These are the two main types of bets which we use and recommend here at SoccerGlobal. On occasion we also will use under and over betting but, in our experience, we have found this more unpredictable than Fixed Odds and Asian Handicap betting.
Many people are very comfortable with Fixed Odds betting but shy away from Asian Handicap betting. This is often because they find Asian Handicap betting a little confusing and difficult to understand.
This is a real shame, because in reality Asian Handicap betting, once you master the initial learning curve, is every bit as simple to understand as Fixed Odds betting.
Overall, Asian Handicap offers benefits which Fixed Odds betting cannot offer, and also vice versa.
So, the bottom line is: your betting will really suffer if you do not master both forms of soccer betting, not just Fixed Odds.
Fixed Odds Betting (1X2)
Fixed-odds betting is the easiest to understand, and most popular, form of betting. Its popularity stems from the fact you know how much you can win and lose when you place your bet. All you have to do is to predict the correct result (Home, Draw or Away) to win the bet. For each outcome (Home, Draw and Away) the bookies set a price (Called Odds). The smaller the price is, the more chance the selection has of winning in the opinion of the bookmaker.
Fixed Odds betting is often referred to as 1X2 betting. 1 refers to the home team. X refers to a draw and 2 refers to the away team.
Asian Handicap Betting (AH)
Asian Handicap (also known as Hang Cheng Betting) eliminates the possibility of a draw in a soccer game. This means that either the home side or the away side is a winner on your bet. Each team is given a handicap by the bookmaker, which is supposed to balance them so that an equal number of betters will bet each side, thus creating at around the even money mark for each team.
When betting on an Asian Handicap market you have to pick a team to win (or lose) together with the winning margin the team will win (or lose) by. The winning margin is expressed as a handicap , a number of goals that will be added to the final score to make up the result used for settlement of the bet.
In some cases, a team is given two virtual head starts. If they manage to overcome both of these, then you get a maximum return on your stake. If they overcome only one of these, your profit is either halved or half your stake is returned, depending on the result.
Remember, with Fixed Odds betting, you have three option to choose from. For example:
Arsenal
Chelsea
Draw
However, when you bet on an Asian Handicap market, you have two options from which to choose. For Example:
Arsenal +0.5
Chelsea -0.5
The above example is the simplest case of Asian Handicap betting, ie when a team is given a half number of goals (+0.5, +1.5, +2.5 etc). The team who scores the most with the handicap applied is deemed the winner. Again, assume I back Arsenal to beat Chelsea with a handicap of +0.5.
The bet is a winner if the following happens:
Arsenal win
Draw
It is a loser if:
Chelsea win
Draw / No Bet (DNB)
Draw/ No Bet is commonly referred to as DNB or 0:0. This means that, if the game finishes in a draw, the bet is void and your stakes are returned.
As an example, assume we backed Celtic against Rangers with a handicap of 0:0.
The bet is a winner if the following happens:
Celtic win
Again, the bet is void and stakes returned if the game is a draw. This is commonly known as a PUSH result.
The bet is a loser if:
Rangers win.
Quarter Goal Handicaps
As mentioned, the Asian handicap markets can also give teams two virtual head starts (or handicaps in the case of the favourite).
Here, we have a combination of a half goal and a whole goal handicap (-0.5 & -1, +0.5 & +1). These bets are sometimes referred to as quarter goal handicaps:
For example:
Real Madrid -0.5 & -1.0 (or –0.75)
Barcelona +0.5 & +1.0 (or +0.75)
In this case, the stake is divided in half between a bet on the half goal and a bet on the whole goal handicap. Now, for reasons of simplicity, +0.5 & +1.0 is often referred to as simply +0.75.
In our example, if I back Real Madrid to beat Barcelona with a handicap of -0.5 & -1.0 (or –0.75), then:
If Real win by 2 goals or more, both parts of my bet win and I collect all winnings
If Real win by exactly 1 goal, then only half my bet wins and the other half is void
If they draw or lose, then naturally both parts of the bet lose.
Another example:
For example, I back Liverpool against Everton:
Liverpool 0:0 & -0.5 (or –0.25)
Everton 0:0 & +0.5 (or +0.25)
In this case, the stake is divided between a bet on the half goal handicap and a saver (or a void) on the draw. Then:
If Liverpool win by 1 goal or more, I win my bet at the odds taken
Liverpool draw, I get half my stake returned
Everton win, I lose my entire stake
Full Goal Handicaps
A similar market to this is when the handicap starts with a full goal amount (-1, 1) rather than a half goal amount.
For example:
AC Milan -1
Juventus +1
The bet is a winner if the following happens:
AC Milan win by 2 goals
The bet is void and stakes returned if AC Milan only win by 1 goal. Again, this would be a known as a PUSH result.
The bet is a loser if:
Juventus Draw or Win
Asian Handicap vs Fixed Odds
The advantages of the two different ways to bet on a soccer match:
Asian Handicap
- Eliminates the possibility of a draw.
- You get high prices on favourites.
- If a quarter handicap match ends in a draw, you only lose 50% of your stake.
- Good fun when following a match live - one single goal is likely to change everything.
- When playing multiple betting the number of outcomes are reduced from 27 (3x3x3) to only 8 (2x2x2).
Fixed Odds
- A very high number of bookmakers to choose from.
- Bankers. It is possible to bet on "sure" games, which might be suitable for an accumulator.
- Bigger odds on outsiders.
- Much easier to find value bets. You only need home-draw-away estimations, in Asian Handicap it is required that you are able to predict exact results.
