btn short head

[step1]

noticed a lot of my selections getting beat close home so am thinking of laying at 1.15. am I right is assuming a lay at 2.0 will halve any returns on a win bet. if this is correct does a lay at 1.15 reduce returns by only 5%. can someone give an example please or suggest the best way of handling this method.

[fintron]

Re: btn short head

noticed a lot of my selections getting beat close home so am thinking of laying at 1.15. am I right is assuming a lay at 2.0 will halve any returns on a win bet. if this is correct does a lay at 1.15 reduce returns by only 5%. can someone give an example please or suggest the best way of handling this method.

It depends of what odds you back the horse at before the race as to whether it halves any returns. Say you back a horse at evens (2.0) you have three options. Lets assume you have a £100 stake on the bet for the purposes of this example. 1) you let the bet ride. If the horse wins you win £100, less any commission and your stake is returned. £100 staked, £200 returned (before commission is deducted). If the horse loses you lose £100 2) you lay the horse back in running to cover your original stake. using your figure above, if you laid it at 1.15 to a £100 stake your liability is £15. If the horse wins, you win your £100 from the back bet but then pay out £15 from the lay bet. Your overall profit is thus £85. If the horse loses the race then you break even and £100 is returned = zero profit. 3) you lay the horse back in running but 'lock in' a profit regardless of the eventual outcome. Using your figure of 1.15 you might chose to lay it to a £200 stake at 1.15 in running. If the horse wins, you'd win your £100 from the back bet but then pay back out £30 for the losing bet. You would thus end up with £70 profit. If the horse was to lose then you will still make a profit on the race using this third strategy. You lose the £100 from the original back bet, but win £200 from the lay bet, so have £100 profit, less any commission. Hopefully you can adapt my example to your stakes and odds to answer the original question?