How to Play Smarter at Odds – Avoid the Traps and Win More Often

Have you ever placed an odds slip with many matches, watched the odds rise, and thought: "If this one goes in, it'll be a big win!"?

This is a common mindset, but unfortunately one of the biggest mistakes many bettors make. The more matches you add to a bet slip, the lower the likelihood that they will all go in. In this article, we will look at why this happens, and how you can bet smarter on the odds.

The goal is not just to get one big win, but to win more often and avoid unnecessary losses.

Many people think that more matches on a bet means a bigger win, but in reality it means a lower chance of winning. Every extra match you add reduces the likelihood of the entire bet going in.

To understand this better, let's look at a concrete example.

Let's say you find a match that has a 60 percent chance of going in (equivalent to 1.67 in odds).

Probability of winning with:

1 match: 60 percent chance of winning

2 matches: 36 percent chance (0.60 × 0.60)

3 games: 21.6 percent chance

4 games: 13 percent chance

5 games: 7.8 percent chance

6 games: 4.7 percent chance

The more matches you add, the harder it becomes to win.

Many players choose favorites with low odds, such as 1.30, thinking it's a sure way to win. But even favorites lose.

Let's say you add five favorites, each with a 75 percent chance of winning (equivalent to 1.33 in odds).

Probability of winning:

1 match: 75 percent

2 games: 56 percent

3 games: 42 percent

4 games: 31 percent

5 games: 23 percent

Even “sure” matches don’t make long bets more profitable. After five matches, you only have a 23 percent chance of your entire bet going in.

Many players place a bet on 10 matches because the odds are high. However, the chance of all 10 winning is extremely low.

Let's say that each match has a 70 percent chance of going in (equivalent to 1.43 in odds).

5 games: 16.8 percent chance of winning

10 games: 2.8 percent chance of winning

When you have 10 matches on a coupon, you lose in 97 percent of cases.

Now that we've seen why long coupons are a bad idea, let's look at some better strategies.

Single bets or combinations with a maximum of two to three matches give you a much greater chance of winning.

Don't bet on teams just because they are favorites. Check form, statistics and injuries before placing a bet.

Decide how much you want to bet per game and stick to it. Don't try to win back losses with bigger bets.

If you want to play combinations, try using a sure match that banks together with one or two value bets, rather than lots of random matches.

Don't bet on everything, always. Use the amount set aside on a few objects, instead of spreading the same amount over many objects throughout the day. Because even if you play singles, you will lose in the long run if you bet on everything that moves.

And even though we publish many games on our odds list, the idea is not to bet on all of them. The list is intended to act as a bank of suggestions. So be critical, wait for the right objects and go really hard on a few games.

Many matches on one coupon means low chance of winning. Favorites don't always win. Focus on quality, not quantity.

By avoiding long coupons and instead focusing on analyzed games with value, you increase your chances of success in the long term.

It's not about winning big once, but about winning more often.

Written by Arve