That is THE question

DOB literally means Double or Bust. This is an even money bet.

You back a horse (generally just before the off) at a price and with a stake. E.g. at odds of 4.0 with a £10 stake. Then you immediately lay it at half-price with a double stake with the aim of having it matched inplay. E.g. at odds of 2.0 with a £20 stake.

Outcome:
Horse loses and our lay doesn’t match – We lose our £10 back stake and are £10 down on this bet. Horse loses but our lay matches – Our back bet loses but our lay bet wins meaning we are £10 in profit. Horse wins the race meaning our lay bet is matched – we make £10 profit.

You can look at a DOB as simply being another bet: instead of seeking a winner, each way or place, you are simply trying to identify a selection that will figure well enough in running for its lay price to fall to 50% or more of the price you backed at. You might also use a DOB bet as an insurance: You will have done your disciplined and professional best to make a selection you are pretty sure will win (and, of course, you would not be betting at all without that due diligence!). The reality may be that, on the day, things go wrong and your selection is beaten; you have backed a loser. However, if your basic analysis was sound and you had a DOB bet to recoup the value of your stake on your selection, then it is likely to have figured well in the running so that its lay price is covered. And, if it wins, then you have an additional profit line.

Important:
In your Betting Exchange, don’t forget to put the keep option on your lay bet otherwise if you place it before the off it will be cancelled at in-play.

USING GOODBET TO SELECT THE BEST OPPORTUNITIES

First, we advise that you avoid races that are not recommended by GoodBet through being less predictable. Next, the idea is to select horses that should run well today. To do so, the first rule is to pre-select topranking horses, the first 3 for example. You can even select only horses with levels of 4 and 5, this is at your own discretion.

We are looking for horses that are going to be contenders in the race. We don’t really care if they are going to win or not as it makes no difference to our end profit that’s why we don’t necessarily take the first horse in GoodBet ranking.

GoodBet does most of the work for you, but you will see in the next chapter that we need to make some verification before to place your DOB bets.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO CHECK BEFORE TO PLACE A DOB BET

  1. Race type
    The best races to place DOB bets are FLAT races, so it is better to focus on these ones.
  2. Running style/pace
    Search for leaders/front runners because they have the highest percentage of dobbers. GoodBet now includes a new column named “Pace” that helps you to quickly identify front runners. Values between 8 and 10 are the ones to look at.
  3. Draw
    Except in straight races and races with 7 or less runners, this is an important criterion for selection because leaders/front runners will more likely take the lead with a low draw. As well as the pace criterion, GoodBet now also includes a new column named “Dw (Draw)” where you will find the necessary information. The best way is to look at runners that are in the first 4-5 low numbers of the draw. If there is no other horse with good pace in the inside, we have a very good selection that should take the lead.

    E.g. In a 15 runners race, your selection should be in the draw 1 to 5.
  4. Distance
    The longer the distance, the better in terms of dobbers because contrary to sprints where most of the runners are never going to ‘dob’, a higher proportion of runners will stay competitive for longer. The more competitive a horse looks in a race, the more likely their price will contract ‘in running’ – so the more likely it will ‘dob’. The best races for dobbing are races from 1 mile.
  5. Number of runners
    The lower the number of runners, the better in terms of dobbers. Races with runners less than 13 see more dobbers in percentage terms. As soon as we get to bigger fields, the dobbing percentages drop off significantly.
  6. Price
    The lower prices ‘dob’ more often than higher ones.
    There are no prices 2.00 or shorter as they cannot ‘dob’ as the lowest price a runner can go is 1.01.
    The best prices for dobbing seem to be those priced under 6.00 and, generally, the rule is the lower the better.

As mentioned before, a DOB bet is like a bet at odds of 2.0. This means that to be profitable over the long term you need to win more than 50% of your bets. The advice above will help to reach this aim but if you want to boost the system a little further at low risk, the next section is designed for you.

THE SHORT-PRICE 1, 2, 3 STAKING PLAN

This is a useful system when using a DOB strategy because it is especially designed for short prices.

Here is how it works:

  • Bet 1, 2, 3 points (Back 1, 2, 3 at current price then Lay 2, 4, 6 at half current price).
  • If a winner is found at the second bet continue the 2-point stake until the winning run breaks, then drop to 1, 2, 3.
  • If the winner is found at the third stake continue 3-point stake, dropping back as before to 1, 2, 3.
  • If a winner is found at the first stake, continue in 1-point bets, increasing to 1, 2, 3 as required.
  • If no winner is found by the third stake, drop back to 1, 2, 3 and continue as before.

This method prevents bettors from getting into deep water, but brings out a nice profit when winning runs come along.