Previously we’ve talked about the pros and cons of doubles and trebles as opposed to single bets. Here we will cover rather more ambitious accumulator bets where four or more selections need to win for your bet to be a winner. When an accumulator consists of four selections it is referred to as a fourfold, with five a fivefold, six a sixfold. If there’s a non runner your five fold will turn into a fourfold and so on. Accumulators can be placed across various sports (horse racing, football, tennis etc) though selections must be ‘mutually independent’ – one bet cannot have a bearing on another. Some gamblers hedge their bets with smaller combinations, to avoid the ‘all or nothing’ nature of this type of bet. That way should most, but not all selections win, you could still get a good return.

Skill of course can come into placing an accumulator, but no matter your ability as a gambler, there is an element of ‘shot in the dark’ about accumulators. That’s a consequence of needing so much to go right – it’s not a bet that’s going to come in with any regularity. On the flip-side though, when it does you’ll be richly rewarded even with a small stake.

Most big ‘everyday punter’ wins that you read about are accumulators and it’s no surprise as the odds can become truly astronomical when results start to go your way. For some there’s serious thought that goes into their accumulators, for others it’s their version of buying a lottery ticket. For all though it’s an exciting and very memorable moment when everything falls into place for you.

As with the doubles and trebles posts, let’s see how much a £10 stake on a four bet accumulator could bring in:

Bet 1 Easy Rider at 3-1 (£30 win + £10 = £40 on next bet)
Bet 2 Nagshead at 4-1 (£160 + £40 = £200 on next bet)
Bet 3 Faster Than You 3-1 (£600 + £200 = £800 on next bet)
Bet 4 Going For Gold 6-1 (£4800 + £800 = £5600 – £10 stake = £5590)

As this example shows, if you have a bit of luck with your selections you can potentially end up raking it in. There are many real life examples of people hitting it big with accumulators, occasionally to the tune of well over a million. I wouldn’t have minded having Steve Whiteley’s betting slip!

Previously we gave an overview of doubles bets. We explained how multiples can add a bit of excitement to your betting due to significantly bumping up odds and in turn the potential payout. This is even more of a factor with trebles, where achieving three winning selections can see you gaining a return that would otherwise be all but impossible for the average punter, even with a fairly significant single bet.

Trebles are an attractive proposition for many. They are a somewhat more daring proposition than opting for a double, but at the same time, we’re not talking about entering the ‘once in a blue moon’ territory of accumulators, where four or more results need to go your way for you to win. You can do a treble as a bit of a punt, or if you’re confident of your selections, be hopeful that you haven’t got your head in the clouds if you believe you’re in with a chance of winning a nice wedge with your bet.

With treble bets, much like doubles, each bet rolls into the next, so you’re progressively lumping more on the next part of the bet. Of course this comes with the risk that a selection will lose and as such the entire treble will be a losing bet. It brings with it the chance of higher returns though of course. Let’s show the potential returns with a £10 football treble:

Manchester United to win 2-1 (£20 win + £10 = £30 on next bet)
Norwich to win 4-1 (£120 win + £30 = £150 on next bet)
Aston Villa to win 3-1 (£450 win + £150 = £600 – £10 = £590 win)

As you can see, based on a modest £10 bet you can see substantial returns. Granted you’re not going to be seeing them coming in week on week, so it can be something of a waiting game, but based on the outlay trebles can be quite an exciting bet to follow.