These bets are particularly challenging because players are required to predict the outcome of both the first half and the second half. There are nine possible outcomes to select here, with players choosing their combination from a mixture of home, draw, and away. Of course, home and away will be changed to signify the participating teams depending on which match you are looking at.
Because you are deciding the outcome in both halves of the game, the odds can be much higher than in selecting the outright winner. These bets even have the potential to dramatically increase the odds for a clear home favourite like Liverpool against a lesser team.
Avoiding Risks
Predicting the final outcome of a match can be difficult at the best times. But when you are forecasting a half time lead for the home team and a full time lead for the away team, this makes it much more unlikely that you’re going to win. First halves in football can often be highly unpredictable, and that means you need to question the risk of these bets when both teams are evenly matched.
Boost Odds of Favourites
In this particular example, we are going to focus on Manchester United at home versus Swansea City. At a stadium like Old Trafford and with a team of more talented players, it is not unforeseeable that the reds would be leading at half time. Furthermore, you wouldn’t be surprised to see them also winning at full time.
Now, let’s say that Man Utd have odds of 4/11 to win outright at home against Swansea. With a £10 stake, that would return profit of just £3.64 from the result.
In an attempt to improve the pot, a half time/full time bet of Man Utd/Man Utd will deliver a payout of evens. For a greater risk, a £10 stake will return superior profit of £10 in comparison. Betting on half time and full time outcomes can be very effective in backing clear favourites.
Teams that are clear favourites will often win at both half time and full time when playing at home. However, things would likely be tougher if Man Utd had faced Swansea away. With a packed stadium of Swansea fans in the crowd, the home team would play with a tight defence in an attempt to make it to half time without conceding any goals.
For away games of this nature, it can be smart to select a draw in the first half and then a win by full time for the favourites. This is essentially demonstrating that you believe quality will emerge successful in the end. In addition, the odds for successfully winning will be much higher than simply for picking the favourites outright.
Stick with One-sided Games
Halt time/full time bets are at their most effective in one-sided games at any level. The one-sided nature effectively makes it easier to put together a winning bet. Evenly matched games simply have too many variables to account for. The only likely outcome is a loss from this difficult betting format.