So this was quite a popular choice on the first poll I did so thought it was a good time to write about it as it ties in with what I have planned for the next blog.
Now I feel I should start by saying their are occasions where cashing out a bet is beneficial, such as when your bet isn’t quite panning out as you expected and it can be used to minimise or mitigate losses. For example you have a bet on the darts and Gerwyn Price is playing James Wade and you have a bet on Price to win at even money. Its well balanced at 2 Sets all currently but you can see the crowd starting to turn on Gerwyn Price and he visibly is getting agitated. Now having watched him often you know he starts to lose his composure when this happens, so you think this gives Wade the edge in this game. You can decide to mitigate the potential loss on this bet as the live cash out is offering your full stake back. You could take this knowing that if Price does in fact go on to win the match, you have lost your potential winnings. However if it pans out as you expect, you have saved yourself any loss on the bet. I should note, always always assess cash outs with your head not your heart, deal in probabilities not possibilities.
However for the most part on a bet I try to live by the mantra of I believed enough in it to place the bet in the first place so i should have the confidence in my pick to see it through. But if you can see it heading in a different direction than you had thought originally, or you are slightly nervous, rather than considering cash out you can hedge your bet. So in effect what you are doing here is staking more money on a new bet. In effect you are covering either outcome. So for example you have bet a tenner on Chelsea to beat Villa 2-0 at 8/1 and its the 80th minute with the score at 2-0 to Chelsea so the cash out offer is currently £60 of the full £90 you would win rather than taking that you can place another bet on Over 2.5 Goals for £5 to return £15 as the odds are 3.0 (2/1) in play due to how late in the game it is. This has now taken £5 of potential profit off the table but you are now standing to make no loss on the bet as if Chelsea indeed do win 2-0 you would make £75 Profit (£90 less the £15 staked across 2 bets) and if there was to be another goal in the game thus killing your original bet your Over 2.5 Goals cover bet would land paying £15 and seeing you make no loss on the bet.
I much prefer to do this rather than take the much reduced cash out offer from the bookie in which your paying a double margin on (Margin on the price pre game and margin on the price in play.)
Ante Post bets work slightly differently however as it is over a much longer period of time. Sometimes cashing out is wise if you feel the tide is turning as you can maximise profits. For example you bet on Coventry to finish in the top 6 pre season at 6.0 (5/1) and its March and they are comfortably in the top 6 so the current price for them to finish there is 1.5 (1/2) but you know they have a tricky run of fixtures coming up. You could bank your money there and then rather than nervously watch how they get on through that testing period. You may have lost out on a bit of extra potential winnings but you have saved yourself much stress.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention cashing out and accumulators as I have mentioned before I can fully see the appeal behind them. So lets say you have a 4 fold on the football on Sunday and 3 teams are up with the 4th kicking off later that afternoon and your getting twitchy on the final result. Your cash out is healthy as your 3 quarters of the way to landing your bet. You could cash out but your paying a double margin on the bet here as previously mentioned so I wouldn’t advice this instead look to hedge the bet where ever possible, perhaps lay some of your stake off on the team you have bet against double chance so that if they get a result your making no loss at only a small cost of potential profit.
Another trick I learned is if your having a massive odds accumulator, back the bet twice so that if at midway through its looking promising but you still want to go all the way for the potential big pay out, you can cash one of the acca’s out so your sat on profit regardless of how it plays out. Bookmakers that offer partial cash out work in the same way but I would rather do it this way to avoid giving them extra margin.
Certain bookmakers have even started offering Auto Cash Out so you can set permutations to get the bet to cash out if the value ever hits a certain point which is great when your not actually around to watch the events live say for example cause your asleep when your basketball bet is on or because your too busy to constantly be checking your phone or computer.
This brings me to my last point on cashing out and that is Inplay bets which I will discuss in the next blog.
Remember always logically and think with your head not your heart. Theres hundreds of horror stories where people have panic cashed out bets for pennies when a couple of late goals have gone their way to see them land the bet so they have cashed a winning bet out for nothing. If you do the research have faith in your self and trust your picks and only ever look to cash out if the probability favours it in order to maximise profits or minimise/mitigate losses.
The Percentage Game 