Covering parlays/accumulators – pre-match or in-play

The idea of covering parlays/accumulators is to secure part of the income FOR SURE either by covering the remaining, unsettled game pre-match or in-play.

Please have a look at the following example that will clarify the idea of covering parlays.

We will analyze simplest possible historical 2-team accumulator, placed 3-Nov-2013 for 50 EUR stake on two Soccer Polish games.

Both picks, as you can see below, were for away Teams to win their games.

First game to start was Lechia Gdansk vs Slask Wroclaw and here is the result of the match:

The remaining game (Lech Poznan vs Gornik Zabrze) was about to start straight after the first match and the bettor decided to watch it and possibly cover the other options (1X) by live-betting it during the game.

Let us analyze the profit/loss options he had BEFORE the beginning of 2nd game, depending on the result of it:

1. Lech Poznan wins or match ends a draw: 50 EUR lost (the entire parlay is lost)
2. Gornik Zabrze wins a game: 637,7 EUR WIN (+50 EUR stake).

The game started in bettor’s favor and Gornik Zabrze took an early lead 0-1. Now the bettor decided to cover draw or Lech Poznan result option by betting that Lech wins the remaining part of the game (which essentially meant home team win or draw):

At that point let us summarize the options:

1. Lech Poznan or draw: +346,80 EUR (won covering bet) – 50 EUR (lost parlay) = +296,80 EUR
2. Gornik Zabrze holds an early lead and wins the game: -340 EUR (lost covering bet) +637,7 EUR (won parlay) = 298,3 EUR

So at that point with no risk whatsoever almost 300 EUR profit was secured.

Perhaps you wonder now, how the game ended?

The covering bet turned out to be a good move, because Gornik eventually lost that game 3-1.

So the take home message guys is that sometimes it is worth to secure a part of the profit to avoid the entire loss, especially if you are watching the only remaining game you bet at and you have doubts regarding your pick.