become increasingly popular with soccer bettors because of the spectre of the draw. Despite having only two teams going at it there are always three possible results; home win, away win or draw.
This bet offers the chance for a player to bet two possible outcomes in one wager if they feel they need some insurance. So, imagine Barcelona are playing Valencia and the obvious thing to do is back the home team. They may have a player missing or Valencia may be in great form so we know there is a chance they can snatch a draw.
This gives us two options: back Barcelona at 1/2 and hope they don’t mess it up, or back Barcelona / Draw in the double chance market at 1/7 and be pretty confident of a return on your money.
The reason the odds are so short is because of the insurance it gives us. Here all we need is for Barcelona to either win the game by any score or even draw the game and either way we are getting paid. The only thing that stops us winning is if Valencia go and win the match.
There are still three combinations to choose from: home win and draw, away win and draw or home win and away win. The latter is risky as we are being a little wild in not knowing which way the game will go. If that’s the case, we shouldn’t bet betting and the odds for this will be short. The better odds will always be on the underdog, whether they are home or away, combined with the draw.
The Best Double Betting Strategies
Much like the sportsmen we are wagering on, bettors tend to fall into one of two categories: attacking or safe. With that in mind there are two broad strategies we can take with double chance betting depending on which category you fall into:
Strategy 1 – Low Risk Profiteering
Playing safe in the double chance markets, or at least when you do it correctly, is a way of garnering low but steady profits over the course of a season. Even if you’re no soccer expert, a quick look at the league table or the top scorers charts gives you an idea of where the teams in question sit.
The example we have above (Barcelona/Draw) would be an extremely safe bet to take and if priced at 1/7 would definitely turn a reasonable profit eventually, if we parlay them. Finding five 1/7 shots would mean odds of around even money so getting them right would double our bank.
If you’re are using some stats and not just betting blind, finding 5 good favorites combined with the draw is not a hard thing to do and will come in more often than it loses, so it’s a solid enough strategy for those with the patience to evaluate the teams and wait for five results.
Strategy 2 – Betting on the Underdog
How many times have you seen the underdog win or even take a draw and thought to yourself “I knew they could do that”? Well if you didn’t bet it, don’t say it!
Finding underdogs within the double chance market, just by its very safe nature, will not reap huge rewards on every result. However things are done much more quickly if you get it right and for greater rewards than backing the favorite.
Take for example the European game between Partizan Belgrade and Besiktas. Belgrade is a hard place for away teams to go and atmosphere will be white hot. Partizan are priced up at 2/1, the draw is 23/20 and Besiktas are favorites at 27/20.
There is every reason to believe that Partizan can get some sort of result on home turf, so backing them at 4/7 in the home/draw double chance market may be good value. Finding just two bets like this comes to almost 6/4 as opposed to the barely even money we were getting for fives results in Strategy 1, so is much more appealing to most.