Handicaps and Asian handicaps are getting more and more popular nowadays. Using this type of bet, you can take virtually any football match (or rugby, tennis, darts and horse racing fixture) and make it interesting by taking away goals from the favourites or giving goals to the underdog.
It’s certainly one of my favourite ways of betting and here are some of my must-know tips to help you improve your chances when it comes to handicap and Asian handicap bets.
1. Use Bet365
Before you delve into the world of handicap and Asian handicap betting, you need to find a good online bookmaker – one that is going to give you good variety and good odds. Bet365 gives you this and so much more. Not only will you find great odds for ordinary handicap and Asian handicap bets, but you will find a huge variety of alternatives – giving you the power to choose from both long and short odds.
2. Back the Heavy Favourites
If there is one rule of thumb that I have to swear by, it would be this one. The best way to make a decent net win from your handicap and Asian handicap bets is to always choose the favourites with a handicap which gives them a goal deficit. This way always gives you the most favourable odds.
Forget trying to be a have-a-go-hero by always backing the underdog; handicap and Asian handicap betting is all about getting behind the big favourites.
3. Stay Away from Low Scoring Teams
As the next three tips will hopefully make crystal clear, handicap and Asian handicap bets are all about finding the teams which score lots of goals whilst conceding barely any. So, even though I might think a top team is worth a punt with a handicap because they keep winning, I make sure that they are scoring lots of goals as well as winning. There is no point in putting a -2.0 handicap on a team that has won the last ten games with a scoreline of 1-0.
4. Stay Away from Leaky Defences
By the same token, stay well clear of teams with leaky defences. I might find a team to be scoring for fun week in and week out, but are they solid at the back? Remember that this is not the goals scored market – handicaps and Asian handicaps are as much about finding the teams that are not conceding goals as they are about those that are scoring goals. Like above, there is no point putting a -2.0 handicap on a team that has won the last 10 games with a scoreline of 4-3.
5. Keep a Running Record of Which Teams Are Winning by Big Margins
So, if handicap and Asian handicap betting is all about finding the teams with big winning margins, how should you go about finding this out? Well, it’s not hard at all really. I can access full results tables from the previous seasons in most UK leagues on Wikipedia, where I can simply make a tally of how many teams won by a winning margin of +1 goals, +2 goals, etc. Alternatively, I sometimes jot down all the teams that have won their matches by a decent margin whilst watching the scores come in on Final Score.
I personally like keeping a running record of which teams are winning by big margins – it is a great way to spot which teams are scoring lots and which teams are conceding lots.
6. Use Asian Handicaps’ Insurance to Your Advantage
If you’ve read my articles explaining the ins and outs of Asian handicap betting then you will know that many Asian handicap bets offer some sort of payback insurance if the handicapped result is a tie. Use this to your advantage! Yeah, it may not give you the longest odds, but it gives me that added sense of security – especially for matches where I think it could be a cagey, close fought affair. I would rather have that added safety net when I’m not 100% confident than take the leap of faith with a handicap bet at longer odds.
7. Check Your Odds
This site is a godsend for us punters. Forget opening hundreds of tabs on your internet browser to trawl through page after page of fixture lists in the search for some good handicap and Asian handicap odds. where they compile all of the available odds from all of the big bookmakers in one neatly packaged table for me to compare. What’s even better is that they show me which odds are best value. I can also add bets to my “Bet Basket” to see how much money each bookmaker will pay out for a stake of £1, £2, £5 or £10.
There you have it, my 7 great tips on how you can improve your handicap and Asian handicap betting fortunes. Good luck!