What is a Yankee bet? how this popular combination bet works

06/10/26

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A Yankee bet is a form of a combination bet or a multiple bet. It is a very popular ‘full cover’ bet in sports, which is a favorite amongst UK and Irish bettors. There are many types of combination bets; a Trixie and a Canadian are two well-known examples of such bets. In this guide to a Yankee betting system we shall explore the meaning of Yankee and look at the structure of the Yankee bets, i.e. at how this bet is calculated. We shall also explain how to place a Yankee and provide examples that are easy to follow and comprehend. This guide will also help to compare a Yankee to a Trixie bet, and other bets of a similar nature.

How this popular combination bet works

The Yankee is a globally recognized “full cover” multiple bet. It includes all of the various “full cover” wagers, i.e. 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold. A Yankee therefore completely excludes single bets and, as a minimum, two winning selections are required in order to return a profit. In practice, this type of betting system is used most commonly for four individual events, such as four horse races, and where the bettor chooses two events for the doubles, three events for the trebles and all four for the four-fold.

An important thing to remember about Yankee betting is that it does not include any single bets. The smallest bet included in a Yankee is therefore a double, and for this reason at least two of your four chosen selections must win in order to return some money. For example, if you have placed a 4-selection Yankee and only one of your chosen events wins, then the whole Yankee will lose. The Yankee is best used for 4 independent events, for example, 4 different horse races or 4 different football matches, as opposed to trying to get multiple outcomes from 1 event.

How a Yankee is structured

In detail, the individual bets within the Yankee wager use the four picks, making a total of 11 individual bets.

The four picks included in the bet

A Yankee bet has to consist of 4 picks in order to be a ‘full cover’ bet. This means that if you have 3 picks to choose from for your next bet, then the only way to include all of them would be to place a Trixie. However, if you have 5 picks then this would be a Canadian. Each pick for a Yankee should be chosen independently of the other picks and the result of one of the picks should not affect the result of any of the other picks. For example, the outright winner of a match could be chosen for each of the 4 picks to create a Yankee on a variety of events. It is also important to remember that when placing a combination of picks as a Yankee, then all related contingencies must be excluded from the selection of picks. For example, if a number of the selected picks are due to take place in the same match or race, then they will not be able to be included in a Yankee as this would be against the rules of the bookmaker.

Breaking down the 11 combined bets

All bets in the Yankee betting system are created from 4 selections. There are 11 different multiple bets that can be created from 4 selections. The following are created as follows:

Six Doubles: Every possible two-pick combination.
Four Trebles: Every possible three-pick combination.
1 Four-fold Accumulator: All 4 of the picks selected.

The 11 parts of the Yankee are individual bets. So, each one of the 11 parts of the Yankee is put up at the same price as a single individual bet, and that price is your stake multiplied by the odds for each individual part of the Yankee. And for each of the 11 parts of the Yankee, the stakes are all put up at the same stake, i.e. your unit stake. Hence, for this Yankee, for example, a £5 unit stake results in a total stake of £55 for the 11 individual bets, i.e. £5 x 11.

How this betting system works in practice

Once all the matches for the chosen events have been played, the sportsbook will settle each of the 11 individual bets of the Yankee. Losing picks are ignored and do not affect the winning picks. Surviving winning picks are then calculated for the number of legs of the multiple bet. For each leg of a multiple bet, the initial stake is the return of the previous leg(s). The total return of all the surviving successful lines of the Yankee bet is the sum of all the individual returns for each of the lines. This return is calculated using the original stake for each line and the odds for the winning picks.

The 11 different wagers will be settled individually after all of the chosen matches have been played. Losing picks will naturally result in the related wagers losing as well. For example, all of the wagers that consist of a losing pick that loses in a Double will lose. The return for each winning wager is worked out by multiplying together the return for each of the picks that won in that wager. For example, the return for a Double (e.g., A+B) is worked out by multiplying together the initial wager (stake) and the odds for each of the picks that won (A and B). The total return for all of the wagers that won is the sum of the return for each wager.

Yankee bet example with four selections

Below we’re going to go through a football betting example of a Yankee bet with 4 selected matches. We will explain how the individual wagers are generated, how the bookmaker would settle each of the wagers and how you would work out your winnings from the returns of the losing wagers.

Football betting example

For example: You have picked 4 soccer matches and in each of the matches the home team is to win (e.g. Arsenal (A), Chelsea (B), Liverpool (C) and Everton (D)). The Yankee automatically creates 11 Bets (11 Place Bets) for you, the 6 Doubles, the 4 Trebles and 1 Four-fold.

Your 11 wagers automatically break down as follows:

6 Doubles: A+B, A+C, A+D, B+C, B+D, C+D.
4 Trebles: A+B+C, A+B+D, A+C+D, B+C+D.
1 Four-fold Accumulator: A+B+C+D.

Now we return to the previous example of the 4-match Yankee and see what would have happened had all the matches resulted as follows: Arsenal win, Chelsea win, Liverpool win, Everton lose. Since three of the four selected matches have been won by the chosen teams, there are three lines of winning picks. This means there are three doubles that win (A+B, A+C, B+C) as well as the treble A+B+C which also wins, for a return of 4 lines of picks.

What happens depending on the number of winners?

There is no single bet within a Yankee structure, i.e., the smallest possible individual bet, or component bet, within a Yankee is the double. So, your return from a placed Yankee bet will be solely influenced by the number of individual selected entries (or picks) that have gone on to win.

If only one selection wins

When only one of your teams wins all 11 of the component bets will lose. Many people mistakenly believe that a Yankee will pay out if only one of the selected teams win. This is not the case. As with all forms of accumulator betting the smallest number of constituent bets in a Yankee is a double. This means that in order for a Yankee to pay out all of the constituent bets must win.

If two selections win

If two of the four selected teams win, then the minimum number of winning bets that return a profit for a Yankee bet is two. This will be one winning double, made up of two of the four selected teams. Of the 6 doubles in a 4-team Yankee the one with the two winning selected teams will be the only winning double. The other 5 doubles, the 4 trebles and the 1 four-fold all will lose. As mentioned previously the return on a Yankee bet is based on the odds of the winning selected teams. If the odds of the two winning teams are too short, then you will actually lose money on the bet. However, if the odds of the two winning teams are long enough, then you will make a small profit on the bet.

If all four picks win

Here is how to make a 4-selection Yankee with all four selections to win: There are four possible winning 4 selection Yankees. In each case all 11 of the wagers will win and there will be a very large return on investment. The return on investment will in most cases be greater than had the selections been placed as individual bets.

Why bettors use Yankee bets instead of parlays

There are so many people out there placing what are called parlays or as I like to refer to them as ‘accas’. Why, because they can have a huge return on investment and they seem easy to place? Yes, the returns on a parlay are huge, but beware the risk of failure is very high. For example, placing a 4-selection acca and losing 1 selection means the whole of the acca will be lost.

More flexibility than a standard accumulator

A Yankee is a type of wager in which a variety of different multiple bets are placed. All of the wagers are placed in such a way as to return the stake for all of the losing wagers. In other words, a Yankee is more of a flexible bet than an accumulator. While an accumulator will lose the entire amount of the bet when even one of the wagers included in the accumulator loses, all of the losing wagers in a Yankee will return the stake for each of the losing wagers. This means that a part of the bet will have been returned for the bet. This is much better than an accumulator in which the entire amount of the bet is lost when even one of the wagers included in the bet loses.

Better potential returns than single bets

Bet with a Yankee instead of a parlay because there are much better returns from a Yankee with the same number of picks. For example, the returns from 4 picks with a parlay are less than half of the returns from a 4-picks Yankee, because a Yankee is essentially buying extra returns with all of the additional lines of bet, and also all of the additional stakes on winning lines of bet.

Popular in horse racing and football betting

The Yankee is also commonly used for other sports that involve a number of independent events, including horse racing and football. The each-way Yankee is a particularly popular option, with every multiple of the bet being ‘duplicated’ to create a larger number of bets that can yield returns for the losing selection(s) as long as they finish in the relevant places. A standard 4-leg Yankee, for example, would have 11 individual bets in total (6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold). The each-way Yankee would, however, have 22 individual bets (every selection for the win and every selection for the place).

Yankee bet vs Trixie

As there are two main full cover bet types: the Yankee and the Trixie, in this post we shall be looking at the features and in-depth details of each individual bet type.

Feature	Yankee Bet	Trixie Bet
Number of Selections	4	3
Number of Bets	11	4
Bet Types	6 Doubles, 4 Trebles, 1 Four-fold	3 Doubles, 1 Treble
Total Stake Multiple	Unit Stake × 11	Unit Stake × 4
Minimum Winners Required	2	2
Maximum Winning Bets	11	4
Suitability for Risk Appetite	Higher total stake required, significantly higher upside potential	Lower total stake required, simpler entry-level combination bet

Strategy tips for combination betting

The Yankee is a powerful bet, but it must be used with discipline to boost your long-term return with a positive difference (R-P-D). Here are some tips on how to use this powerful bet in your daily betting routine.

Manage your unit stake: The unit stake is multiplied by 11, so that higher total stake required has to be managed as higher upside potential also is in place.
Target favorable odds: In order to ensure that the single winning double has a good chance of covering your 11 unit outlay in full, it is advisable to target favorable odds. Even two winning selections will not guarantee a return on your initial investment.
Leverage each-way markets: For a horse racing Yankee, make sure you are using an each-way Yankee, this type of Yankee will cost 22 units and include the place part of each leg to return a profit on all selections that finish in the place part of the race for that number of legs. Ensure you have checked the place terms for each bookmaker for each-way Yankee betting.
Make sure that all your selected events are independent: As mentioned above, when creating a 4-event selected list for a full cover Yankee combination bet, you must make sure that none of the events are in any way correlated with each other (i.e., they are all independent of each other). If there are any correlated events, then they will not be covered by any of the 11 separate bets within the full cover Yankee. Therefore, as a general rule of thumb when placing a 4-event Yankee, you should only pick completely unconnected and non-related events.

Frequently asked questions

To clarify how this type of wager works, below are the answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the Yankee Bet.

What is a Yankee bet? How this popular combination bet works

A Yankee is a full cover combination bet made up of 4 selections. This results in the bet containing 11 individual bets: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold. There are no single bets included in the Yankee.

How many bets are included in a Yankee?

The Yankee consists of 11 individual bets or wagers. This consists of 6 Doubles, 4 Trebles and 1 Four-fold. A so-called ‘each-way Yankee’ consists of 22 individual bets or wagers (2 individual wagers for each of the 11 individual selection).

How many selections need to win for a payout?

The minimum number of winners required for a Yankee to return a profit is two. This is because the smallest single bet within a Yankee is a double.

Are Yankee bets popular in horse racing?

Yes. There is no doubt that the full cover bet, in its various forms, is a very popular combination with a whole host of bettors all over the world.

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What is a Yankee bet? how this popular combination bet works

How this popular combination bet works