If you are looking to land a big win from a small stake then accumulators, or accas, are the way to go. With an acca you pick a number of different, unrelated bets and combine them into a single wager where all must win or the bet loses. The initial stake, plus winnings, roll over from one leg of the acca to the next, accumulating as they do; and if you are skilful (or realistically, lucky) enough to land all eight of your picks, it’s payday.
An 8 fold (or eightfold, eight-fold, or 8-fold, whichever you prefer) is an acca that contains eight legs in total and the wins from such a bet can be truly astronomical. We have already written in far more detail about a number of the different accas you can place so we’ll keep things short and sweet here. That is because, other than the number of selections they entail, an eightfold is like a sevenfold, which is like a sixfold, which is like a fivefold… you get the picture.
We’ve got articles covering all of the accas right the way down to the little baby of the family: a double. Some would say that a double is a double, not an acca, but technically it is indeed an accumulator. Given the double is the starting point for understanding accas, our article about this two-leg accumulator, or twofold if you prefer, probably contains the most information about all the different aspects of this style of bet.
If you want more detail about what can and can’t go in an acca, what related contingencies are, each way accas and indeed anything else, we suggest that double feature is the place to go. If, however, you want a short, snappy bit of info about 8 folds, you’re in the right place.
What Is an Eightfold?
As mentioned, an eightfold is an acca that combines eight legs, selections, predictions or bets – all these terms might be used to describe the component parts of such a bet. At a long, summer meeting with eight horse races, you might try and predict the winner of each and every one of the eight contests. Get all eight right and you win. Get just one leg wrong, even if it is only by a nose or a photo finish, and you lose your stake.
One single stake covers all eight parts of the bet and you either win or lose – there is no in-between and no runners-up prize with an acca. Because of the way the winnings accumulate, and the fact that you are combining eight bets, the returns can be truly staggering and it is not always necessary to place more than pennies in order to land a huge sum. The table below shows what sort of returns our racing eightfold might deliver on a day with eight big favourites too.
| Leg | Odds | Stake | Retuns Rolling Over on to Next Leg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5/4 | £1 | £2.25 |
| 2 | 4/5 | £2.25 | £4.05 |
| 3 | 2/1 | £4.05 | £12.15 |
| 4 | Evens | £12.15 | £24.30 |
| 5 | 5/2 | £24.30 | £85.05 |
| 6 | 10/11 | £85.05 | £162.37 |
| 7 | 2/5 | £162.37 | £227.32 |
| 8 | 5/1 | £227.32 | Total Return – £1,363.92 |
A four-figure return from a bet of just £1, where four of the horses were no bigger than evens (and one was just 2/5) is mighty impressive. With just a few more selections at slightly longer odds, the returns jump even more dramatically. For example, if the odds-on 2/5 shot was actually 5/2 and the 4/5 pick was 4/1, those returns would leap to almost £10,000!
What Can I Include in an 8 Fold Bet?
Whilst our example is based on horse racing, you can include almost anything in an acca. That includes ante-post bets, pre-match wagers and in-play picks, as well as any sport you can think of, novelty bets like the Oscars or the weather. You can combine these, picking eight different sports or eight different events, whilst you could also opt for eight different markets from the same sport, or even make your acca just using one market from eight different matches in the same sport.
Accas, including eightfolds, are very popular in horse racing but you could opt for a football acca with eight match results, one with eight games to see over 2.5 goals or a mix of both. If tennis, darts or snooker is your thing, how about an acca with eight matches from the first round of a big event? Or alternatively, where there is a weekend packed with sport, how about picking a few bets from across the whole weekend covering all the various events you intend to watch?
No Related Picks in Accas
Just about the only things you cannot include in an eightfold bet, or any other acca, are two or more selections that are what the bookies call related contingencies. This is a topic we have covered in almost all of our other acca and multiple pieces so we will keep things really brief here but check out our doubles betting piece for full clarification.
In short, related contingencies are bets that have an impact on each other. By this, we mean that the odds for the two selections are in some way linked. This can be very directly, in the sense that if leg one wins, then by definition leg two must have won, and so the two selections cannot be added together. An example of this might be that you cannot create a double using Man United to win and the half-time/full-time bet draw/Man United.
Related contingencies may also be less obvious but in general if you are betting on different markets on the same match, race, game or tournament, there is a chance they will be related. One example of a different type of related contingency might be trying to bet on Novak Djokovic to win all four tennis Grand Slams. Such a bet cannot be made as a simple fourfold using the individual odds for each tournament and instead the bookies may offer specials markets on such an outcome.
Eightfold Betting Variants
Landing any acca is not easy but when you have as many as eight selections it certainly becomes extremely tricky. There are two interesting options when it comes to giving yourself a bit more room for manoeuvre whilst still placing an 8 fold. Once again, we have covered both concepts in more detail in past articles so we will keep things brief here.
First, you can choose to back your eightfold as an each way bet, rather than the straight “to win” option. This will only be possible if all eight selections are valid for each way betting, such as in a horse race or an outright golf bet (to give just two examples). Your stake will be doubled, so a £5 each way 8-fold will cost £10. All eight selections have to win for both parts of your wager to be a success. To land just the place/each way part of the bet, none of the legs can finish outside the places but can be a mix of wins and places or all places.
The each way terms (in respect of the fraction of the odds and number of places) are determined by the general each way terms for the individual legs. Big wins can still be landed with this type of bet, especially if you throw in a few longer-odds options safe in the knowledge that even a place will deliver a nice net win. Let us consider an each way eightfold on the selections below:
| Leg | Odds | Each Way Terms | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10/1 | ¼ for top 4 | 4th |
| 2 | 40/1 | ¼ for top 4 | 2nd |
| 3 | 4/1 | ¼ for top 3 | 1st |
| 4 | 12/1 | ¼ for top 3 | 1st |
| 5 | 16/1 | ¼ for top 4 | 3rd |
| 6 | 10/1 | 1/5 for top 3 | 3rd |
| 7 | 12/1 | ¼ for top 2 | 2nd |
| 8 | 20/1 | ¼ for top 3 | 3rd |
As none of the legs finished outside the allotted places but unfortunately they didn’t all finish first, the bet above would only win on the place part of the each way bet. The win stake is lost but even so, the returns remain very impressive. A £1 each way bet (total stake £2) would see an astounding net win of more than £110,000!
Another alternative that gives you a greater chance of landing a winning bet is to perm your eight legs, or folds, from a greater number of selections. If you make an eightfold from nine selections bet, or eight from 10, then you only need to get eight out of either nine or 10 of your predictions right in order to see a return. Bets like these involve a large stake as you are effectively placing a number of eightfold accas in order to cover every possible eightfold that can be made from however many legs you opt to choose from.
An eightfolds bet from nine selections bet entails a total of nine individual bets, whilst if you go for 10 selections there are 45 individual stakes needed. That means that a £1 8-folds bet with 10 selections would cost you £45. That said, even at very short odds, if you did manage to get just eight of 10 of your predictions right and thus win one of the 45 eightfold wagers, you would still be looking at a handsome net win.
Offers for Eightfolds
One final way to either improve your returns or give yourself a little wiggle room is to look out for relevant bookies’ offers. Whilst accas are much-loved by many punters, there is no doubt that statistically speaking they favour the bookie. If you are betting for a bit of fun then they may offer better value than the lottery and can deliver huge returns from tiny stakes. However, few serious gamblers opt for accas, certainly much beyond a double or perhaps a treble, because the overround (the edge the bookie has over the punter that is built into the odds) – not just the potential reward – accumulates with each leg.
Because they are generally favourable to the betting site, bookies have the capability to offer those betting on accas various promotions. This might be in the form of insurance if just one leg loses. Offers like this typically apply if you place an acca over a minimum number of legs (often just four or five) and if only one selection fails to deliver you get your money back (usually as a free bet rather than cash).
Other promotions might give you boosted odds when you place an accumulator of at least a given number of picks. There might be specific price boosts available on a leg-by-leg basis, or alternatively you may get a bonus on any winnings, for example 10%, 25%, or sometimes even more. With this latter type of promotion, the more legs your acca has, the bigger the boost and some sites have offered boosts of 100% or even more on some large accumulators, such as eightfolds.