Each Way Double Explained

Each Way Double Explained

With 2 golf tournaments or more available to bet on each week, there’s normally scope to turn a good week into an exceptional week by placing a double on your selections and attempting the fabled ‘transatlantic double’. Here’s a few examples of big recent winners as reported by the bookies:

• £50 E/W double on Fdez Castano (50/1 first round leader) & Kyle Stanley (50/1) won a belfast man £139k with Coral
• £25 E/W double on Paul Lawrie (50/1) and Kyle Stanley (66/1) won one lucky punter over £91k with bet365

There’s always a bit of confusion as to how these multiple bets work and what your returns will be – so, calculators at the ready, here’s our guide to working out your expected return from doubles and each-way doubles:

OK, let’s start with the easier of the 2: a win double. For instance, you might fancy the favourites to win their respective tournament pre-event or be looking to back the leaders with a round to go, totally up to you but the principle is the same. To calculate the odds you need to perform the following calculation:

• ((player 1 odds +1) * (players 2 odds +1))-1=double odds

So, here’s an example. Before the start of the 2012 CIMB Classic and BMW Masters we fancied both Tiger Woods (10/3) and Rory McIlroy (5/1) to win their respective events. The calculation then is as follows:

• ((10/3 + 1) * (5+1) -1)=odds

….so (4.33 * 6) – 1, which equals 25 – so the combined odds are 25/1. So, if for instance you placed a £20 win double on this bet you’d expect £500 profit plus your £20 returned.

Before we start on this section it’s worth making the point that an each-way bet is treated as 2 separate bets. An each way bet is one bet on the player to win and another bet on him to finish in the top X places (where is X is usually 5 for most full-field golf events) at typically 1/4 of the win odds. That’s why you have to double your stake for an each-way bet. So £10 each-way on a player at 40/1 is in effect:

• £10 to win at 40/1
• £10 to finish in the top 5 at 10/1

Now the same principle applies to each way doubles in that there are 2 bets being made – a win double and a place double. This is often where the confusion arises if one player wins and the other places, in normal UK rules (and most countries with the exception of Australia) an each-way double is still just 2 bets.

So another example to illustrate. Let’s say you fancy Ludvig Aberg at 20/1 in the US and Joost Luiten at 40/1 in Europe to win their respective events and place a £10 each-way double.

Scenario 1 – both players finish in places 2-5 without any ties.

In this instance your win bet has lost. The place bet has won however and returns you the following:

• (Aberg odds/4+1) * (Luiten Odds/4+1) so 5+1 * 10+1=66. At a £10 stake=£660

So £10 each way would have netted you a total return of £660 from your £20 stake.

Scenario 2 – both players win.

Crack open the champagne! Picking one winner in a field of 150-odd players is hard enough, let alone picking 2 so well done! Both your win double and place doubles have won so you’ll get:

• (Aberg odds+1) * (Luiten Odds+1) so 20+1 * 40+1=861. At a £10 stake=£8,610. Plus:
• (Aberg odds/4+1) * (Luiten Odds/4+1) so 5+1 * 10+1=66. At a £10 stake=£660

So £10 each way would have netted you a whopping return of £9,270!!

Scenario 3 – one player wins, one player finishes in places 2-5 without ties.

This is without doubt the scenario which creates the most confusion. Despite the fact that one of your players won their event, your win double has lost and only your place bet has won. So the return is the same as scenario 1:

• (Aberg odds/4+1) * (Luiten Odds/4+1) so 5+1 * 10+1=66. At a £10 stake=£660

So £10 each way would have netted you a total return of £660 from your £20 stake.

The principle applies for trebles and upwards, plus with some bookmakers you can place this in perms such as patents, trixies, yankees etc to give you a return even if one player misses out completely.

If one of your players in scenario 1 or 3 finishes in a tie that stretches beyond the places being paid (ie 5th place typically) then there’ll be pro-rata reductions placed on your return – read our reductions for ties article for more details.

Landing a double can be a massive thrill – come over to our facebook group and share your successes! There’s a regular weekly thread where like-minded punters post their doubles selections for the week – and yes, there are a number of big winners every year! Join over 6,300 other punters on our facebook group here: GBS facebook

Not all bookies allow each way doubles on golf and some don’t have the functionality to resolve multiple selections, so you have to set them up all up manually.

The best we’ve found so far is bet365 who offer win and and each-way multiples via their betslip and also have a market-leading £500,000 maximum payout on golf whereas others are as low as £100,000, however the decision which bookie to use often comes down to who is offering the best odds – you can use our golf bookmakers page check out current prices and promotions per bookmaker.