Win Bets and Place Bets in Football – Tips & Strategies

Picking the winner is the foundation of every betting offer in the sportsbook and cannot be missed from any event. Less well known in connection with football is the place bet, which is much more common in horse racing.

Both types of bets have their origin there, with the place bet being an extension of the win bet. Its advantage is that, since it does not attempt to make an exact forecast, there is less risk of losing the bet and thus the stake.

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In this article we will look at detailed information about the place bet. Where can it be found in the football sportsbook, what is the intent behind this type of bet and how does it relate to the win bet?

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Win and Place Bets Table of Contents

• The Win Bet as a 3-way Bet and as a Long-Term Bet
• The Place Bet in Football Betting
• Combining Win and Place Bets: The Each Way Bet
• Conclusion and Summary

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The Win Bet as a 3-Way Bet and as a Long-Term Bet

Outside of horse racing, the win bet appears in two different variations in the context of the bookmakers’ bets on offer. One of these is the 3-way bet. This common type of bet involves predicting which team will win or whether the match will end in a draw. Therefore, the 3-way bet in football is also called a 1×2 bet.

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In its second iteration, the win bet takes the form of a classic long-term bet on the winner of a season or tournament. In this instance, for example, a bet can be made on who will win the Champions League or who will be the next World Cup winner.

Looking at the two forms it quickly becomes clear, that betting on the winner ante-post, and betting on the outcome of a game – whether pre-match or placed as a live bet– are characterized by different features.

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The most important of these characteristics are listed in a direct comparison in the table below.

Direct Comparison: Features & Characteristic of the Win Bet as …

… Long-Term Bet	… Pre-Match Bet	…Live Bet
Placed months, if not even years, before the event	Placed shortly, days or hours, before the match	Placed during the course of the match
Because the event takes place in the future and there are many uncertainties associated with it, the odds are high throughout, and are not suitable for making a reliable forecast.	The odds reflect – at least in tendency – the current relative strength of the teams	The odds can change quickly depending on the events currently happening on the pitch
Difficult to predict due to the many uncertainties and usually a large number of betting options	As a 3-way bet the 1×2-bet is among the simpler bet types.	Psychologically, live betting can cause pressure that can lead to hasty decisions
The stake is tied up in the bet for a long time	The bet is tied up for a maximum of a few days	The settlement of the bet takes place promptly
Is not suitable for inclusion in a bet strategy	Is well suited for inclusion in combination and system bets, as well as a part of a bet strategy	Suitable as a backup and for hedging purposes, for instance if the pre-match bet placed turns out to be wrong.
The emotions and enjoyment of betting are prominent here (keyword: patriotic Sports Betting Tips)	Before the bet is placed a thorough analysis and strategic considerations can be made	The thrill comes first

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The Place Bet: Explanation and Utilization in Football

When the place bet is used in connection with football, we are inevitably talking about the classic long-term or antepost bet.

The requirement for this betting type is that not only two opponents face each other, as is the case in betting on a football match or on the tennis or basketball court, but that there are several participants – as in horse racing, but also, as further examples, in motor racing and cycling. A tournament or competition must therefore take place for a place bet to be applied in football.

On the race course, the place bet was introduced to lessen the risk of the win bet, which requires an exact and therefore often difficult forecast. For this reason, the place bet does not require the picking of a winner, but choosing those contestants who will achieve one of the top finishing positions.

Depending on the number of contestants taking part, and the type of race, a place in horse racing can be defined as a placement among the first two, the first three or the first four.

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Ultimately, the decision of what constitutes a place is up to the organizer, which is why there are no unified rules for place bets. The bookmakers make ample use of this freedom. For example, Unibet offers three place bets at the same time for the Bundesliga:

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The above example shows that, with the place bet, punters pay for the advantage of having a lower risk of losing with rather unattractive odds. This disadvantage can of course be compensated for with a higher wager, but, as already mentioned before, the amount used for long-term bets remains tied up for a relatively long time.

A place bet that includes the first six or ten places is quite a curiosity, considering all the advantages and disadvantages.

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Win and Place Bets combined: the Each-Way bet

In an article about win and place bets, the each-way bet should not be missing, which is more common in England than in continental Europe.

Based on their own betting tradition, the English punters prefer this type of bet: Instead of the Place bet, the Win bet is usually paired with an each-way bet as a linked offer. It is therefore a combination of a win and place bet:

Betting each way only leads to a single bet being placed, but the stake is put on both the “Win” and the “Place”. If the chosen team wins, both partial bets are won, whereas if the team only reaches a place, only the winnings from the place bet are paid out.

The following example of an each-way bet comes from Bet365.

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In the same way as bets are offered at Unibet, the each-way bet is presented here at Bet365 in conjunction with a bet on the overall winner, but only as a cryptic note: “E/W 1/3 1-2”. This is to be understood as follows:

• E/W stands for the Each Way bet on offer (Win and Place Bet)
• 1/3 means that the place odds are equal to a third of the odds for the winner
• 1-2 states that the first two places are counted as placement for this betting offer

Now, of course, the question remains as to how the bet can be placed, as the individual betting options for an each-way wager are not written down separately. For this purpose, the winning team has to be selected first. Only in the betting slip can this be extended to a win/place bet by placing a tick.

It is important to know that the value of the total bet is not to be entered in the box for the bet stake, but only the amount wagered per sub-bet. As an example: If you want to bet a total of two Euros – one Euro to win and one Euro to place – the bet stake has to be entered as € 1.00. This is what it looks like on the betting slip:

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Conclusion and Summary

Originally a typical offering at the racecourse, win and place bets are closely related. While the win bet can only be won with an exact forecast, the idea behind the place bet is to give the punter more leeway by allowing a certain deviation in the result.

Even so there is no advantage without a disadvantage: the player pays for a higher chance of winning by accepting lower odds

So, win and place bets have also found a home in football. But as with all long-term bets, it must be remembered that the results are very difficult to predict. After all, a lot of water will have flowed under the bridge before the tournament or season will end.

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System Bets	Handicap Bets	Long-term Bets	Goal Betting
Correct Score	Double Chance	Half Time/Full Time	Win Bets/Place Bets
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