What is a Trixie Bet? The Trixie Bet Explained
A Trixie bet is a multiple bet that covers three selections for three doubles and one treble. It’s one of the simplest multiple bets available and can be used on any sport you like, including horse racing and football. On this page, we explain how a Trixie bet works, how to make a Trixie bet online, and how to calculate Trixie bet returns.
How Does a Trixie Bet Work?
The simplicity of the Trixie bet makes it very easy to understand. You start by making a betting selection in three different events. These could be events of the same type, such as three different matches at football betting sites, or you can mix and match selections in three different sports, as shown below. The Trixie will then cover those selections for three doubles and one treble.
Because it has four separate parts, a Trixie will cost you four bets. However, you can also choose to make an each-way Trixie bet (if the events allow), in which case it would cost twice as much. Either way, you need at least two successful selections to get a return.
The table below shows how the number of winning selections determines the number of bets that would give you a return from a standard win-only Trixie:
Successful Selections Winning Doubles Winning Trebles 1 0 0 2 1 0 3 3 1 Trixie Bet Example
To ensure that you understand the Trixie bet meaning and how the Trixie bet works in the real world, here’s an example. We’ve selected a team to win each of three different international matches for a £1 football Trixie bet.
We’ll refer to our selections as A, B, and C for ease of discussion, and the odds we obtained (in this case from the Betfair sportsbook) were as follows:
A = Germany at odds of 2.60 B = Portugal at odds of 3.10 C = England at odds of 2.00 Now here’s how the bet would play out according to how many of our selections win:
- If just one selection wins, the Trixie bet loses, as it doesn’t cover you for singles.
- Should two of our teams win, we’d get a return from just one double. This could be AxB, AxC, or BxC.
- If all three of our teams win, we’d get a return from all three doubles (AxB, AxC, and BxC) and one treble (AxBxC).
With a Trixie costing four bets (£4 for a £1 Trixie), you would need one winning double to pay odds of 3/1 (4.00) to break even. Anything better would give you a profit. The more winners you get, the bigger your return will be.
What Is a Trixie Each-Way Bet?
A Trixie each-way bet is one that can be used when all three of your selections are available to be backed each way. The most obvious example is when focusing on races at horse racing betting sites. In this case, you’d pick one horse in each of the races and make an each-way Trixie bet. This would cost you eight bets in all - four for the win-only parts and four for the place-only parts. A £1 each-way Trixie would therefore cost £8.
With an each-way Trixie, you’d get a return (although probably a very modest one) for just two selections achieving a place. The maximum return would be received for getting three winners, in which case all eight bets would be successful.
How to Work Out Your Trixie Bet Returns
The quickest and most accurate way to work out how much a successful or partially successful Trixie bet will return is to use our free Trixie bet calculator. However, with just four bets in a win-only Trixie, it’s actually quite easy to carry out the task manually. Here’s how:
1. Calculate the Doubles Returns
To start, you need to calculate the return from each of your winning doubles. That is a very simple matter of multiplying the decimal odds of the two winners together, and then multiplying again by the unit stake you used for the Trixie. For example, if our earlier bet on the German and Portuguese football teams had won at decimal odds of 2.60 and 3.10, and we had placed a £5 Trixie (costing £20 in total), we would calculate:
2.60 x 3.10 x £5 = £40.30
Do this calculation for every double you have landed, and then add the resulting figures together to give you a Doubles Return total.
2. Calculate the Treble Return
If all three of your selections have won their events, you will also have a winning treble in your Trixie bet. To calculate the treble return, all you have to do is multiply the decimal odds of the three winners together and then multiply by your Trixie unit stake.
For example, if all three of our international football matches had resulted in wins for our selected teams, we’d have winners at odds of 2.60, 3.10, and 2.00. That means we would calculate:
2.60 x 3.10 x 2.00 x £5 = £80.60
3. Calculate the Total Return
All that remains now is to add your Doubles Return total to the Treble Return figure to arrive at a Grand Total. In our example, assuming all three selections won, we would calculate:
£97.30 (Doubles Total) + £80.60 (Treble Total) = £177.90.
As we said, calculating the returns for a win-only Trixie is pretty straightforward. Each way Trixie returns are a bit more complicated, and so we’d advise you to use our EW Trixie calculator, as mentioned earlier, to help you out.
Why Make a Trixie Bet?
We’ve answered questions such as ‘What is a Trixie bet?’ and ‘How does a Trixie work?’ but there’s another that warrants some attention, and that’s ‘Why make a Trixie bet in the first place?’ There are a few good answers to that question, with the main ones being as follows:
Bigger Payout Potential
As you will have noticed from the Trixie example referred to in previous sections of this guide, a successful Trixie in betting can pay handsomely. Had we made a winning single bet of £20 on our biggest-priced selection – Portugal at 3.10 – we would have enjoyed a return of £62. But with our £5 Trixie, which also cost £20, we managed to get a return of £177.90.
Of course, this is just an example. In the real world, the potential winnings can be even greater, In 2023, the Daily Mail reported how one lucky punter won a staggering £18,000 from a £3 each-way Trixie costing £24, so the power of this little bet shouldn’t be underestimated.
Flexibility
A Trixie bet is one that you can make no matter what kind of sports you want to bet on. Whether you want to back a horse in each of three races, predict the winning team in a trio of football matches, or bet on a mix of cricket, tennis and golf, the Trixie can accommodate you.
Achievability
Bigger multiples with six, seven or even more selections can be extremely hard to win with. A Trixie, by comparison, has just three selections, and that gives you a much more realistic chance of achieving the maximum possible return.
Economy
When compared with other multiple bets, the Trixie is one of the cheapest around. Costing just four bets (or eight if betting each way), it’s a multiple that should be well within the budget of most bettors.
How To Place A Trixie Bet Online
Actually placing a Trixie bet is easy, especially when you do it online. Here’s our user-friendly run-through of the steps involved:
1. Find Your Selections
First you need to find three selections that you want to bet on. To do this, visit one of our recommended online betting sites and explore the betting markets for the sports you are interested in. When you see a suitable selection that you would like to include in your Trixie bet, click the odds displayed, and it will be added to your betting slip.
In the example above, we have added three selections to our betting slip, and all are in different sports. We have a runner called Luckie Seven to win a horse race, the New York Mets to win a baseball match, and Yorkshire to win a cricket match.
2. Enter Your Trixie Stake
Beneath your selection on the betslip, you will see the various bets that you can place. The available options will vary according to how many selections you have made. With three on the slip, if you scroll down, you’ll see a Trixie option. Enter your unit stake (remembering that the bet will cost you four times that sum), and your potential returns will be displayed automatically.
Here, we’ve entered a unit stake of £5, so our Trixie would cost £20. With that sum staked, we can expect a return of £124.88 if all three of our selections win.
3. Check And Bet
The final step is to check the details on the betslip to make sure that, 1) Your selections are as you want them to be, and; 2) You have entered the correct unit stake. If you need to make any changes, now is the time to do it. If everything is as you want it to be, submit the bet, and your total stake will be taken from your betting site account. When all of your events have concluded, any winnings that the bookie owes you will automatically be added back to the same account.
Trixie Betting Tips and Strategies
You now know all there is to know about Trixie betting, but how do you maximise your chances of winning? Here are three ideas that we think you might find useful:
Do Your Research
If you want to get the most out of betting Trixie multiples, you need to make sure you put some effort into picking quality selections. In other words, don’t just add three random selections to your Trixie bet and hope that they all come good. Instead, pick the events you bet on carefully, research the competitors in each, and make your selections based on them having the best form. This will give you the best chance of getting two or even three winners.Boost Short Odds
A Trixie bet can be a useful way of turning three short-priced favourites (with the proven form to warrant them) into a potentially handy payday. For example, you could bet on three selections at odds of just 1/2 (1.50) each, and if all three were to win, a £5 Trixie (costing £20) would give you a return of £50.63.Each Way Second Favourites
A strategy that takes an opposite approach to the last one is to bet on three second-favourites in horse races where the short-priced favourites don’t have the best form. You can bet each way, and you could make a profit even if they only manage to get a place. For example, if you make a £5 each-way Trixie bet (costing £40) on three horses priced at just 3.00 each, three placed horses (at 1/5 the odds) would give you a return of £43.12. Two winners and one placed horse would boost that return to £88,12, and three winners would yield a return of £313.12!
Advantages and Drawbacks of Trixie Bets
Trixie bets are great, but no wager is perfect, so it’s often useful to be able to take a look at the pros and cons side by side. With a Trixie, the pros outweigh the cons by quite a big margin. Here are the main points that we think you need to be aware of:
Trixie Advantages
- One of the most affordable multiple bets around.
- Only two successful picks are required to get a return.
- Flexible enough to use on any sporting events you choose.
- Can be placed to win or each way.
Potential Drawbacks
- You won’t get any return for one successful pick.
Alternatives to Trixie Bets
The Trixie isn’t the only option you have when you want to bet on a handful of selections. Here are a few alternatives that you also might want to think about using:
The Patent
A Patent is a lot like a Trixie, but it also covers your three selections for singles as well as doubles and the treble. That brings the cost up to seven bets instead of four, but it means you’ll get a return from a Patent even if only one of your selections is successful.
The Treble
Instead of placing a Trixie, you could consider betting on three singles and a treble separately. That would allow you to stake more on the singles, which have a greater chance of winning, and a lesser amount on a treble to give you a bonus payout if they all win.
The Yankee
If you’d like to bet on four selections instead of three, the Yankee Bet is a classic multiple bet that might suit your needs perfectly. A Yankee will cover your four selections for doubles, trebles, and one fourfold accumulator. That brings its cost to 11 bets or 22 for an each-way Yankee.
Conclusion
With the Trixie bet explained, you’ll now understand why it’s one of the most popular multiple wagers around. It’s simple, cheap, and can still provide the potential for a great payday if all three of your selections win. Have fun with it, and don’t forget to use our free Trixie calculator to help you work out your returns.
FAQs
What is a Trixie in betting?
How does a Trixie bet work?
Are Trixie bets worth it?
How many bets in a Trixie?
What is the difference between a Patent and a Trixie?
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