Yankee Betting Strategy

Multiple Bets such as Trixies, Lucky 15 & Yankees can be confusing to newcomers. Even to seasoned professional bettors, they are often not fully understood or optimised correctly. 

This article aims to help you place better Yankee bets. We will focus on strategies to use on Yankee multiples involving football and horse racing bets.

Let’s first ensure you're clear on what a Yankee bet actually involves.

What is a Yankee Bet?

A Yankee is a multiple bet covering 4 selections across four different events. They are actually a combination bet of 11 different bets.

The bets break down like this:

• 1 four-fold accumulator
• 4 trebles
• 6 doubles

Generally, Lucky 15 bets are more popular in the UK than Yankee bets; the key difference is that a Yankee doesn’t include single bets. 

If you stake £1 per line on a Yankee, the total cost would come to £11.

What Odds are Appropriate For a Yankee Bet?

Technically, you can place bets at any odds on a Yankee bet. So the short answer is, it’s up to you.

I would recommend using our accumulator calculator to test out different odds combinations and returns in order to get a rough idea of how Yankee bets work. 

You can use our Yankee Calculator here. 

If we take the odds at face value, the shorter the odds, the more likely the bet is to win, but conversely, the less money we make. Longer odds in a multiple will have a compounding effect, making the potential return huge but also unlikely to actually come in. 

For example, if we place a Yankee with all bets at 10/1 and they all win at £1a leg (total £11), we would make £20,680. 

Of course, to hit this, you need to overcome odds of 14,640/1. So you could place one of these £11 bets for 40 years every day, and then on average you would hit it at some stage. A sobering thought. By which point you would have bet £160,600! 

So what is the point of a Yankee bet then? Well, unlike an accumulator, we aren’t just putting our money on 4 bets coming in. With a Yankee 3/4 10/1 bets coming in would make £1683, a 4-fold acca would have lost. 2/4 10/1 shots coming in would make £110 off a £11 stake.

How should you place Yankee Bets on Horse Racing?

As you have probably guessed from the extreme returns for hitting 4 winners, it is also very difficult. The beauty of horse racing bets is that you have the option to bet to win or to place (e.g. 1st, 2nd or 3rd). This opens up more possibilities for your Yankee bet. 

In horse racing, an each-way Yankee gives you two bets. 1 bet if they win and 1 bet if they all place. It is easier to place a horse than win with one. 4/4 places would make £110.50 off a £11 total stake on an e/w yankee. Which is roughly the same as 2/4 10/1 winning. 3/4 places at 10/1 makes £16. 2/4 placing at 10/1 makes a £6.50 loss.

What are the odds of a sweet spot on a Yankee for Horse Racing?

We would recommend if average odds hit 4/1+ to back the Yankee each-way for horse racing. If below 4/1, we would suggest placing a win Yankee.

2/4 winners at 3/1 would pay £5 at £11 total bet for a yankee win bet. 3 pays £101 and 4 pays £597

For a 4/1 each way yankee total stake £11, 4 winners pays £650, 3 winners £96.78, 2 winners £3.12.  4 places makes £15.63 and 3 places is -£3.22

How Should You Place Your Yankee Bet on Football?

For football betting, the odds are often tighter with no option for place betting. Therefore, it makes sense to do a straight win Yankee bet. 

What are the odds of a sweet spot on a Yankee for Football?

We would recommend going for bets around evens for a football Yankee, you will need 3/4 to profit £9 off an £11 stake. If you get 4, you will get £100. 2/4 loses £7. If you want to edge the bet to only need 2/4 to profit, you would need odds of at least 5/2. This may suit more outsider underdog football bets or backing the draw. 4 wins at 5/2 makes £384, 3 makes £68.63, 2 makes £1.25.

What should my Yankee betting strategy be?

1. Only Bet What You Can Afford

Firstly, the most important thing is not to risk anything more than you can afford to lose. Any type of multiple bet increases risk. Do not just think about the bigger returns; think about the bigger risk. Keep stakes small and sensible. Also, set limits on your bookmaker account so you aren’t tempted to place big bets in the moment. Betting safely and responsibly is always the first step in any betting strategy. 

2. Bet at Value Odds

The only way to potentially beat the bookmaker is to bet at odds that you think are overpriced. This way, you are getting a “value” price. The bookmaker is very astute, but as a punter, it is your job to try to find bets you think are a good price. You can just bet on anything you fancy and not consider the odds value, but focusing on price ensures you have the best chance of getting value for your risk of betting money. 

3. Multiply the Value - Do Not Multiply the Bookmaker Edge

Betting on multiples is a double-edged sword. In theory, if you spot bets at value odds, you can put them in a multiple bet, such as a Yankee. Will multiply the value. However, the risky side of this is that if you are wrong, you in fact multiply the bookmaker's edge, so you lose more money than you would with singles bets. 

4. Knowledge is Power

You should only be betting on events you understand to some degree. To have the best chance of a Yankee being successful, it's important to do your research and analysis to give yourself the best possible chance of winning. 

Helpful resources For Your Yankee Betting Strategy

Here are a few resources to use to help with your bets.

Horse Racing:

attheraces.com - Use this site for tips and analysis. Also, you can read its in-depth racecards, which give fantastic free info on horse form and even pace analysis. 

racingpost.com - Use their racecards, which have their own Racing Post ratings. They also provide a betting forecast for each horse, which you can compare to current odds to determine how much “value” there is in the odds.

Artificial Intelligence? - I would proceed with caution with this, as you are betting with your own money. AI will mash together information from sites that are on Google or social media posts. It can be a time saver, but I would not trust the information to be as reliable as researching independent and authoritative websites.

Football:

http://footystats.org/ - A fantastic football statistics website with everything you could want, including stats such as Home/Away form, xG figures and BTTS percentages. They have information for free, and also a paywall for extensive usage.

whoscored.com - Another fantastic stats site which also suggests bets based on quick match facts. Good for quick form checks and looking at team characteristics.

Yankee Betting Offers to Use

As far as we are aware, the only bookie to have an offer for Yankee bets is Betfred.

If you place your bet at Betfred below, you can expect a 10% bonus if all your legs win in your Yankee bet.

Also, new customers can claim the offer below…

Conclusion

Hopefully, this clears up what a Yankee bet entails and the best strategic approach to placing one on horse racing and football. Play around with our accumulator calculator to grasp how different odds, amounts and results affect profits. Yankees give you a solid choice for a four bet multiple without the full risk of a straight accumulator. Keep stakes sensible, focus on value, and please bet responsibly. Good luck!