The Asian handicap is football\u2019s cleanest market: two outcomes, a goal start for the weaker side, and a margin lower than anything else in the sport. It also has the most settlement rules, which is why most disputes we hear about involve it. Here is how each line settles, with the arithmetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castilla FC \u22121 against Torrent CF means Castilla start a goal behind. Win by two or more and the bet wins; win by exactly one and it is a push \u2014 your stake comes back; draw or lose and it loses. The push is what removes the draw from the market and keeps the margin low: there are only two ways to be paid, so the bookmaker has less room to shade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castilla \u22121.5 cannot push. Win by two and it wins; anything else loses. Torrent CF +1.5 is the mirror: lose by one, draw or win and it pays. Half lines are the ones to use when you want a definite result and are prepared to pay a shorter price for the side you favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castilla \u22121.25 is two bets of half your stake: half on \u22121 and half on \u22121.5. Win by exactly one and the \u22121 half pushes while the \u22121.5 half loses, so you get half your stake back. Win by two and both halves win. The quarter line exists to let the bookmaker price between two whole numbers when neither is quite right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The line is a probability too<\/strong><\/p>\n\n A \u22121 line at 1.95 says the bookmaker thinks Castilla win by two or more slightly less than half the time, once the push is accounted for. Convert it before you bet, exactly as you would a match price.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Our August margin measurement put Asian handicaps at 3.8% across the guide, against 4.2% for match result and over 6% for player props. If you bet football regularly and have not used the market, that gap alone is the reason to learn it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Quarter lines, half lines and why the draw disappears \u2014 with worked examples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":33828,"menu_order":11,"template":"","tags":[125,196,243],"spx_guide_topic":[462],"spx_guide_level":[445],"class_list":["post-38193","spx_guide","type-spx_guide","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-asian-handicap","tag-football","tag-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spx_guide\/38193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spx_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/spx_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38193"},{"taxonomy":"spx_guide_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spx_guide_topic?post=38193"},{"taxonomy":"spx_guide_level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.sportpulse.anpsthemes.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/spx_guide_level?post=38193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}