Quaddie betting for the price of a coffee

The quaddie, or quadrella, is notoriously difficult to win. You can increase your chances of winning in quaddie betting by taking more combinations. However, this also requires investing more money, ie; a larger cost of the bet.

Flexi-betting has revolutionised quaddie betting by bringing it within reach of the small punter. By nominating the stake at the outset, the punter can take as many combinations as he likes. The only sacrifice being the potential size of the dividend, if successful.

Here I explain how you can enjoy the challenge of quaddie betting for the mere cost of a coffee.

The quaddie bet type

Quaddie betting is a very popular bet type for people who love betting on horse racing. In fact, the quadrella has been a favourite of punters since it was first introduced in 1972.

For the first 15 years, a quadrella involved selecting brackets of horses, numbered 1-9. Selection No.1 was bracketed with 18, 2 with 17, 3 with 16, 4 with 15, and so on until selection No.9 is bracketed with 10.

This format had both its supporters and detractors. Sometimes a long-priced runner that you’d expertly selected to win was unfortunately bracketed with a favourite. This negates any potential windfall from your skilled selection. Conversely, you could occasionally be saved by the blowout winner fortuitously being bracketed with your selection. 

The modern quadrella

The first quadrella, in which each horse was treated as an individual entity, was commenced in 1987 (initially as a quadextra). The quaddie quickly became the favoured format with punters.

One of the best things introduced into quadrella betting was the flexi-betting option. Flexi-betting enables punters to take more combinations without having to bet large amounts that exceeded their budget. This new type of betting was introduced around 2006 and provided a further boost to quadrella betting.

Flexi-betting allows the punter to nominate his stake, ie; the total amount of the bet. The potential win dividend is then adjusted accordingly. Quaddie dividends are declared for a $1 unit. Flexi quaddies are for punters who want to reduce the cost of the bet by taking a smaller payout if their bet is successful.

Punters are happy to sacrifice the size of the potential win dividend for the benefit of not having to break the budget. Small punters in particular can participate in quadrella betting for a small outlay.

Punters enjoy the thrill of getting the quadrella without breaking the bank to do it. A reduced dividend is the cost, but it provides the punter with far more flexibility, which is important.

The $5 quaddie bet

As a very small punter myself, I have derive great enjoyment from dabbling in flexi-quaddies. Knowing full well that I will never get rich doing it.

I have been playing the quadrella every Saturday morning, basically for the price of a coffee. The idea came from an offer by the Herald Sun in 2017, which gave away coupons for a free $5 TAB quaddie bet. I thought, for a $5 flexi-bet, I could see whether I can turn a profit and have fun doing it.

Typically, I take a couple of horses in each leg, or go one out and then stack another leg. Then I set the bet amount to $5 and hope for the best.

The more horses I select, the less I win because of the number of possible combinations in the bet. The more combinations, the lower the proportion of the win dividend that I receive. Therefore, the aim is to cover as many winning possibilities as I can, without escalating the number of combinations.

To increase value, I think about leaving out well-fancied runners whom I strongly believe are of some risk in the race. Moreover, I include wider runners that I believe have a chance of surprising. If successful, this at least will result in a handy dividend, which can offset the downward impact of the inexpensive flexi-bet.

I don’t win very often but occasionally I get close enough to “keep the dream alive”.

Quaddie bet calculations

I’ve included this handy calculator to help work out how much of the win dividend you will receive for the low-cost quaddie.

Enter the total cost of the quaddie, in this case $5, and then enter the number of combinations in your quaddie. This is calculated by simply multiplying the number of selections in each leg.

The percentage result is how much of the win dividend you stand to receive if your quaddie bet is successful.

Submit

For example, 2 horses in each leg adds up to a total of 16 combinations. This calculates to winning 31.25% of the single unit dividend. However, if we add another 2 horses in the second leg for example, we now have 32 combinations resulting in only 15.62% of the dividend.

The percentages above are calculated by dividing the stake (in this case $5) by the number of combinations.

For example, 2 horses in each leg: $5/16 *100 = 31.25%

The number of combinations is found by multiplying the number of horses in each leg. Take for example, a quaddie with 4 horses in the first leg, 2 in the second, 5 in the third and 8 in the final leg. There are 4*2*5*8 = 320 possible winning combinations. For a $5 quaddie, this would result in only 1.56% of the advertised win dividend.

The calculator is great for “playing around” with possible bets and seeing the potential reward. However, the quaddie section of your favourite betting company’s website will confirm this Flexi percentage for your final bet.

Quaddie betting tips

Reduce the number of potential winners in your quaddie by following our racing tips page. It always includes quadrella suggestions for Melbourne and Sydney races.

Thus, for the price of a coffee, you can enjoy the thrill of landing the quaddie and winning a small dividend.

Can’t argue with that!

How about giving it a try?

I’ve introduced a new competition on our punter’s forum where you can have a go at a coffee quaddie.

Feel free to join in the fun!

Tags: betting, betting advice, bookmakers, flexi betting, mathematics, online betting, quadrella

Category: Betting Strategies