Cricket betting has become a popular and exciting form of entertainment for cricket fans worldwide. If you are just starting your betting journey or are new to the betting world, understanding how to set a book is crucial for successful betting.
Setting book involves placing bets on various cricket events, allowing you to determine the probability of different outcomes and potential winnings.
In this guide, we will take you through the process of setting book and we will give examples and betting strategies along the way.
What Does Book Setting Mean?
Understanding odds is one of the most important things when it comes to setting book in cricket betting. Setting book is indeed similar to hedging your bets.
It involves strategically placing bets on different outcomes of a cricket match to ensure a guaranteed profit or minimal losses, regardless of the match's result.
If you are still having trouble understanding what exactly setting book in cricket betting means, let us clear your doubts with an example.
Examples of Book Setting in Cricket
Consider a One-Day International (ODI) cricket match between India and West Indies. Bookmakers such as 22bet offer the following odds for the match outcome:
- India to win: 2.00 at 22bet
- West Indies to win: 3.50 at Cricbaba
Now, you want to set the book to guarantee a profit or cut down on your losses. Let's assume you have a total betting budget of INR 1,000 for this match.
To set the book, you need to determine how much money to bet on each outcome. To ensure a balanced book and guarantee a profit, you need to calculate the stakes based on the odds offered.
The formula for calculating your stake is as follows:
- Stake = Total Budget/Odds of Outcome
For the example above, these are the stakes you want to place on the match outcomes to set book.
- Stake on India = INR 1,000/2.00 = INR 500
- Stake on West Indies = INR 1,000/3.50 = INR 285.71
Now, you place your bets on India's win at INR 500 with odds of 2.00 and bet approximately INR 285.71 on West Indies to win at odds of 3.50.
Scenario 1: India Wins
If Team India wins the match, you will receive a payout from your bet on India: INR 500 x 2.00 = INR 1,000. In this case, you won the bet on India, and you break even, meaning you neither gain nor lose any money.
Scenario 2: West Indies Wins
If West Indies wins the match, you will receive a payout from your bet on Windies:Β INR 285.71 x 3.50 = INR 999.95 (almost INR 1,000). In this case, you won the bet on WI, and again, you break even, with no net gain or loss.
As you can see in the examples above, book setting is mostly used to counter a bet that you have already placed to make sure that you won't lose any money.
This can especially be handy when the match progresses in a different way than you expected, so you can at least still recover your original stake.
Advantages of Book Setting
One of the significant advantages of book setting is effective risk management. By strategically placing bets on different outcomes, you can minimise potential losses as stated in the earlier example.
In certain scenarios, book setting can lead to a guaranteed profit as well. If you explore a little and look for opportunities where the odds offered by the bookmaker allow you to set the book in such a way that you lock in a profit, regardless of which team wins.
When such an opportunity arises, it is also called a ‘Sure Bet'. You can read more about this in our sure bet guide.
How to Find Book Setting Opportunities?
Finding a book setting opportunity is the most important thing and you need to keep a close eye for odds. The key to success lies in identifying scenarios where both potential outcomes carry odds higher than 2.00. It then presents you a situation to exploit.
Such opportunities would usually not arise on 1 bookmaker, thatβs why it is important to create accounts at multiple different bookmakers. Keep a close eye on the odds across multiple platforms to find book setting opportunities.
The main aim for you is to find a situation when the bookmakers' odds may not accurately reflect the true probability of an event occurring.
Of course it is also possible that the pre-match odds are over 2.00 for one time, while the live betting odds are over 2.00 for the other team. This is the most classic case of a book setting opportunity.
Tip: Book setting opportunities arise more often when placing a bet on betting exchange sites. To understand better how to play bets on these sites, make sure to read our back and lay betting guide.
