Our Complete Guide to an Alphabet Bet
This page is dedicated to describing the Alphabet bet. The system is very popular with experienced UK punters, and although it might seem tricky at first, if you follow our guide, you’ll be an expert in no time at all. How does it work? We will find out together in the next few paragraphs with the help of some practical examples and theoretical advice. Are you ready to jump head-on into this? Then read on!
What is an Alphabet Bet?
Many of you are probably asking, what is an Alphabet bet? Well, let us say, it is a mix of two systems, the Patents and a Yankee, on top of that comes a Sixfold acca. To play it you must carefully select from six events. It must be said that not all online bookies offer the possibility of placing an already pre-packaged Alphabet bet. If this case, you will have to build it by yourself placing the system piece by piece, we will explain how to do this later.
| Section | Selected Events (1-6) | Number of Bets |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Patent | 1, 2, 3 | 7 |
| 2. Patent | 4, 5, 6 | 7 |
| Yankee | 2, 3, 4, 5 | 11 |
| Multipla | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 1 |
As can be seen from the table above, playing an Alphabet system amounts to placing 26 different bets. This equates to the same number of letters in the alphabet, hence the system’s name.
There are many bets that make up this system, 7 from the first Patent (3 singles, 3 doubles, and a treble), 7 from the second Patent (3 singles, 3 doubles, and a treble), 11 from the Yankee (6 doubles, 4 trebles, and a fourfold) and finally the stand-alone sixfold acca. If you deconstruct the bet in this way, you will find that it is not as complex as it looks and that it is pretty easy to play.
How does an Alphabet Bet Work?
So, we hear you saying, how does an Alphabet bet work? Below we provide you with a theoretical example, in order for you to understand. What is important to note is that depending on where you place your selections, they will have a different weight to the bet, this is thanks to the Yankee. Find out how, below.
Example: If we have 6 events selected, we will then combine the first three, A, B and C, in a first Patent and the second three, D, E and F, in a second Patent. We will then place the same events B, C, D and E in a Yankee. As you see, B, C, D and E are in both a Patent and Yankee, so hold more weight. It finishes with a Sixfold composed of A, B, C, D, E and F.
When to Use: The big advantage compared to other system bets, is that your are able to give more value to some predictions compared to others. Namely, the bets occupying B,C,D and E. As they are more frequent. Thus, you need to study beforehand.
Alphabet Bet and Football
The connection between the Alphabet bet and football only became apparent after it had been developed. Initially this type of play, just like Dutching (see glossary), was composed for the world of horse racing betting sites. Only later did punters realise its potential when applied to football and as a result many use it to bet on this sport. Even so, it doesn’t prevent us from using it to bet on other sports such as, baseball or basketball, it’s just they probably won’t be as profitable.
An Alphabet Bet Example
Up until now, we have explained focuses on the theory. Now, the time has come to get into the practical details and provide you with an Alphabet bet example. To do this we decided to use Premier League matches. By doing this, you will get a better insight on the bet. Check the table below to see the matches we selected, their corresponding odds, and our prediction.
| Selected Matches | Our Prediction | Quote “1” | Quote “X” | Quote “2” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth – Brighton | X | 2.40 | 2.95 | 3.20 |
| Leicester City – Newcastle | 1 | 2.10 | 3.20 | 3.50 |
| Manchester City – Huddersfield | 1 | 1.10 | 9.00 | 21.00 |
| Watford – West Ham | 2 | 2.55 | 3.20 | 2.80 |
| Chelsea – Fulham | 1 | 1.15 | 6.50 | 7.75 |
| Arsenal – Liverpool | X | 2.45 | 3.50 | 2.65 |
Basically, if you remember our ABCDEF structure from earlier, this can be applied here. Thus, the Bournemouth-Brighton match is A, all the way to the Arsenal-Liverpool match, which is F. As you can see, we chose two draws for these positions. This is very important, as, the position of your selections determines where they will be included in the combinations. Thus, we put our riskier bets here.
We chose to stake £3 for each of the 26 possible bets, for a total £78 stake. Most of the results went out wat. The first and last predictions were wrong; however, this only compromised the two Patents and the sixfold. The other four predictions came through. This meant we won a Yankee: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 fourfold, which yielded a very tasty sum of £173.15. If we subtract the amount initially invested, we generated a tidy profit of £95.15.
If one of the two losing predictions had actually won, let’s say the draw of Arsenal and Liverpool, we would have also won a Patent and our winnings would have been equal to £259. Pretty nice, indeed. If the whole bet had come in, we would’ve gotten £546. Don’t worry, that will happen next time! As you can see, this bet provides ample opportunity to win, even if a couple of forecasts fall short.
Conclusion
Now we are coming to the end of the Alphabet bet, you can see that some parts of the bet hold more weight than the others. This is great when you feel you have some certain results, and others that hang in the balance. This is where this system can really succeed, and you can make some big bucks. Of course, you need to know what you are doing in order to be successful, especially as most of the time, this type of system is not offered automatically on betslips by our trusted bookmakers, and you will have to build the bet yourselves.
There is plenty to be gained from playing this type of bet, as we deduced from the example we provided above. In the box above you can find the best operator for this type of system if you feel like having a go. If you want to check out more than one bookie, then visit our main page to find out all the features.
FAQ
Hopefully, the Alphabet bet explained in the paragraphs above has allayed any fears or questions you had about playing this system. If not, we are here to help. Send us a mail at info@bestbettingsites.com and we’ll get back to you.
Do all online bookmakers have the option to do the Alphabet bet?
Well, the problem here is that not all of the best betting sites have this option built into their betslip. This doesn't mean you cannot play this system, however, as you can build it yourself through the steps we described above.