So, what is a yankee bet?
A Yankee Bet is a bet that consists of four selections that are rolled up into eleven bets, six doubles, four trebles and a 4-fold. A yankee bet is a great way to cover a four selections as you can generate a return if only 50% of your selections win.
Yankee bets are popular with football punters who like to reduce the risk when covering multiple selections so that they can still generate a return on their bet if not all the selections win.
A yankee bet is considered a full cover bet as each of your selections is covered by doubles, trebles and the 4-fold.
Yankee Bet Composition
You have four selections in a yankee (1,2,3, 4), below you can find a breakdown of how the bets are covered:
Doubles: 1+2, 1+3, 1+4, 2+3, 2+4, 3+4
Treble: 1+2+3, 1+2+4, 1+3+4, 2+3+4
4-Fold: 1+2+3+4
As a yankee consists of eleven separate bets, if you were to put £10 on, your total stake would be £110 (£10 x 11).
What Is A Yankee Bet Good For?
Yankee bets offer up a good alternative to backing four selections in a 4-fold but a yankee is better suited when the odds of the selections you are looking to back are over 2/1 (3.00), as this means you can nearly cover your bet if only two of the selections in your yankee win. Odds of 3/1 (4.00) or longer would suit best.
A yankee bet is good for backing Correct Score bets, Both Teams To Score & Win bets and Draw bets as these tend to have longer odds that suit this multiple bet type.
Yankee Bet Example
As an example of a yankee bet, lets imagine that you have backed Manchested United, Real Madrid, Tottenham & Leicester City all to win and both teams to score in their games at odds of 3/1 (4.00).
In this example you have placed £10 on the yankee so your total stake is £110.
If only one of your selections wins, your bet returns £0 as you need at least a double to land a return, this means you make a £110 loss.
If two of your four selections win then you win one of your doubles. If you multiple the odds of those two selections, in this case 4.00 x 4.00, you get odds of 16.00 for the double X your £10 on that bet means you get £160 back and make a £50 profit on the bet.
If three of your four selections win then you win three of your doubles (£160 x 3 = £480) and you win the treble which in this case is at odds of 64.00 (4.00 x 4.00 x 4.00), so your £10 on the treble returns £640. Add this to the return you got on your doubles and you have £640 + £480 = £1120 return from your £110 bet…. Which is £1010 profit.
If all four of your selections win then you win all six doubles (£160 x 6 = £960) and you win all four of your trebles (£640 x 4 = £2560) and you win the 4-fold which in this case is at odd of 256.00 (4.00 x 4.00 x 4.00 x 4.00) so your £10 bet on the 4-fold would return £2560. Add this to your return from the doubles and the trebles and your total return would be £6080, a £5970 profit from your £110 bet.
Hopefully this article has helped you with your understanding of what is a yankee bet.