Bookmakers are keen to make it impossible for bettors to win by long margins. At the same time, there is a strategy that guarantees consistent winnings. “Forks” will save the bettor from having to keep track of the course of events, as he will earn the win sooner or later anyway.
Principles of the “Fork” strategy
A bookmaker’s fork is a situation when in two different betting odds for opposite outcomes of the same event are set so that the bettor can bet on both of them and win in any case. Betting shops often overstate the odds in order to attract players, which often results in odds being placed on two opposite outcomes so that the bettor will be in the black by betting on both of them and winning either way.
Examples: Victory for Team 1 and Team 2 (typical for non-team sports), Total less and over 3 goals. So, if one bettor bets a total of more than three goals with odds 2.0 and a second betting total of less than three goals with odds 2.08, and if the bettor bet on both outcomes, he/she will win regardless of how many goals were in the match.
There is a formula for calculating the arrow:
Where N1 is the odds on the first outcome, N2 is the odds on the second outcome respectively, and B is the indicator of the fork.
If the arrow is less than one, it is a bookmaker’s arrow, if it is more, it is not.
There are also online services and special calculators, where you can find a fork without making calculations yourself. There are even programmes for autoscanning betting sites.
There are also online betting odds, where the net profit percentage is much higher. Bettors follow them online, but the odds change quickly, and there is a risk of missing a betting opportunity.
At the same time, this strategy should be used with the utmost caution. Bookmakers do not welcome this approach, which often results in the cancellation of winnings, blocking of accounts and other sanctions. Every bookmaker has staff who monitor account activity and ban them if they suspect that they are using “Wick”.