Today we take a detailed look into the popular Asian Handicap. The traditional AH is available in sports events, but majority of punters prefer betting on football events rather than other sports events and common available bet markets are for corners and goals. We will first explore the Asian handicap meaning and some handicap betting strategies that work.
To win on the Asian Handicap your picked bet type should win with most punters focusing on the over/ under goals or corner with a bias for the weaker team. Although this usually works most of the time, you also need to back results with real stats and information based on the possible outcome of the match.
What is the Asian Handicap?
To begin with, the AH has a lot of definitions. Generally the Asian handicap can be used to disadvantage a team or give it that added advantage and the underdog is always backed to win. The Asian Handicap gives each team an equal chance of winning since the draw is eliminated and therefore you have to focus on the favourite to overcome the handicap disadvantage or advantage to win.
AH is considered safer than the traditional 3-way betting since the possibilities are higher than the 3-way betting markets and the general idea is to predict a limit for a wager on football matches. The Asian Handicap despite being younger than its European counterpart, has over the years surpassed the European Handicap. Bookmakers are covering every bet market on sports with the AH with majority of punters prefer betting on the Asian Handicap.
The reason being the added advantage between the two teams, enables you to win even if a team draws or wins. For the bet to be valid there specific set of rules they must meet to win the bet or get your stake amount refunded.
The favourite team to win must surpass the indicated disadvantage for you to win. The common Asian Handicaps are over 2 goals or under 2 goals. Let’s take the example of: a match between Arsenal and Manchester City. The favourite to win is Manchester City and therefore you give Arsenal an added advantage of + 2 goals. City is disadvantage by -2 goals and therefore need more than 2 goals two win and each goal scored by Arsenal is added as a disadvantage.
So you win the match if the match ends level or City manages to score only 1 goal. You will lose the bet is the underdog wins the match by a goal difference higher than city let’s say the match ended with Arsenal 2-0 City. There are different Asian types the common types as discussed below.
Asian Handicap Bet Types
- Draw No Bet abbreviated as (DNB)
- AH + 0.25/ -0.25
- AH +0.5/ -0.5
- AH +0.75/ -0.75
- AH +1/ -1
- AH +1.5/ -1.5
- AH +1.75/-1.75
The bet simply implies that the bookie has eliminated any possibility of a draw and therefore you have to pick a winner for the bet to be valid. In the event the match ends in a goalless draw the stake amount is refunded and if the favourite to win losses the bet is off, you lose.
Let’s say you selected team A to win the match ends with team B winning the wager is completely lost. The selected team on the -0.25 wins regardless of the score in case of a goalless draw you will 50% of your stake and the other half is returned to your bet account.
The other possible Asian handicap is +0.25 which wins but if the match ends as a goalless draw, half your stake amount is returned and the remaining amount is considered as a win. This is the most common type of Asian Handicap. The picked team has to overcome a half goal advantage or disadvantage depending on the selection and generally if you bet on a – 0.5 AH, you win if the favourite score goal.
On the other hand placing bets on + 0.5 is almost similar to betting on a draw or away win. The bookies usually provide a higher over round on 3-way markets and they do this to cover the variables chances in 3-way markets that’s why they are different from Asian Handicaps. This type of Asian Handicap splits the bet into two, which is 0.5 and 1 handicaps.
In a simple example of -0.5 and -1, if the match ends with over 2 goals the bet is won on both splits. If the match ends with only a goal then half of your stake will be returned and half (0.5) will win. The same method applies on placing the +0.5 advantage on the underdog wager, if the match ends as a draw you win and if they loss by a goal half of your stake is lost.
This AH requires you to place a goal advantage on an underdog or a goal disadvantage on the favourite to win. Let’s take an example of a wager on -1 Asian Handicap, the selected team must win by at least 2 goals and the other wager on + 2 goals if the underdogs manages a draw or a goal defeat you win on both wagers. These is a popular bet on underdogs.
A wager on the -1.5 Asian handicap you win if the match ends with 2 goals or more and lose if the match ends goalless or with a 1 goal difference. However you will on the AH +1.5 you win if the match ends in more than 2 goals and also if the match end with only a goal up half of the bet wins. The same principle used on the +0.75/-0.75 is used in the +1.75/-1.75 the only difference is an added one goal difference and the punter should account for the goal difference before betting.
Asian Handicap Pay-out types:
- Win- on a correct prediction you will the full wager.
- Half-win- this is whereby half of the wager wins and the other half is lost. i.e. +1.75/-1.75.
- Cash-back/push- the stake is partially or fully returned to account.
- Lose- the bet is off and you lose the stake amount completely.
