How To Win With Ante Post Betting

Ante post betting is placing wagers on futures or long-term markets at least one day before an event starts. It’s mostly associated with horse racing, but it’s also available in other sports, including tennis and basketball. For instance, you can make an ante post bet on the Premier League winner before the season starts. The upside is that you will get better odds for backing a selection ahead of time.

However, you will lose your stake if your pick does not participate, like a non-runner in horse racing. Here, we will analyze how ante post bets work and give you expert tips to form a winning advanced betting strategy in each sport. Is it worth waiting for weeks or even months, or is it preferable to stick with daily betting? Let’s have a look.

Best Ante Post Betting Sites

In the shortlist below, you can find the top-rated bookmakers with the best odds on outrights for the whole calendar year. They offer you options on a wide range of sports, including horse and greyhound racing, football and tennis.

What is an Ante Post Bet

This market is available in all online bookmakers, albeit with a different name. Long-term, futures, or outrights refer to an ante post bet. The infinite number of options is the main reason that attracts interest. You can play on virtually anything ahead of time, including a Grand Slam winner in tennis or the team that will be relegated from the Championship.

What’s more, if you are willing to accept the risk, you can find better prices among high odds betting sites and increase your profits. You can also use our Implied Probability Calculator to evaluate the bets you will back. Take, for example, the prices on the favourites for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Vadeni, at 13.00 and Auguste Rodin at 15.00. The prices have been released ten months before the French horse race; so you can find high odds for the winner, each way and place options.

Pros & Cons of An Ante Post Bet

You can get far higher prices on ante posts, which is the main factor attracting bettors. Here is a list of the major benefits to clarify your thoughts about its value.

Better odds: Besides the fact that you can enjoy higher prices betting a favourite to win a league than a single match, without a doubt, you can find value ante post betting odds which can give a lot of earnings.

Bookies’ mistakes: Remember, you start from the same point as the betting sports sites when they publish the starting odds. Both of you aim to predict what will happen in the coming months; so the chance of falling a bookie into mistakes is higher than other betting types.

Time for research: When betting on ante posts, you don’t have any time pressure. You have all the time to analyze data, odds, and possibilities and set cash out points.

Still, on the other hand, it can be unpredictable to know what’s going to happen several months before a horse race or after an entire football season. Our list of drawbacks follows.

Difficulty level: It’s hard to predict how a sporting event, scheduled after eight months, will end or how a basketball season may finish. An ante post bet can become a loser in many ways because several factors can have an impact. For example, a football season in a league has numerous matches; teams may suffer injuries and bans, decide managerial changes, or lose points by referees’ decisions.

High skills: If you want to enjoy better odds from ante posts, you should have the skills to know how to place these bets. You must spend a lot of time analyzing all the corresponding data with a league, tournament, or race. You need patience for a whole season to receive your potential earnings and the experience to pick the proper selections.

Bankroll effect: When you place an ante post bet, you invest your stake once, with the promise of winning at the end of the season. Your money is locked and can’t be used on other bets, a factor that can influence your bankroll badly.

Ante Post Betting Rules

Standard rules among bookmakers exist, but it’s wise to know what happens to your wagers under specific conditions. Betting early has become popular, but what happens if your selection does not compete or an event is postponed? Bookmakers.bet have gathered the most common questions for this market by analyzing the bookies’ ante post betting rules.

What happens when an event is postponed?

Sometimes races are postponed due to weather conditions; your ante post bet is returned if the runs are declared void and not moved to another day. On the other hand, if there is a re-run, the wagers aren’t lost but are carried forward to the new date. More rarely, when football or basketball leagues or tournaments are postponed or interrupted for other reasons, as with the Covid-19 pandemic, all futures become void, and your stake is refunded.

What happens when your selection doesn’t take part?

In that case, you should check your bookies’ terms. Some top online betting sites offer ante post betting odds with a guarantee that you get your money back if a horse or a tennis athlete doesn’t participate. On the flip side, this offer isn’t applicable in many cases. So, if your selection may become injured one or two days before the event, you will lose your wager.

When can you cash out ante posts?

Cash out service at races for horses and greyhounds is not available. On the other hand, you can receive offers for cash amounts during an event, such as a Grand Slam or a football competition like the English Premier League.

What happens in each way markets?

Betting on each way ante post bets offers you the safety to receive some earnings if your selection takes the 2nd place or lower until the 5th in some cases; like elite tennis tournaments and top races. So, check your bookie’s terms to know how to bet on sports E/W; for instance, the terms are written as “1-2, 1/2” (your pick is a winner if it takes 1st or 2nd place for half odds) and “1-5, 1/3” (you win if your pick secures a place from 1 to 5 for one-third of the odds).

Best Ante Post Betting Tips per Sport

Bookies open the markets weeks, months or even a year ahead of schedule. Several are released immediately after a competition has just finished; so you have plenty of time to find high, early odds. For instance, you can back the next Wimbledon Champion the day after the final. However, not all sports are the same, and you must consider several aspects before deciding. That’s why we have created a list of expert ante post betting tips for each sport to become a master in futures.

Horse Racing

One of the main reasons why ante post horse racing betting is so popular is the variety of races available yearly. Some of the most prestigious events, like the Grand National, the Cheltenham Festival, and the Epsom Derby, offer early opportunities to make serious money. Here is a checklist of what you should watch and avoid before placing an ante post bet.

Research: Knowing your runners as much as possible is critical. Most of the time, the races will run after several months, so you must check the trial days of your horse. There’s a risk when betting on horses early; however, you can secure high returns in a sport where even the heavyweight favourites pay 10.00+ odds. Especially in the elite races, the odds drop because of horses’ performances during the year. A good idea is to check the qualifying races months in advance and pick the candidates who make wins on specific turfs.

Bet the right time: Bookmakers are willing to offer markets for the next one after a big race, so you must consider placing an ante post on a runner so early. Several factors can ruin your bet (poor form or an injury), so wait for the right time to involve as closer to the race day. A prolific alternative is to try to make money from live betting on horse racing.

Bet each way: It’s understandable that in most races, the main idea is to pick the winner. The chances to predict the victor are slim when it comes to elite events, like the Grand National, with a field of many riders. This is why each way bets on long-terms can increase your chances of making a profit; if the runner you back finishes 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even 5th, you will still have some profits.

Tennis

Individual sports are among the best alternatives for ante post betting. The four Grand Slams occur each calendar year and offer unlimited opportunities for long-term wins. However, there are specific things you must check to maximize your returns.

Bet later: Remember that you don’t back a football team with several players but one athlete. As it happens at races, your wager is lost if your pick gets injured. However, the odds on favorites will not change much throughout the year; that means the early risk is not worth the reward. So, be patient to place an ante post a few days before a Grand Slam starts. The starting odds will not be subject to major changes. However, tennis bettors know the greatest favourites to win a tournament. So, maybe the risk of early betting isn’t worth the reward.

Follow the news: Always get the latest news about the athlete you want to back. Match results, the condition and performances, and the stats against competitive opponents provide a clear conclusion for the chances to reach at least the final (i.e., you will have profit if you place each way bet).

Avoid additional risks: Several factors can affect your bet in the long run, so we advise you never to place many ante posts at the same time because you take a lot of risks. Moreover, it’s not a good idea to bet on underdogs who rarely make upsets in major tournaments. Even high-level players like Zverev, who pay attractive odds for Wimbledon betting, have a hard time overcoming stars such as Nadal or Djokovic in a potential final and lifting the trophy.

Football

An outright for the most popular sport worldwide is relatively easier to understand, and you can place it on more markets. The main difference between football and other sports is that betting spreads the risk over a season of more than 350 games. Even if you back a team to win a league or a player to finish as a top scorer, your wager lasts more than 90 minutes, a race, or a specific period, as it happens with Grand Slams. Nothing sounds obvious in betting, so follow our tips to win football bets and keep your bankroll wealthy.

Exploit the number of markets: You can find ante posts for top goalscorers and relegation teams; which teams will concede the most goals, which will score the most, which goalkeeper will save the most goal attempts, and more. The numerous options for football futures are a factor that you can take advantage of; there’s no limit to predicting only the tournament’s winner or the 2nd place finalist.

Bet on leagues you know well: An optimal parameter before you place a successful wager is to know your stuff. Generally, elite competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League and the English Premier League, or tournaments like World Cup, are excellent for outright betting. However, it’s better to risk an outright on your domestic league. You know the teams in-depth, the coaches’ style, the football politics, and the rivalries.

Avoid huge favourites: The odds value isn’t always a win indicator regarding outrights. Even in big competitive leagues, powerhouses exist, having the most theoretical chances to finish 1st at the end of the league at low prices. However, it’s better to avoid heavyweight favourites when placing ante post football bets; we can’t recommend waiting a whole season for a payout of 1.40 or 1.50 odds. You can also use our Vigorish Calculator in order to know the value of your bets.

Is Ante Post Betting Worth It?

So, the question is, “How to check my bet slip before I start ante post betting”? The risk is high even if you have the confidence and patience to wait months for returns. It suits more occasional bettors than advanced; they can use it for hunting stunning profits with low stakes. Suppose you have more than basic knowledge of how to bet on sports successfully; it’s easier to predict a single match and secure earnings than standing by for the football season to end.

Successful bettors evaluate odds daily after deep research for the latest news and the background of each game; they also examine valuable stats for their next bet. Moreover, you can’t build a sufficient staking plan based on futures. In conclusion, ante post betting is an alternative for those who want to chase more money, risking low stakes.

Complete List of Ante Post Betting Sites

Here is the full list of sports bookmakers with the best outright odds and the broadest range of long-term markets. You can get prices on the top sports like horse racing, football, tennis and basketball in advance.