The Sequential Lay Calculator can be used to make risk-free profit from accumulator bets.
A comprehensive guide on ways to approach accumulator bet offers will be published on the DoppelWetten site soon.
The Sequential Lay Calculator accommodates different options of calculating the lay stakes for your accumulator bets and the resulting profit, all of which will be explained in this guide.
First Look
In the second screenshot further down, you can see what the calculator looks like in the normal bet type standard mode, with all the details filled in.
As an example, we have used a three-fold accumulator, but the calculator can be used for accumulator bets with up to six selections. The only requirement is that the different events must not overlap, i.e. each leg of the accumulator bet must have finished before the next one starts. They must not overlap because the outcome of the last leg determines how much you have to lay on the next game or whether you should stop laying. So the outcome of the first game determines the action you need to take on the second game.
The way this calculator is designed, you should lay each leg individually, i.e. after placing the whole accumulator bet with your bookmaker, you should lay the first leg and wait for the outcome. Only if the first leg of your accumulator bet wins, should you lay the second leg. As soon as one leg of your accumulator bet loses, you should stop laying.
We can illustrate this with the screenshot below.
In this example, your first leg won, resulting in a loss at the exchange of €7.61 (your lay stake), and then the second leg lost. Your accumulator bet with the bookmaker has now lost, which is shown in the Bookmaker column as €-20.00 (your lost stake). Your second lay stake provided by the calculator was €26.30, which you have now won, and overall, this results in a loss of €1.31, which is the same for all the outcomes.
If all the legs were to win, it would result in the outcome you can see in the last line above. You would lose all your lay stakes, but win at the bookmaker, again resulting in the same overall loss.
With this approach, you will ensure an equal profit/loss whatever the outcome (in the normal calculator mode). This will be explained further in the profit breakdown section below.
Please note: the calculator needs all the details for all the individual lay odds and commissions to work out even your first lay stake, so you need to enter them right at the start, in chronological order, even if you’re only laying your first selection initially and may not need to lay any others.
Row Items
Blue Section
Bet Type: in this drop-down, you can choose between ‘Normal’ and ‘Free Bet (SNR)’ bet types. In the example above, the calculator is set to ‘Normal’ bet type. Mode: here you can choose between ‘Standard’ and ‘Underlay’ modes. The underlay mode will be explained in more detail further down. Back Stake: enter your back stake with the bookmaker here. Total Back Odds: enter the total bookmaker odds. This should be displayed on your bet slip and is calculated by multiplying all the back odds for the individual selections with each other. Legs: the number of selections in your accumulator bet. You can choose anything between 2 and 6 legs. Back Commission: enter 5% if your bookmaker deducts the German betting tax.Pink Section
Leg: the numbers of your individual lay bets, in the order the events are going to take place. Lay Odds: enter the betting exchange odds for your selections. Whenever you need to lay an extra leg, make sure to re-check the odds at the betting exchange and enter the new lay odds into the calculator to work out a revised lay stake for your next selection. Lay Commission: the commission charged by your betting exchange. If you are using different exchanges for the different legs, you can of course enter different commissions for the individual selections. Recommended Stake: all the recommended stakes will be worked out for you by the calculator, and you can proceed to lay the first selection. Note that as explained above, you should only lay the second leg if and when the first leg has won (lost at the exchange), and after recalculating with the potentially changed lay odds for the second selection.Profit Breakdown Section
In this section, you will see detailed amounts of all the possible outcomes of your bets.
Bet Outcome: the potential outcomes of the accumulator bet. A red L means that the back selection has lost, in which case you should stop laying, and this will conclude the accumulator bet. A green W means that the back selection has won, and you will go on laying until one selection loses. If all the selections win, there will be a row of green Ws, and your bookmaker bet will win. Bookmaker: as all of the selections have to win for your accumulator bet to win with the bookmaker, this column shows your lost stake in all the cases where one leg has lost, and your back win if all your selections have won (back commission deducted). Exchange: this column shows your winnings at the exchange if the selection loses (lay commission deducted), and your exchange loss (your liability) for the individual legs if the selections win. Total: the totals of the respective rows are shown here. In the ‘Standard’ mode, the totals will be the same for all possible outcomes, and different totals will result in the ‘Underlay’ mode. This will be further explained in the next section.Choosing between the different modes
Standard mode: if you choose this mode, you will have equal profits no matter what the outcomes are, i.e. whether only some selections of your accumulator bet win, all of them, or none. This applies to both the ‘Normal’ and the ‘Free Bet (SNR)’ bet types.
How do you choose between the different modes? There are two scenarios where you might want to use underlaying:
1Your total back odds are higher than your total lay odds. This can be the case for an odds boost for example. By using underlaying, you can make a higher profit if your bet wins, while not making a loss if one leg loses. You can see this illustrated in the screenshot below. Note that in the following example, the back odds are higher than the lay odds because of the odds boost.
2You have a free bet, which in the normal mode would give you a guaranteed profit of €16.47 as per the following screenshot:
But if you use underlaying and reduce your potential profit by just €0.47, to €16, if one leg loses, you can see that your profit dramatically increases if the whole accumulator goes on to win.
You can read more about different strategies you could pursue for accumulator bets in our Accumulator Bet Guide (coming soon). Our general advice would be to familiarise yourself with the different modes of this calculator by trying out different figures and percentages. Consider all the options and think about how much you would like to leave to chance, and how much profit you would like to lock in.
If you have any questions about this guide, please visit the Forum.
