Stop Press

ODI Dead Heat Rules

In the recent One Day International cricket match between South Africa and England (2/2/05) we had the rare result in One Day matches of a tie. This caused a bit confusion for some of our customers, so we would like to take this opportunity to explain how our Dead Heat rules apply.

Essentially you divide your stake by the number of dead-heaters (in this case 2) and multiply that figure by your odds.

For example, if you had backed England for £200 at 3 on Betfair, then you would divide your stake by 2 (as that is the number of dead-heaters), which leaves you with £100 while the other £100 goes to the layer.

So effectively you have had £100 at 3 (2/1) winning you £200, minus the £100 you lost to the layer leaving you net winnings of £100 on the game.

If you back at odds on in a two-way tie you will lose money, and if you back at odds against you will win money.


Golf - The Mercedes Championship

A well-respected golfer with a handful of wins on the PGA is trailing World No.1 Vijay Singh by eight shots, the great Tiger Woods by 6 and Ernie Els by 5. He’s also labouring with a nerve injury in his left thigh and on the phone to his pregnant wife every half an hour wanting to know when she’s going into labour. What odds would you expect to get on him winning the Hawaiian Mercedes Championship? 100-1, 150-1? Try 500-1. A few sharp minds thought this price was worth a flutter as £20 was matched at the generous odds. In between then and the awarding of the first major trophy of the season to the affable Aussie, Stuart Appleby hit rounds of 64-66 and 67 including a brilliant eagle two on the sixth and charged through a remarkably strong field to win the tournament by a one-shot victory over Jonathan Kaye. It was one of the greatest comebacks in a golf tournament ever witnessed and two in a row for Appleby who enjoyed success in the same tournament last year. A bemused Appleby said afterwards: “It’s slightly surprising. You look at where I was after round one and you would not have put money on me”. Well, actually Stuart...


Serie A football- Inter Milan v Sampdoria

82 minutes played at the San Siro and the scoreboard reads a surprising- Inter Milan 0 Sampdoria 2. There’s no way in the world a team can come back to win that with just eight minutes to go, is there? Well, Inter Milan are unbeaten in over 30 matches in all competitions for a reason and the history books will tell you that run was not to be ended just yet. In an unbelievable comeback, Obafemi Martins scored in the 88th minute, Vieri in the 90th and Uruguyan striker Alvaro Recoba finished the job with a strike in the 4th minute of stoppage time. Brilliant entertainment but not for everyone. £40,000 was matched on the Sampdoria win at 1.01 meaning some people may have been more amused by the remarkable comeback than others...


Cricket- South Africa v England 4th Test

Michael Vaughan can seem to do no wrong these days and England seem to do no wrong these days. And the same goes for backers of England when it comes to Test Cricket. The draw was 2.34 to back at the start of play and traded at odds on from the middle of Day 1 till late into Day 5 as a good batting pitch, good batting performances and overs lost to bad light conspired to suggest the draw was the only feasible result. England were matched at 30-1 on the afternoon of the penultimate day before an improved batting performance led by Marcus Trescothick allowed for England to post a decent score and have a go at bowling South Africa out with the price on an England win coming in to 10-1 at the start of day 5, with South Africa at 7-1 and the draw a 1.31 shot. A couple of hours into the day and with Trescothick and Ashley Giles at the crease looking like they may well stick around for a while, the draw was backed at 1.04 as that outcome now seemed more likely than ever. But England and Matthew Hoggard in particular had other ideas and the Yorkshireman took 7 wickets as the South African batsmen lost wicket after wicket as the momentum was increasingly with England. Yet only at the loss of the 8th South African wicket did the draw begin to trade at odds against, rising from 1.78 to 3.2. Hoggard and Co went on to clean up the South African tail-end and layers of England were left feeling like one of Freddie Flintoff’s famous sixes had him them where it most hurt- their pockets.


Previous Issues