The 20/80 Bet
“I live by the 80/20 rule: I’m 80 percent healthy, and then 20 percent indulgent.” – Miranda Kerr
One bet you may not be familiar with is the 20/80 Bet.
Let me explain:
When placing a 20/80 bet you put 20% of your stake for a horse to win and 80% of your stake for a horse to place.
Why not just back each-way?
Well, there are a few of reasons firstly when backing each way at one fifth of the odds for a place you need to get at least 5/1 to break even if you get a placed horse. The second reason is that a horse can be trading at 4/1 or less and even money or better is sometimes available in the place market. Finally, there are more chances of a horse finishing the first three than there are of it winning.
Each Way vs 20/80
Let us assume that a horse is trading at 5/1 and the bookmakers are paying 1/5th the odds for the place. In the place market the horse is trading at about 5/4 (this is never set-in stone could be lower or higher depending on market forces).
We will use £50 as the total stake so the each-way bet is £25 each way.
On the 20/80 our £50 stake is split £10 win and £40 place.
Say the horse wins:
On the each-way bet the total return is £200 a profit of £150
On the 20/80 the return is £60 for the win and £90 for the place, total return £150 a profit of £100.
If the horse places:
On the each-way bet the total return is £50 a profit of £0.
On the 20/80 bet the return is £90 a profit of £40.
Let us look at this as a series of 6 fictional bets all at the same odds:
1 horse wins, 3 horses place and 2 horses lose.
On the each-way bets we get 2 x £50 losses, 3 x break even and 1 x profit of £150 a total profit across the 6 bets of £50.
On the 20/80 bets we get 2 x £50 losses, 3 x profit of £40 and 1 x profit of £100 a total profit across the 6 bets of £120.
These results are before considering the positive effect that using the Bank Builder strategy can have.
Getting a little more from the 20/80 Bet
While the 20/80 Bet works well in its own right here are a few little tips where you may get a shade more return on your stake.
1). Take advantage of Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) on part of your place bet.
You are probably thinking I have lost the plot now as bookmakers do not give BOG on place only betting. What they do though is BOG on win and each-way betting, so if instead of 20% win and 80% place you place your bets 20% each way and 60% place.
Why do this?
Well say your horse is 6/1 win and 6/4 to place and it drifts to 8/1 you get back a fraction more on the place portion of the bet as 20% of your stake is now on at 1.6/1 (6/4 is 1.5/1).
In hard cash if your horse places you get a profit of 120% on your place bet at 80% but an increased return of 122% if you do 20% e/w and 60% place, 2% may not seem a lot to some of you but over a series of bets this extra return adds up nicely.
2). Place the win part of your bet as a “Cover Bet”.
A “Cover Bet” is also known as an “Insurance Bet” and you back your selection at lower odds than a regular win bet. The way it works is that if your horse finishes in a place behind the winner you get your stake back, bookmakers can offer 2, 3 or even 4 places.
The advantage of this bet is that if your horse finishes in the frame behind the winner you get your stake back.
The disadvantage is if your horse wins you get reduced odds for that win.
If your horse is unplaced you still lose all of your stake.
3). Look out for “Extra Places”.
Extra places offered by bookmakers can appear in many guises but the most common two are:
Extra places in the place market which sometimes occurs at bigger race meetings such as the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot.
Extra places in the each-way market, this often occurs in big field handicaps such as the Grand National, I have seen as many as 10 places available on occasion. Mind you the bookmakers do reduce the odds proportionally with the number of places you choose to take.
Bookmaker incentives are not limited to the ones I have mentioned, drop me a line if you come across another angle on the 20/80 Bet.
All that is needed is the seed of an idea and we could have a brand-new weapon in our betting armoury.
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