Hedging Bets
What's the origin of the phrase 'Hedge your bets'? Hedge has been used as a verb in English since at least the 16th century, with the meaning of 'equivocate; avoid commitment'. An example of this comes in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, 1600. Hedge betting is a sports betting strategy that most bettors are at least vaguely aware of. This doesn’t mean that they all fully understand how to use it effectively or that they know why and when they should consider hedging a bet. As a result, the strategy is often used incorrectly or for the wrong reasons.
It’s likely that you’ve used the phrase “hedging your bets” at some point in your life. At the very least you’ve surely heard the phrase before, or some version of it. This is a widely used phrase, and not just in the context of sports betting. People use it in all kinds of situations, usually to refer to the act of playing it safe or mitigating risk in some way.
For example, let’s say we were about to go on an unexpected trip overseas. We didn’t know what the weather was going to be like, so we decided to pack winter clothes AND summer clothes. This would be a clear case of “hedging our bets”.
There are countless other examples of how people hedge their bets in various aspects of their life. This article is all about how hedging works in sports betting though. We believe that the hedging technique is a very powerful strategy in certain situations, so we want you to learn how to use it.
Hedging Bets Parlay
Below we teach you everything you need to know about hedging. We start with a brief explanation of the technique and clear up a common misconception about hedging. We then talk about when and why the technique should be used, using examples to demonstrate.