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Are you new to the gambling scene? Do the phrases "odds on" and "five team accumulator" scramble your brains into an unrecognisable mess? Perhaps the term Yankee makes you think of our American counterparts rather than a type of bet? Well then, perhaps this article is the one for you. With so many terminologies and different rules about in the gambling world, it is fairly easy to become confused, so we're going to clear up some of the terms and phrases giving you a clear and trouble free approach to the betting scene.

Fraction Odds

Most bookmakers use fraction odds and so these are the most likely ones that you will come across. An example of this is say, Manchester United are 4/1 on winning the Premiership. So if you place a £1 bet you will get £4 in return plus the original pound you placed (staked), likewise if you placed a £2 bet, you'd get £8 back plus your stake. If the bookmaker you visit is particularly confident a certain outcome will occur, they will try to limit the amount of money they lose, should the mentioned outcome actually happen. For example, they may offer odds of 1/14 (these odds are known as 'odds on') on a certain outcome which means you will have to stake £14 just to get £1 in winnings. The reason for this is because the outcome is very likely and so you take the gamble of putting a lot of money on it but with the supposed guarantee of getting a small sum back. In turn, the bookie doesn't have to pay much money out if it does happen. If it doesn't happen though, you lose a lot of money and the bookie will be left rubbing their hands together.

Decimal Odds

A growing trend within the industry is the use of decimal odds. These are slightly easier to understand and detail the exact figure you would receive in winnings per pound you place. For example if odds on a particular horse winning a race are 2.10 then you will receive £2.10 for every pound you place, or in other words a profit of £1.10. So a £10 bet on odds of 2.10 will net you £21 should it actually happen.

Accumulators

One way of making 'odds on' outcomes more worth your while is to combine them with other outcomes. Putting two together is known as double and three is called a treble. Anything more and this then becomes an accumulator. This can go from four to ten different selections, for example, but all the outcomes you include must happen for your bet to be successful. The odds from all of your selections are calculated (don't try and do this in your head, leave it to the bookie!). You then stake your desired amount on all the outcomes happening and scoop up winnings if they come true. Of course, if they do not you lose the amount you placed in the first place.

Trixie

A Trixie consists of four bets made up of three selections. So you pick three outcomes to happen for example, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs to win their respective matches in one week and a Trixie breaks down all of the possible winning combinations into four separate bets. This means you have three doubles and one treble. To place a bet on it you have to take into account the fact that you will effectively be betting four times so if you place a pound on the Trixie, you will actually be placing £4 so remember to scale down your stake to keep within your limits. In order to win anything you need at least two of your selections to come true but three will land you the largest amount.

Patent

A Patent is basically the same as a Trixie but you also place extra single stakes on each of your three selections coming true. This bumps up the bet total to 7 so again bare that in mind when placing your stake. For example, if you place a Patent on the aforementioned scenarios in a Trixie, you will be placing 7 individual bets (the three doubles and treble that you would in Trixie but with another three bets on each individual outcome that you have selected). Placing a pound on a Patent actually means you will need to stake £7.

Yankee

Similar to a Patent, a Yankee is almost the same but instead of three selections, you must make four. So let's say you pick four different darts matches and you think that Phil Taylor, Raymond Van Barneveld, James Wade and Wayne Mardle will win their respective matches. A Yankee will break down your selections into 11 separate bets, including all the different doubles and trebles that will be possible for your selections. That will mean there are 6 possible doubles and 4 possible trebles. The final bet comes in the form of an accumulator, which will pay out if all of your chosen outcomes happen. These types of bet become more lucrative than a regular accumulator because if all your selections come true then you will also pick up the winnings from the double and trebles included within the bet. The only downside is that you have to stake a lot more in the first place, leaving you open to a heavy loss if your selections fail.

Lucky 15

A Lucky 15 does not involve the picking of 15 selections, but instead works in exactly the same way as a Yankee but with 15 bets instead of 11. So again you have to pick four selections so let's use the same examples as before. Of course, there will be the same amount of possible doubles and trebles as well as the accumulator which equals a total of 11 bets. The extra four come with single bets on each individual selection actually happening so instead of only picking up winnings if two of you picks happen as in a Yankee, you will win a sum if only one happens. Basically you are covering all of the available options. Again though, you have to stake more to take part in a Lucky 15 leaving you open to bigger losses if none of your selections come true.