What are the simplest types of bet?

• Win and Each-Way Singles explained

• How Doubles and Trebles work

• Easily calculate any potential winnings

For many punters, it's very likely that one of the very first bets they will have ever placed will fall into one of the bet types in this article.

If you're new to gambling the last thing you need is someone trying to get you to have a Bet Buiilder Acca on the football or a Heinz 57 on the horse racing.

Keeping it fun and very simple is an excellent way to commence and enjoy your betting journey, and you can do this by placing some of the oldest and simplest bet types available.

Win Single

Whether it be backing a horse to win the Grand National or your favourite football team to win the FA Cup, almost every punter will have placed a win single at some point in their life.

And it's without doubt the simplest bet type to explain.

After placing your win single, your selection has to win the event in order for you to win your bet. It's as simple as that. If your selection fails to win then your bet will be deemed a loser.

Working out your winnings

Along with the simplicity of placing a win single, another reasons why it is such a popular bet is because of how easy it is to quickly calculate any potential winnings before placing the bet.

Using decimal odds - 3.02/1 or 12.011/1 for example - you can quickly work out how much you will collect should your bet be successful by simply multiplying your stake (that amount of money you bet) by the decimal number.

For example, a £10 win single on a 3.02/1 selection will return £30 (£10 x 3) should it be successful. This means that you will win £20 (£30 return minus your £10 stake).

If you prefer the more traditional fractional odds - 2/13.00 or 11/112.00 for example - then the number to the left of the forward slash will be the amount you win should you stake the number to the right of the forward slash.

For example, if placing a win single at odds of 2/13.00 then you would have to stake £1 to win £2 (therefore returning £3 in total: £1 stake + £2 winnings).

Multiply the above example by 10 and you would stake £10 to win £20 on a succesful bet (threrefore returning £30 in total: £10 stake + £20 winnings), so you can see that fractional odds of 2/13.00 are the equivalent of 3.02/1 decimal odds.

*You can read more about about how betting odds work here.

Each-Way Single

Another very popular bet is an each-way single, which means you back a selection to win an event but also to be placed in an event.

This is a very popular bet in events that offer bigger odds because of the higher number of possible selections; a golf tournament, the Grand National for example.

The big difference to a win single is that an each-way single is effectively two bets - one is to win, the other is to place - therefore your initial stake is doubled to produce your total stake.

For example, a £5 each-way single would cost a total stake of £10 because you are placing £5 on the win part of the bet and £5 on the place part of the bet.

However, should your selection win the event you will be paid out on both the win part and place part of the bet. Should your selection fail to win but finishes the event in one of the places set out in the each-way terms (first 10 for a major golf tournament for example) then you will be paid out on the place part of the bet only.

Working out your winnings

Of course, placing an each-way single on the Betfair Sportsbook means your potential winnings are shown before you even confirm your bet, as you can see from the example below.

But quite often we like to know immediately in our head how much we can potentially win before we even add a selection to a bet slip. So here's how you calculate it.

Using the Ludvig Aberg example above;

Your £5 each-way bet costs a Total Stake of £10. Aberg wins the 2024 US Masters at odds of 25/126.00.

You get £5 on a 25/126.00 winner which returns £130 (£5 x 25, plus your £5 stake) and you also get £5 on a 25/126.00 place at 1/5th the odds (25 / 5 = 5) which returns £30 (£5 x 5 , plus your £5 stake).

In total your return is £160.

If Aberg fails to win the 2024 US Masters but finishes in one of the six places (without a dead-heat rule applying) then the £5 win part of your bet is deemed a loser, but you will collect on the place part of the bet.

£5 on a 25/126.00 place at 1/5th the odds (25 / 5 = 5) returns £30 (£5 x 5 , plus your £5 stake). In total your return is £30.

Win Double/Treble

Now that you've had a few winning singles you're ready to place your first multiple bet, which as the name suggests, is two or more selections in either a win double (two selections/legs) or a win treble (three selections/legs).

*Four or more selections is called an Accumulator and is discussed in detail here.

The benefit of placing a win double or treble is that your potential winnings are increased because should the first leg of your bet win, the whole amount of money that you would have got returned for a win single is now rolled over on to the second leg of your bet.

For a win double to be successful both legs of the bet have to win, and for a win treble all three legs must win.

Working out your winnings

To work out how much you could potentially win for a double or treble you use the exact same method as you would for a win single for the first leg of the bet.

The amount your bet is worth after the first leg of the bet is now used for the second leg (double). Should your bet be a treble then the amount your bet is worth after the second leg has won is now used for the third leg.

For example, we've already worked out that £10 on a 2/13.00 winner means you would normally get returned £30, but let's pretend this was the first leg of our bet.

We now have £30 (our new mythical stake) going on to the second leg of our bet, which wins at odds of 3/14.00. Our bet is now worth £120 (3 x £30 + £30 stake). This is the amount we would be returned for a winning double.

However, as part of a treble we have £120 going on to our third selection, which wins at 2/13.00. This means we are set to be returned £360 for our successful treble (2 x £120 + £120 stake).

Now read more Betfair Education articles here.