If you are looking for an answer to the question “What Is an Alphabet Bet?” then you are on the right page.
We won’t waste your time, and on this page we’ll give you an example of the bet, we’ll explain and show you how much the bet costs and how all the different 26 combinations work for this bet.
All of the info will be explained in simple terms with tables and screenshots to help guide you along the way.
HOW MUCH DOES A £0.20p ALPHABET BET COST?
Depending on your style of betting and how much you want to spend will decide how much an Alphabet will cost. You can do these bets for small or large stakes. Don’t forget that you should only bet with money you can comfortably afford to lose.
Check out the table below, which shows you how much it costs for a twenty-pence Alphabet bet.
| ALPHABET BET STAKE | TOTAL COST |
|---|---|
| £0.10p Win | £2.60 |
| £0.10p Each Way | £5.20 |
| £0.20p Win | £5.20 |
| £0.20p Each Way | £10.40 |
| £0.25p Win | £6.50 |
| £0.25p Each Way | £13.00 |
| £0.50p Win | £13.00 |
| £0.50p Each Way | £26.00 |
| £1.00p Win | £26.00 |
| £1.00 Each Way | £52.00 |
| £5.00p Win | £130.00 |
| £5.00 Each Way | £260.00 |
The Alphabet is a very unique bet, as it contains six selections, but is not like a normal combination bet. The bet itself includes a series of bets within a bet.
- Selections 1 to 3 give you one patent (3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 Treble)
- Selections 4 to 6 give you another patent (3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 Treble)
- Selections 1 to 4 give you a Yankee (6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 fourfold accumulator)
- Selections 1 to 6 give you a sixfold accumulator
So you have four separate bets that are within an Alphabet, and the great thing is that it gives you multiple chances to win.
Although it might seem complicated, it is in fact quite an easy bet to understand as it includes 2 Patents, 1 Yankee and a straight sixfold accumulator.
HOW MANY COMBINATIONS DOES AN ALPHABET HAVE?
In the table below you can see how many combinations in total the Alphabet has.
| BET TYPE | NO OF COMBINATIONS |
|---|---|
| Singles | 6 |
| Doubles | 12 |
| Trebles | 6 |
| Fourfolds | 1 |
| Fivefolds | 0 |
| Sixfolds | 1 |
| Sevenfolds | 0 |
| Eightfolds | 0 |
| Ninefolds | 0 |
| Tenfolds | 0 |
Understanding the different combinations is important with this type of bet because it can be used very strategically.
As an example, your first three selections could be favourites and you aim to get three winners that cover the stake you have laid out.
Your next three selections could be longshots which although are higher risk could give you a much higher return.
Finally, you could use the Ontheballbets strategy for this bet which is a mixture of the above two.
- Selection A – 6/4
- Selection B – 4/1
- Selection C – 10/1
- Selection D – 2/1
- Selection E – 5/1
- Selection F – 16/1
This means you have a favourite, a fancied runner and an outsider or longshot in each patent, while your Yankee has two favourites, a fancied runner and an outsider. And finally, your sixfold accumulator has two favourites, two fancied runners and two outsiders.
Of course, if all six of your horses win then you are in for a bumper payout.
And of course, with an Alphabet, you only need one horse to win (in a win Alphabet) or get placed (in an each-way Alphabet) to get a return on your initial bet.
HOW DOES AN ALPHABET WORK?
As we mentioned, the Alphabet has 26 total combinations and it has 4 sub-bets.
Let’s break each of these down further.
Patent 1
The first patent (3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 treble) has horses 1,2 and 3 included and gives a total of 7 of the 26 total bets.
| Singles | Doubles | Trebles |
|---|---|---|
| A | AB | ABC |
| B | AC | |
| C | BC |
Patent 2
The second patent (3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 treble) has horses 4,5 and 6 included and gives a total of 7 of the 26 total bets.
| Singles | Doubles | Trebles |
|---|---|---|
| D | DE | DEF |
| E | DF | |
| F | EF |
Yankee
The Yankee (6 doubles, 4 trebles, and a fourfold accumulator) has horses 1, 2, 3, and 4 included and gives a total of 11 of the 26 total bets.
| Doubles | Trebles | FOURFOLDS |
|---|---|---|
| AB | ABC | ABCD |
| AC | BCD | |
| AD | CDA | |
| BC | DAB | |
| BD | ||
| CD |
Sixfold Accumulator
And the final part of the Alphabet bet is where you have all six horses (A, B, C, D, E & F) in a sixfold accumulator. This is the portion of the bet that can generate a big win if you are fortunate enough to hit six winners in your win Alphabet or even six places if you can pick out six longshots in an each-way Alphabet.
CONCLUSION
I was always looking for breakdowns of an Alphabet so that I could understand all of the different combinations. So here at Ontheballbets we decided to give punters an easy guide to the different bet types so you know exactly how they work.
Hopefully, this simple explanation of an Alphabet has helped you understand this bet a little more clearly.
Make sure to follow our horse racing expert Richard Smith here at Ontheballbets and his regular pieces on all the big race meetings including the Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, Qatar Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe, Breeders Cup, The Melbourne Cup.
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The information on this page and across the Ontheballbets website is meant for entertainment purposes and should be viewed as such.
If you are betting on horse racing or any other sport then please make sure to bet responsibly. Only bet an amount that you can comfortably afford to lose.
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