Round Robin


In British culture and history betting and gambling have always played a role in the enjoyment of sports, recreation, entertainment and most other ways in which we spend our leisure time. There are ever-increasing ways in which to part with money in the hope of gaining a return, whether it is the national lottery, bingo, or betting on the outcome of television reality shows, horseracing, football and so on. Just like there are numerous outcomes on which to place a bet there are many more types of bet to place. Multiple betting options offer a way in which to increase our returns and a Round Robin bet is an example of that.

Betting is perhaps most synonymous with horseracing and many betting strategies and permutations are designed with horseracing in mind. How much we hope to win when we part with our money for a bet on the horses is down to the bookmaker who can be found on the high street or within every racecourse in the country.

Free Racing Tips A bookmaker calculates the odds of any predicted outcome in a race and these odds determine both the likelihood of the outcome and the amount paid out in the event of that outcome.

To make the most from a multiple bet we need to understand the odds in order to beat them. Say, for example a bookmaker sets the odds for a certain horse to win a race at 8/1, normally referred to as ‘8 to 1'.

What this means is that according to the bookmaker that horse will win once in nine attempts given the same circumstances. What it means to the punter is that it is likely we would need to place nine bets at 8/1 to win once and break even.

Should we win at 8/1 with a £1 stake we would get a pay out of £8 plus our stake back, totalling £9.

In the above example we are betting against the likely outcome that the horse will lose. At other times we may place an 'odds on' bet rather than an odds against. A price of 1/8 would be odds on, meaning that horse would likely win eight out of nine times. Since this is much more likely than losing, the returns on a bet placed at these odds would be very small. For every £1 bet at 1/8 we would get £1.12, i.e. our £1 stake and 12p winnings.

Odds presented in these terms are fractional odds and it is a system unique to the UK. In other European countries and also Australia and Canada they offer decimal odds instead. The essential difference is that decimal odds are offered in relation to the value of the initial stake and so for a £1 stake the fractional odds of 8/1 would be represented in decimal odds as simply 9, and for 1/8 would be 1.12. From this it is clear that fractional odds just represent the value of the potential winnings.

It can be useful to understand and be able to interchange both fractional and decimal odds since the latter are becoming more frequent in this country and are used in digital betting systems. It is also easier to use decimal odds in order to calculate the potential winnings from multiple bets.
Round Robin, inside rail

The Round Robin is a bet based on 3 selections and features a combination of different bets, 10 in total. These comprise 3 double bets, 1 treble, and 3 up-and-down bets (2 bets each). To illustrate how it works lets consider selections A, B and C. The double bets are AB, AC, and BC, the treble is ABC. An up-and down-bet is two bets in one and it works by placing the winnings of one bet against another and the reverse. So the up-and-down bets in this case would be the winnings on A placed on B, B placed on A, A placed on C, C placed on A, B placed on C, and C placed on B.

Round Robin, winner Any one winning selection will guarantee a return on a Round Robin, making it a popular betting option. The addition of the up-and-down bets gives the Round Robin more permutations and possibilities than would normally be had using just 3 selections. Without up-and-downs the bet would be a Trixie, which is four bets: 3 doubles and treble, and will only pay out on two winning selections from the three.

If all three selections chosen for a Round Robin win, then the payout is much higher than with many other systems based on just three selections. This is a further benefit of such a bet since the probability of getting three winners is greater than getting four, five, and so on. Betting options which combine different multiple bets, such as the Round Robin offer a much greater chance of a return than one off multiple bets such as accumulators, which only pay out in the event all selections win.

There are two ways in which multiple betting helps beat the odds. The first is in increasing the value of a payout. Doubles, trebles and accumulators do this by offering payouts based on the product of a number of smaller returns. Then there are multiple betting options which increase the chances of a payout, an example being an each way bet. The Round Robin does both by combining the accumulation bets of the doubles and treble with the single bets in an up-and-down betting system.