Four Fold Accumulator Explained

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Do you enjoy betting, but are looking for bigger thrills and greater payouts? You may want to give accumulator bets a try. An accumulator bet allows you to multibet over a wide range of sports, games and contests, and once you’ve mastered the ropes, you’ll find it an exciting and rewarding experience.

This guide will walk you through what a football accumulator is, how to place one and some of the shortfalls. You will often see news of windfalls being landed through and accumulator and that is just what a four fold bet is. A four fold bet explained would simply be a wager which has four selections in it. Use the Accumulator return calculator to work out your winnings online for all sports. Free, easy to use and mobile friendly bet calculator.

We’ve put together all you need to know about placing accumulator bets below.

How to Place an Accumulator: Best Acca Offers In March 2021

BookmakerPromotion OfferedClaim the offer

bet365

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What Are Accumulator Bets?

Also known as ‘accas’ or ‘multiples’, accumulator bets combine several betting selections into a single wager. This could be as little as 2 or 3 selections and there is no upper limit; you can bet on 10, 20 or even 30 selections if you wish. However, bear in mind that an accumulator bet only wins when all individual selections win. Because of this, the potential payouts can be considerably higher than with a regular bet. The more selections you add, the higher the odds will be, and as such, small bets of a few pounds can lead to significant sums of money being won! There have even been astonishing examples of people winning six or seven-figure sums from a bet of £1 or less. That’s right; your loose change could make you a millionaire with an accumulator bet!

Different Varieties of Accumulator Bets

Here’s a guide to help you understand the correct betting terminology for different types of accumulator bets, based on the number of selections.
Number of selectionsBet type
2Double
3Treble
4Four-fold
5Five-fold
6Six-fold
7Seven-fold
8Eight-fold
You get the picture, a 10-selection accumulator is known as a ten-fold, one with 15 selections is a fifteen-fold, and so forth.

How to Place an Accumulator Bet

Creating an accumulator is simple; you simply need to add selections to your betting slip one by one. It’s common to place a football accumulator made up of matches taking place over a weekend or midweek round of games. To do that, locate the football section of your betting site and find the relevant league or competition. If betting in a retail shop, there are usually dedicated coupons available for accumulator betting.

Football Match Result Accas

Most people fill their football accumulators with selections from the match result betting market, although that is not the only type of bet that can be used. There are three possible outcomes in the football match result market:
  • Home win
  • Draw
  • Away win
For each match you wish to include in the accumulator, select your predicted outcome and add it to the betslip by clicking on the displayed odds. Here’s an example of what the Premier League betting coupon looked like on the last weekend of the 2016/2017 season, with our six selections in blue. Once you’ve added all the results you want to, it’s time to look at the betslip to get your acca on. You see the bets listed as singles at the top of the betslip, but you need to scroll down to find the acca options. This displays the different types of multiple bet available and their odds. As you can see, our selections have combined odds of 17.47/1, meaning a £10.00 stake returns £184.73 if the bet is successful. Once you have filled in the stake, corresponding to the amount you wish to bet, click to place bet and confirm if necessary (some betting sites only require one click). Then it’s a case of sitting back and following the results as the action takes place on the pitch. Although, if you’re waiting on just one final result to come in for your bet to win, you most likely won’t be sitting back, rather on the edge of your seat!

Other Types of Acca

Football match result markets are not the only kind of bet you can make into an acca. You could use other football markets such as Over/under 2.5 goals or Both Teams to Score. Just be aware that some bets can’t be combined into accas as the outcomes are dependent to some extent on each other. For example Both Teams to Score and Over 1.5 goals could not be combined into a double as, if both teams score, there will automatically have been over 1.5 goals in the match. If football’s not your favourite sport to bet on, you can alternatively place an acca on just about any sport. The most popular other sports for accas include tennis, rugby and American sports. Here are a couple of betslips with alternative accas. The steps to follow are exactly the same: find your betting coupon, pick your selections, add your stake to the betslip and confirm the bet.

Calculating Your Accumulator Bet Winnings

The odds for accumulator bets are calculated by converting the fractional odds of each selection into decimals and then multiplying them together. This is not easy to do manually, especially with odds like 1/7 or 4/9 from our example above, which are not round numbers.
Selection #MatchSelectionFractional oddsDecimal oddsCumulative decimal odds
1Chelsea vs SunderlandChelsea1/71.141.14
2Liverpool vs MiddlesbroughLiverpool1/71.141.31
3Leicester vs BournemouthLeicester4/51.82.35
4Hull vs TottenhamTottenham6/101.63.76
5Burnley vs West HamDraw12/53.412.79
6Arsenal vs EvertonArsenal4/91.4418.47
The total accumulator odds are 17.47/1, or 18.47 in decimals. That means a £10 stake would return roughly £184.70, give or take a few pence. As you can see, having one selection with slightly longer odds, in this case the Burnley vs West Ham draw, makes a big difference to the total odds. A lot of people stick to odds-on selections with their accas, as they see them as a sure bet, but it’s swings and roundabouts really. The lower the odds of each selection, the more selections you need to have a decent return from your winning acca. The more selections you have, the easier it is for one to slip up and your bet to lose. Such is the dilemma of the accumulator punter! Remember, all selections need to win for an accumulator to be successful. That’s why it’s such an exciting type of bet and the rewards can be huge. On the other hand, it’s common for your return to be a big fat zero. Read on to find out about other types of multiple bet which offer a return more often than not.

What Are System Bets?

A system bet is made up of many different smaller bets, combining all the different kinds of multiple that can be made using the same betting selections. Let’s go back to our example above, where we had six betting selections in our accumulator. Those selections can actually be combined into different kinds of multiple, in addition to the acca itself. For example, a double that could be created from our selections is Chelsea + Liverpool, while another double is Chelsea + Leicester. All in all, those 6 selections can be combined into 15 different doubles:
  • Chelsea/Liverpool
  • Chelsea/Leicester
  • Chelsea/Tottenham
  • Chelsea/Draw (Burnley v West Ham)
  • Chelsea/Arsenal
  • Liverpool/Leicester
  • Liverpool/Tottenham
  • Liverpool/Draw (Burnley v West Ham)
  • Liverpool/Arsenal
  • Leicester/Tottenham
  • Leicester/Draw (Burnley v West Ham)
  • Leicester/Arsenal
  • Tottenham/Draw (Burnley v West Ham)
  • Tottenham/Arsenal
  • Draw (Burnley v West Ham)/Arsenal
There are also 20 different trebles, 15 different four-folds and 6 different five-folds which can be created from our selections. “Why bother with all this?”, you may be saying to yourself. Well, let’s say you have 4 correct selections out of 6. A regular accumulator would get you a return of zilch, whereas at least with a system bet, you would have some winning doubles and trebles, as well as a winning four-fold. These won’t be worth a huge amount on low-odds football selections, but if you have 4 winning horses out of 6, that could still be a very profitable outcome. Due to the popularity of system bets, different names are attributed according to the number of selections. Including singles is an optional extra, as a single is by nature not a multiple bet.
N° of selectionsBet name & n° of betsBet name & n° of bets (including singles)
3Trixie – 4Patent – 7
4Yankee – 11Lucky 15 – 15
5Canadian – 26Lucky 31 – 31
6Heinz – 57Lucky 63 – 63
7Super Heinz – 120N/A
8Goliath – 247N/A
For each of the system bets shown in the second column, you need a minimum of two winning selections to get a return from your bet. For the third column, a single winning selection will secure you a return, although it won’t necessarily be a big return.

Acca Promotions

A lot of betting sites and shops offer a refund in the form of a free bet if your accumulator misses out by just one selection. Say you had 4 winners out of 5, or 6 winners out of 7; in either of those cases you would qualify. This kind of offer is known as Acca Insurance, as it provides a consolation prize for coming so close to a winning acca. Some sites offer a profit boost when you have a winning acca. This is usually expressed as a percentage, such as 5% for a treble and going up to 100% extra winnings for an acca with 14 or more selections.

Multiple betting is a betting type that allows punters to place a series of bets on one betting slip. There are a few different forms of multiple (more on the later) but the simplest is the humble accumulator or acca. For an accumulator bet to be successful, all the results must come in – if even one bet fails to win then the whole bet will have lost and you will have lost your stake.

The reason multiple betting is so popular is that it allows punters to get a greater return from a series of results rather than just taking a low odds bet on a single result. For example, rather than placing three bets at evens you place one three-fold accumulator that has odds of 7/1.

The amount of bets you can have a multiple are pretty much unlimited. The more bets you include the higher the odds are going to be, but also the less likely the bet will turn out to be a winner. Multiples can include as little as two different bets (double) and stretch to as many as 15 or even more. Three bets for your multiple are known as a treble, whilst four or more bets are simply known as an accumulator. Bets may also be known as folds; so 5 bets maybe known as a 5 fold , 6 bets 6 fold and so on.

How do Multiple Bets Work?

To give you a better understanding of a multiple bet we will run through a quick working example.

First off let’s look at how the maths of a multiple bet works. For each bet a point is added to the odds. Our first bet is 3/1 and our second bet is 5/1. To work out our double simply add one point to each value and then times the two values. So we now get 4 (3/1 + 1 point) times 6 (5/1 +1) to equal 24, which is a 23/1 double.

If you are using decimals instead of fractions then simply times the two numbers together for a double. So a double of 2.00 and 4.00 would equal a multiple of 8.00 (2.00 x 4.00). Note: Decimals are a much simpler way to work out your accumulator bets.

When you are adding more than two bets simply times together the decimals off the odds. If we had a 5 fold accumulator with bets of 3.40, 1.66, 2.10, 2.5 and 2.20 then after we multiple these numbers together we would get odds of 65.18.

Obviously the odds of each individual bet will have an effect on the overall accumulator odds with the higher the odds the greater the accumulator bet will become.

Whats The Different Between a Multiple and an Accumulator?

We’ve already introduced the concept of an accumulator as a multiple bet and many people use the terms interchangeably. Our American friends also have another word for this type of bet, calling it a ‘Parlay’.

Technically speaking though we prefer to view an accumulator as a type of multiple bet rather than being one and the same. The reason for this is that as well as accumulators there are other forms of multiple bet you can place. For example, a ‘Lucky 15’ involves a series of overlapping accumulators placed on the same group of bets. The idea here being that you don’t need all of your legs to win, but you still have the opportunity for a larger payday than if you have placed your bets individually.

What Is A 4 Fold Accumulator

Types of Multiple Bets

There are many types of multiple bets on offer from a host of bookmakers. Let’s look at some of the more common ones.

  • Double – A multiple which consists of 2 different bets
  • Treble – A multiple that consists of 3 different bets
  • Accumulator – A multiple that consists of four or more bets. These may also be known as 4 fold, 5 fold, 6 fold etc depending on how many bets are in the accumulator.
  • Trixie – A Trixie is wager placed on three selections of four bets. These must include 3 doubles and a treble. To gain a pay-out from this bet two or more selections must be successful.
  • Yankee – A Yankee is 11 bets but based on four separate selections. These must include 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a 4 fold accumulator. For a pay-out from a Yankee you must get at least selections correct.
  • Lucky 15 – Popular with horse racing fans, a lucky 15 is the same as a Yankee but also includes single bets. So as well as the 6 doubles, 4 trebles and four-fold acca, you also have four single bets.

The last three types of bet are what’s known as a ‘Full Cover Bet’. This is the other category of multiple that we spoke of earlier in the article and one that we’ll cover in more detail in the next section.

Full Cover Bets

Unlike a straight accumulator which has only two possible outcomes – win or lose – a full cover bet pays out even if only a few of your selections win. The reason for this is that instead of placing one bet covering all selections to win, you place a series of smaller bets that between them cover all of the possible accumulator outcomes you could have placed on those bets – hence the name “full cover”.

The simplest full cover bet is a Trixie which involves three selections. Let’s call them Horse A, Horse B and Horse C. If you place a Trixie on these three horses you would actually be placing four bets – one three leg accumulator on all three horses to win PLUS three doubles on Horses A + B, A + C and B + C.

Because you have three doubles covering all possible combinations you only need two out of the three horses to win to get some kind of return. For example, if Horse A and Horse C won but Horse B lost you would lose your three fold accumulator as well as the two doubles involving Horse B, but you would win the double that included Horses A + C.

The return you would get from two horses winning would be less than if all three had won, but more than had you only placed a straight up accumulator on the selections.

If you wanted to include four selections this would be called a Yankee and involves 11 bets. One four fold, four trebles and six doubles.

You can see a list of the different kinds of full cover bets in the table below:

Accumulator
BetSelectionsNumber of BetsBet Distribution
Trixie343 doubles + 1 treble
Yankee4116 doubles, 4 trebles + 1 four fold
Super Yankee52610 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four folds + 1 five fold
Heinz65715 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four folds, 6 five folds + 1 six fold
Super Heinz712025 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four folds, 21 five folds, 7 six folds + 1 seven fold
Goliath824728 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 four folds, 56 five folds, 28 six folds, 8 seven folds + 1 eight fold

Full Cover Bets With Singles

A full cover bet with singles is exactly as it sounds – the same as the type of bets mentioned above but also including single bets on each selection. Here you only need one bet to win to get some kind of return, although depending on the odds the return is often less than the cost of the bet.

A Trixie with singles is called a Patent and involves 7 bets over three selections:

Four Fold Accumulator Explained Diagram

  1. 3 singles
  2. 3 doubles
  3. 1 treble

A Yankee with singles is called a Lucky 15 and includes 15 bets over four selections:

  1. 4 singles
  2. 6 doubles
  3. 4 trebles
  4. 1 four fold

A full list of full cover bets with singles can be found in the table below:

BetSelectionsNumber of BetsBet Distribution
Patent343 singles, 3 doubles + 1 treble
Lucky 154114 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles + 1 four fold
Lucky 315265 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four folds + 1 five fold
Lucky 636576 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four folds, 6 five folds + 1 six fold

Pros & Cons of Multiple Betting

Benefits

Multiple betting is a great way to increase the odds on a host of short priced favourites for any market. You can mix and match sports, include games on different days and basically add short priced favourites to bolster the overall pay-outs.

Four Fold Accumulator Explained Chart

Sticking with pay-outs, multiple betting is probably the most lucrative type of betting. The pay days can be huge for very little outlay. Just from taking the 5 fold above in our example you will see that a bet of just 1 unit would yield a 65.18 unit return.

Four Fold Accumulator Explained Sheet

Disadvantages

Four Fold Accumulator Explained Variable

Multiple betting is actually very high risk, especially with the more bets you keep adding to the list. Only one of those bets needs to be unsuccessful for the whole of the multiple bet to be written off as lost. Many bettors get carried away with the possible big payday when actually it’s very hard to string together 4, 5 or more consecutive correct results.