Dutching

Another method of betting is called dutching it's quite complicated and you'll need to know a little maths to work it out. There are dutching calculators on the internet which will do the maths for you automatically but here's how it works anyway.

Dutching is a system of betting on two horses or more horses in the same race so that whichever horse wins you will receive the same profit. This is useful if you have a set amount you would like to win on race and you think that there is only two or three horse that can win it. A very simple example works as follows. Say the two horses you think will win are priced at 2/1 and 4/1 and you wanted to win a total of £10 profit you would have to stake £20 on the first horse and £10 on the second. If either horse wins you receive £40 back and you have staked a total of £30 therefore £10 profit. The formulae for working out this by hand is as follow.

Two Horses
A=Stake on Horse A
B=Stake on Horse B
a=odds of Horse A
b=odds of Horse B
P=Profit

A=bP/(ab-(a+b))
B=aP/(ab-(a+b))

Three Horses
A=Stake on Horse A
B=Stake on Horse B
C=Stake on Horse C
a=odds of horse A
b=odds of horse B
c=odds of horse C
P=Profit

A=bcP/(abc-(ab+bc+ac))
B=acP/(abc-(ab+bc+ac))
C=abP/(abc-(ab+bc+ac))

Using our original example and putting in all the numbers you get.

A=2x10/(2x4-(2+4))=£10
B=4x10/(2x4-(2+4))=£20

There are numerous other methods you can use to manage your money and you'll probably work out one that works best for you. The one piece of advice to remember though, is NEVER chase you losses. Betting larger and larger amounts to cover the money you have lost previously almost always ends in tears. You have to except that you can't win every day and it's best to walk away when this happens. A good way of not letting this happen is leaving the house with a fixed sum of money and don't take your ATM card with you, that way you can avoid any temptation.