Is placing Each-Way Doubles a good betting strategy?

I’m a huge fan of betting each-way when I place my horse racing bets. Unlike a simple win bet an each-way bet also pays out if the horse places in the top 2,3 or 4 usually. The exact terms of the place depend on the number of runners, type of race and the bookmaker’s offer.

So why bet each-way? If you just bet to win, your bet will only win if the horse comes first. Anyone who has watched horse racing will attest that this is far from guaranteed. Each way betting also suits punters who prefer to bet at bigger odds. While you may back a 1/1 shot to win. You may be less confident at 10/1. The place part of the bet gives us a chance to win a smaller amount or at least cover our loss from the win side of the part providing we bet at 5/1+ (assuming 1/5 place terms)

If we did place a 10/1 bet each-way with £5 each-way bet. That’s £5 to win and £5 to place. If it comes 2nd we win our place bet. The odds of this bet are usually 1/5 of the odds (1/4 if 7 or less runners) so we lose the win bet of £5 at 10/1, but we win the place bet at 2/1 as the horse came second. That bet returns £10 profit from £5 staked. When you take the £5 off we lost on the win bet we end up with £5 profit. Had the bet won that would be £60 profit.

Things get more interesting when we double up each-way. Let’s take the same 10/1 odds but on two horses in two races. If they both win an each-way double we are looking at £640 profit on a £5 each way double (total £10 staked across two horses). If they both place we are looking at a £35 profit.

The place term is often fixed at 5/1 so it can make sense to bet at these odds each-way. Although in a double due to the compounding effect you would still profit on both bets placing even at 2/1 and 3/1 which would result in a £1.20 profit from a £10 stake.

A good calculator to play about with is here. This will show you mathematically how it works for each bet. You change the odds, the place terms and even add Rule 4 and Void bets to get an accurate figure of how much you could potentially win from these multiple bets. This is great for paper trading which is also sensible before betting for real on a bet type you’re not familiar with.

Which races to go for? Horse racing has many different types of races, but betting each-way requires a horse and a race to be reliable. If you think a horse is a bit “all or nothing” you may be reluctant to be backing for a place and just want to bet to win. If the odds are odds-on say at 4/6 you may not feel a place is worth betting at a fifth of that which would be just 1.13. Some races are lower class which could be less reliable. Some jockeys are amateurs which may also throw off your bet. To give yourself the best possible chance of hitting a place its worthwhile studying horse racing form. racingpost.com is a good place to start and you can get a wealth of information for free off this website on the horses, trainers and jockeys past form.

So how do you reliably predict a double and win both bets? As you may have guessed from the £640 potential profit from a £10 each-way bet, this is no easy feat. The place part of the bet softens the difficulty as its far easier to hit two 10/1 shots to place, than it is to win. The idea of betting each-way would be to try to keep your bankroll going for longer in order to hit the lucky double. Like with any bet strategy its important to only bet what you can realistically afford to lose and gamble responsibly.

A common method for horse racing fans is “value hunting” this is to find a bet you think the bookies have got the odds wrong on, by that I mean its 10/1 and should maybe be 5/1. The good thing about doubling up value bets is that is compounds the value, which creates a fantastic bet. The downside of course is, if you are wrong and it is actually 12/1, not 10/1 you compound your losses and have longer losing runs.

Lots of punters share incredible wins on social media. Firstly this is of course completely unrealistic that you will hit some big jackpot. Think of this as akin to a lottery, gambling is of course risky. But unlike huge odds accumulators, the each-way double is a relatively commonly won bet, at least for the place side of things.

So if you are ready to try out each-way doubles. You need a good bookmaker to bet with. You will find all our favourites on our uk free bet list here listed in order of our preference. The main two things to look out for is getting good odds and if you can extra place terms (usually 4 rather than 3 places at the top bookies). This will make your each-way double both potentially return more with the better odds and be more likely to come in as its easy to hit top 4, than top 3.

Have a fun with your Each-Way double bets!!