Hedge calculator
You hold a bet and the other side is now on offer. This tells you how much to put on it so you come out the same whichever way it goes, and how much of the original payout you give up to get there.
- Bet this on the other side
- $300.00
- Profit whichever side wins
- $100.00
- Payout either way
- $500.00
What it works out
Say you hold $100 on a team at +2000 and it makes the final, where the other side is -150. Bet $1,260 on the other side and you finish $740 up whatever happens: your future pays $2,000 less the $1,260 hedge, or the hedge wins $840 and you lose the $100. The calculator does that for any two prices. I'd run it before deciding, not after.
The mistake people make
They think a hedge is free money. It isn't: you pay the book's cut a second time on the hedge, and you trade a shot at $2,000 for a sure $740. Sometimes that is the right trade. I'd take it when the sure $740 matters to my bankroll more than the extra $1,260 I might have won, and the hedging guide goes through when. And when two books price the same game so differently that you can back both sides and win either way, that is arbitrage, which the same arithmetic finds. They're rarer than people hope.