IntroductionThe ‘Asian Handicap’ is a type of bet that originates, obviously, from Asia and it is very popular because the player has more chances to win money as he has to choose between 2 possible outcomes and not 3; meaning that he has 50% chances of winning rather than only 33%.

In the Asian Handicap bet, one team is given an advantage and consequently the other team is given a disadvantage, for example:

There is a game between Real Madrid and Alaves and the Asian Handicap gives a 1.5 goal advantage in favour of Alaves and consequently a 1.5 goal disadvantage against Real (it is like the score of the game is Real vs Alaves 0-1.5 before the game starts). The odd for Real to win (with a 2 goal difference and above) is 1.91 and the odd for Alaves to win (lose with a 2 goal difference, draw or win the game) is the same.

Let’s assume that Real has wins with 2-1; this is not enough to cover the Handicap in favour of Alaves and against Real and relative to the Asian Handicap bet, Alaves has won the game.

Είδη Ασιατικού Χάντικαπ There are many different kinds of Asian Handicap. An explanation for the most common lines follows.

0:0 or Level Ball
Common when there is a game between 2 more or less equal in strength teams. There is no advantage for any of the 2 teams. We win the bet if the team that we bet in favour of wins, we get our money back if the game ends up in a draw and we lose our money if the team that we bet in favour of loses the game.

Example: Team A vs Team B with odds 1.90 - 1.90
We bet 100 euros in favour of Team A to win the game
If Team A wins the game we win 190 euros (100 times 1.90) – 90 euros profit
If there is a draw we just get our 100 euros back
If Team B wins the game we lose 100 euros

+ 0.5 or 1/2
The logic here is very simple. If we choose to bet in favour of the team that has the advantage on its side it is as if we choose the X2 or 1X, whereas if we choose to bet in favour of the team that has the disadvantage on its side it is as if we just simply bet on this team to win the game.

Example: Panathinaikos vs Aek with odds 2.00-3.10-3.30
Asian Handicap – Panathinaikos (-0.50), Aek (+0.5) with odds 2.11 and 1.75

* Obviously it is in our favour to bet on Panathinaikos to win the game through the Asian Handicap odd (2.11) instead of simply choosing the ‘1’ bet (2.00).

0:1 or 0:2
This usually comes in games when one of the two teams is the clear favourite to win the game. In cases where the teams that has the 1 or 2 goal disadvantage wins with 1 or 2 goals difference, the money is returned back to the player.

Quarter Line Handicaps – This is simply a combination of 2 of the above 3 types.

0 / ½ or ¼ or 0.25
This usually comes in games when one of the two teams is a borderline favourite to win the game (2.10-2.20). It is as if we half our money into 2 Asian Handicap types, the 0:0 and the 0.5 or ½. Let’s see the following 2 examples to make things clearer:

Example 1: Team A vs Team B 0:1/4 1.90 and 1.90
We bet 100 euros in favour of Team A to win the game
If team A wins the game we win 190 euros (100 times 1.90) – 90 euros profit
If there is a draw, we get 50 euros back and we lose the other 50 euros
If team B wins we lose 100 euros

Example 2: Team A vs Team B 0:1/4 1.90 and 1.90
This time, we bet 100 euros in favour of Team B to win the game
If Team B wins the game we win 190 euros (100 times 1.90) – 90 euros profit
If there is a draw, we win 50 euros times 1.90 (95 euros, 45 euros profit) and the other 50 euros are returned
If Team A wins the game we lose 100 euros

*There are many ohter types of quarter line handicaps. Using the above logic can be easilly calculated.

European HandicapHere we have 3 possible outcomes, and the advantageous is always an ‘actual’ goal (1,2,3 goals and so forth).

Example: Team A against Team B with European Handicap 0:1 and odds 1-2.40, X-3.50, 2-2.10.

It follows that if Team wins 2-1 (or 3-2, 4-3…), relative to this type of bet, the game ends up in a draw.Χρήσιμες ΣυμβουλέςIt has been found that many bookmakers give better odds in the Asian Handicap bet in relation to a ‘simple’ win by a team; this happens in the Asian +/- Handicap bet where when you bet in favour of the team with the handicap against it, it is as if you are simply betting in favour of it to manage a win by any goal difference. When you bet in favour of the team which has the 0.5 advantage on its side its as if you are going for the double chance option.

Sometimes, the bookmakers overestimate or underestimate the handicap given in favour or against a team. An example is the game between San Marino and Germany a couple of years ago when there was a 4/4.5 goals handicap in favour of San Marino (surprise, surprise!) and Germany won the game with 13-0!

Betfair keeps only 1% of the winnings in the Asian Handicap, contrary to the 5% for the other kinds of betting.

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