What Is A Heinz Bet?

Firstly, this article is not about Heinz beans. This is the latest article in the Outplayed series of articles on cover bets following on from the articles on Trixie Bets, Yankee Bets, and Super Yankee Bets.

The Heinz bet is the next logical step up from the Canadian bet (also often called a Super Yankee). The Heinz bet is one of the more complex forms of an Accumulator Bet and is particularly popular in horse racing.

The Heinz bet requires you to pick six different selections and then combines 57 different separate bets from Double Bets upwards.

The Heinz is more suited to seasoned bettors but those new to multiple betting will soon be up to speed with the details of these types of bets.  During this article, you will be guided through how a Heinz bet works, how to place one, the structure of a Heinz bet and when you might place one.

Interesting fact: The Heinz bet does indeed originate from the famous ‘Heinz 57 Variety’ brand but it’s nothing to do with how many products or recipes there are.  Henry J Heinz decided he needed some sort of slogan for his products so he chose his favourite number 5 and his wife’s favourite number seven and there you have it.

How Does A Heinz Bet Work?

The Heinz bet is a full cover bet that contains 57 separate bets based on six different selections. The breakdown of a Heinz bet looks like this:

• 15 Double Bets
• 20 Treble Bets
  
• 15 Four-fold Accumulators
  
• 6 Five-fold Accumulators
  
• 1 Six-fold Accumulator
  

With a bet structure like this, you don’t need all of your selections to win to get returns.  Whilst getting all six winners would be party time and reap amazing rewards, you only need to have two winners for some money back.

This is where it can start to look a little overwhelming in terms of the combinations so don’t get too caught up in every single element of the bet.  

If you picked six horses for your Heinz bet, this is how the bet structure of your 57 bets would look:

Double Bets

Treble Bets

Four-folds Accas

Five-fold Accas

Six-fold Acca

As mentioned, your Heinz bet is made up of 57 different wagers. One winner means the whole bet loses but let’s have a look at what combinations can provide you with a return. 

PLEASE NOTE: Your unit stake will apply to each of the above bets so if you place a unit stake of £1, the total cost of your Heinz bet will be £57.

How To Place Heinz Bets

To guide you through placing a Heinz bet at the bookies, let’s use a real example from a race meeting:

You’ve noticed that one of your favourite jockeys, W J Lee (also known as Billy Lee) has a few rides at the horse race meeting in Cork.

After studying the racecards, you think you have found six horses Billy is riding that have a chance of winning and jump onto Paddy Power:

1. 4.20pm – Ohmali @ odds of 11 (10/1)
2. 4.55pm – Heart Of Darkness @ odds of 4.33 (10/3)
   
3. 5.25pm – Surpass And Shine @ odds of 3.5 (5/2)
   
4. 5.55pm – Von Krolock @ odds of 4.5 (7/2)
   
5. 6.25pm - Made U Blush @ odds of 17 (16/1)
   
6. 6.55pm - Rubies From Burma @ odds of 4 (3/1)
   

To create your Heinz bet, go into each of the six races and select your horses. This will create a bet slip down the right hand side of the page that looks like this:

Initially, you’ll see all six horses as single bets.  A little further down the bet slip you will see the multiple bets available and the Heinz bet option (highlighted). Once you click on the Heinz option, you’ll be given an option to enter your stake as below:

How To Calculate Heinz Bets

Let’s cut to the chase, calculating 57 different combinations of bets isn’t going to be straightforward.  Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you use one of the many Heinz Bet Calculators that are available online.

Using the above example with Paddy Power, they offer their own calculator to help customers work out potential returns.  The layout of their calculator is straightforward. You just need to enter the odds of your selections.  From there, you can look at each of the possible bet returns by changing the ‘WIN/PLACE’ drop-down options.

It is actually possible to calculate possible returns manually but it’s a bit long-winded and you don’t want to be bored with all those figures in this article.

In summary, it would require you to work out the returns of each possible wager by multiplying the odds of the selections in that combination. The calculations would need to be done as follows:

Doubles

• Ohmali & Heart Of Darkness: £1 x 11 x 4.33 = £47.63
• Surpass And Shine & Von Krolock: £1 x 3.5 x 4.5 = £15.75
  

This is just an example of two of the possible doubles calculations.  There will be another 13 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, 6 five-folds & 1 six-fold to calculate.  Once you have calculated the 57 sets of figures, you then add them all up to get the total odds for your Heinz bet.  Hence, why we have spared you the pain of all of those figures. 

If numbers are your thing and you really, really want to put your brain to the test and work things out manually, there is a detailed example of how to do this in our Canadian Bet article.

What Sports Can You Use A Heinz Bet On?

Even though the Heinz bet originated from horse racing, it has now been adopted by many other sports too.

Those sports include football, golf, darts, greyhound racing, rugby, snooker, cricket and American football. 

You aren’t restricted to one sport either.  You can combine different sports and markets within your bet. Similar rules apply as the Yankee Bets and Canadian Bets in that you can’t place multiples that have related outcomes. 

However, if there was a weekend that included the Rugby Six Nations, The Premier League football and Formula 1, there’s nothing stopping you from combining those sports within one Heinz bet.  Should there be any restrictions, the bookmaker would not offer the Heinz when you try to place the bet.

When To Use A Heinz Bet

The Heinz is a good bet to consider when you have strong confidence in at least six selections in mixed events but want a degree of protection in case they don’t all come in. It’s particularly popular and can be useful in horse racing and football where there are a lot of fixtures in a short space of time.

The Heinz bet could be considered as a high-risk, high-reward option mainly due to the size of stakes required and the possible rewards being very substantial. However, it’s not a bet you should jump into lightly.  It’s highly recommended that you carry out analysis and research to enable you to make informed decisions and enhance your chances of winning.

Each Way Heinz Bet

As with most of the multiple bets on the market, there is an option to place an Each Way Heinz bet. It’s rare that you would see this type of bet being placed on anything other than horse racing. 

As you can guess, doing an EW bet means you are betting for a horse to win or place. The standard Heinz bet consists of 57 bet combinations based on horses winning.  Therefore, by placing the bet each way, you are adding another 57 bets for each horse to place.  This not only means your total bets within a Heinz double to 114, but your stake doubles too. 

Doing an each way Heinz bet really does ramp up the initial outlay as it multiplies your unit stake by 114.  Therefore, always check the cost before you place the bet and make sure you stick to your budget.

Mistakes To Avoid With Heinz Bets

Due to the possible costs of a Heinz bet, it’s essential that you minimise potential losses and maximise your opportunities for success. Here’s some mistakes you might want to avoid:

Research: Betting blindly without doing some research and analysis of the markets can be extremely costly. Make sure you study the form of your selections.  The Outplayed Horse Racing Form article could help with this.

Understand The Cost: Not being aware of how much the bet costs can be a very expensive mistake. Make sure you know how much the total stake will be and remember the unit stake is multiplied by 57 with a Heinz bet.

Don’t Chase Losses: Make sure you stick to your budget. Don’t be tempted to chase losses and increase stakes on the next bet. This can and will more often than not, lead to higher losses.

Having No Strategy:  Don’t place Heinz bets blindly.  They can be expensive to place so you should definitely invest in developing a strategy for placing them. Do your research and set a realistic budget and set of expectations.

Don’t Ignore Offers:  Bookies often give bettors free bets and promotions. Don’t ignore them.  They can sometimes be used towards your Heinz bet stake and reduce the risk of potential losses.

Conclusion

A Heinz bet can offer much bigger returns than simpler bets and can be an exciting way to bet on multiple selections across different sports. However, this type of bet is more complex and can cost a lot more. If your budget allows, the Heinz can improve your chances of winning on multiple events and can be a good addition to your betting strategy.

Make sure you do adequate research across the markets and selections you are planning to place your Heinz bet on. With the right planning and strategy, the Heinz bet has the potential to be both fun and profitable.