Asian Handicap Betting Explained

If you hope to make any money at all from Asian Handicap betting (AHB) today, the only way to approach it is as if you are at the roulette table.

This is because, with online bookmakers computerised systems being so much better nowadays, they have made the theoretical chances of a correct AHB call close to 50/50 in most cases - even utilising the free bets that bookmakers offer.

This means that there is no sure-fire way to predict the handicapped winner of a match, and if you continually act on the advice of anyone telling you differently without employing a 'mitigation' tactic, you will slowly lose all your payroll at bookmakers even if you take advantage of all the free bets and signup offers bookmakers give new members.

How Asian Handicapping Works

All the best bookmakers eliminate the opportunity for a Draw call with AHB, so there are only 2 possible calls to make: a win, either for the Home Team or the Away Team.

This, of course, has removed the possibility of the Draw as an alternative call for use as a 'hedging' technique, which is why mitigation tactics are necessary when betting at online bookmakers.

The Odds on offer to you for AHB are not 1 for 1, as they are when betting on red or black on the roulette table, but slightly reduced (on average about 0.95 returned for a win, against every 1 laid out).

The odds you get from online bookmakers are therefore very similar to those when you play on a roulette table having 2 zeros (the American system) instead of the 1-zeroed European table. But how do you beat the odds at online bookmakers?

the main problem with AHB is that there is no chance of being able to employ a proper 'selection' method for the match choices, and so winning very much comes down simply to Lady Luck.

The reality therefore is that if you use an unstructured staking method with AHB you will inevitably lose more than you win. However, so many people enjoy this type of betting today that I feel some sound advice on a staking strategy needs to be offered.

Winning Asian Handicap Bets

With AHB, the only way I have found any chance of winning more football betting than I lose is to apply the same type of betting/staking system as is best for roulette.

My preferred system for roulette is the one known as the '1-3-2-6' Staking Plan. It is a 'protected progressive' staking gambit that assumes, where the chances of getting the call right are near enough 50/50, that it would be possible to win four times in a row often enough to have you winning overall.

To apply the 1-3-2-6 Staking Plan to AHB is nowhere near as easy as it is for roulette (where many spins take place every hour over long stretches of time). AHB is generally available only for prime Saturday and Sunday matches, where the kick-off times all occur within a very short time frame each day.

Its true that all you need for a full winning cycle of a 1-3-2-6 bet is just 4 stages of betting at online bookmakers, but if you have to restart the cycle a few times because you incurred losses you will need more betting stages to work with.

Asian Handicap Staking Plans

The following is how to apply the 1-3-2-6 Staking Plan for AHB purposes:

1. All started cycles of betting need to be completed over the course of a weekend. For your own peace of mind, dont start a cycle you cant complete until the following weekend!

2. To allow yourself the maximum number of stages for betting purposes, you need to identify a series of matches over the Saturday and Sunday plays where the starting times do not overlap and such as will give you time to place ALL your next bets after you have the results in.

3. What you must absolutely NOT do is split your bet in any stage across 2 or more matches! The betting in each stage of a cycle must be limited to just one match only.

This comes down to pure mathematical probabilities: a standard AHB call has a 50% chance of coming good, but 2 AHB calls both coming good reduces the chances to 25%.

4. If you wish, you may find that you are able to select a sufficient number of matches to allow you to run a number of cycles at the same time, near enough parallel with each other.

5. Just as in roulette, to enable you to keep proper track of where you stand in any given cycle the overall stake would need to be based on a standardised value for your 'Unit' at each and every stage of the cycle. Nothing stops you from increasing the value of your 'Unit' from one cycle to the next, of course.

The Best Staking Plans

The main thrust of this article is to let you know that there are many staking plans around, and most of them can be useful in the right betting situation.

However, when embarking on betting with a roulette-type outcome - and AHB definitely falls into that category - beware of staking plans that require you to increase your stake if you lose.

With AHB in particular, what you must really pay close attention to is choosing a staking plan that will make you regular money on a consistent basis, and that will protect your base bank as much as possible.

I believe that the 1-3-2-6 staking plan is one of the best systems for enabling you to achieve both those aims. Although it may never make you a fortune, using it properly could enable you to keep adding to your base bank instead of watching it rapidly shrink.