Whoever had the idea of adding 10 minutes added time to premier league football matches clearly hasn’t experienced the rollercoaster of emotions that is having your weekend football accumulator won or lost in the dying seconds!
Let me introduce myself, I’m the Positive Player. Gambling has always been a passion of mine and a great source of entertainment. I like the thrill of risk that it provides but I also like to be in control of the level of risk that I take. I don’t win all the time and sometimes I might over indulge when caught in the action but I am always mindful of my activity and use safer gambling tools to help ensure my gambling does not become a source of harm to me, or to those around me. Over the coming months I want to share with you my gambling experiences (the ups and the downs!) as well as my tips for Positive Play. This column won’t make you rich I am afraid, it is for those who want to play but want to play safely and on their terms. I know that is not possible for everyone and if you are concerned about your own or someone else’s gambling the best advice I can give is to speak to a professional. The national gambling helpline is available 24/7 call free on 0808 802 0133.
Understood? Great, now back to last weekends football and what makes a perfect accumulator bet? An accumulator bet is a series of bets on separate events that must all win for the bet to come in. The original stake goes on the first selection if that wins the winnings go on the second selection and so on. Accumulators are popular in football because the odds of a team winning are quite short therefore it is attractive to pick several teams to win to increase the odds.
The first thing to bear in mind is that the more teams you pick the harder it is to win. You might fancy 14 home bankers this week but trust me one will let you down! I picked 5 teams because I am in a picking competition with friends and these are the teams the group came up with so I thought it would be fun. Here’s the next tip! If you don’t fancy a bet or a selection you don’t have to go through with it. I didn’t like one of the selections so I placed a separate bet with the remaining 4 teams as insurance. There are no correct amount of selections, adding teams to make the numbers up is rarely a winning strategy. Stick to the amount of selections you feel confident with. Accumulators are a high risk bet its all or nothing, 1 selection lets you down and its all over as I nearly experienced with 2 of my selections last week.
With one team 2-0 down all looked lost until a 2nd half comeback and late winner kept the bet alive. All was resting on the last selection and at 2-0 up with just 5 minutes to go disaster! A penalty is awarded and all of a sudden its 2-1. The games moves into injury time and the comeback is complete 2-2, the game is heading for an likely draw until redemption and my team score a late winner, bet landed!
Well actually the bet was landed sometime earlier, so what saved me from 10 minutes of squeaky bum time in this game? I had insurance and here is another tip. Creating different permutations where 1,2,3 or even 4 of my teams could lose but I still get a return is expensive, in fact for 5 selections there are 31 combinations of bets I could have and most of them would not return enough to make the bet worthwhile, reducing the risk in most forms of betting means less reward so it is always important to find the level of risk and reward you are happy with. I had insurance through special offers or features that many operators offer, in this case if my team went 2 goals ahead then the leg is settled a winner regardless of the final result. Some offers may provide a free bet if one of your teams let you down and another gives you an opportunity to freeze the score of one of your selections (handy if you think they might crack under pressure) in all of theses instances terms and conditions apply, there will be a minimum amount of selections you must have in your accumulator there may also be stake limits and potentially reduced odds to cover the offer. In any of these cases if promotional offers suit your style of play then great! Shop around and find the best one for you. If it means that to qualify for a promotion you have to change the way you bet or stake then have a think, is this really for you and will it actually enhance my enjoyment of gambling.
After all that excitement I’m going to relax with an early bath, I’ll see you next month, in the meantime play positively.