Ante Post Bet Meaning & Betting Strategy

Ante Post betting in football has been around for ages and it is a great way to use your footballing knowledge to your advantage.

The concept is pretty simple, but to explain it here at Betfred Insights Education we have put together this explainer article on Ante Post Bet Meaning & Betting Strategy.

What does Ante Post Bet mean?

An Ante Post Bet is a football bet that happens before the event takes place, and while this technically can be a single football match, in football terms it is often refers to an entire tournament or competition.

Placed before a ball is kicked, an Ante Post Bet often offers big odds and they can be combined to create an Ante Post accumulator.

For example, if you placed a bet on Manchester City to win the Premier League before the new season got underway, that would count as an Ante Post Bet. It really is as simple as that, with plenty of Ante Post markets on offer for you to check out at Betfred.

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What are the advantages/strategy of Ante Post Betting?

The main advantage of an Ante Post bet is that it is played out over the course of a season or competition.

Let's continue using Manchester City to win the Premier League as our example for simplicity. You could back them to win their first league game of the season and have lost your bet within 90 minutes if they fail to do so. However, with a Ante Post Bet, you get to follow your bet for the entirety of the football campaign.

It means you can sit back and relax - to some extent - knowing that your bet won't go up in flames in one weekend. That's the case for league season Ante-Post Betting, although in knockout cup competitions you will still feel the stress of watching the team you've backed try and make it to the next round.

Ante Post Bets can be put on the Champions League, the World Cup, the European Championship, the FA Cup and more, with a popular accumulator strategy being to pick a winner for each of the major competitions at the start of the season.

Another advantage of an Ante Post Bet or especially an accumulator is the fact that they often deliver far higher odds than a Match Result selection. This makes sense, given a team has to be strong over the course of an entire season, and cup competition are notoriously unpredictable given their knockout nature.

However, the benefits can be huge with a personal favourite of mine being to pick out a league winner for each of the EFL divisions at the start of the campaign. The odds on offer can be huge, depending on who you select.

The strategy as always, is to do your research. You must assess the strength of each squad before deciding your competition winner, however the benefit of these longer term bets is that they aren't as affected by the uncontrollables as some other markets. Obviously a long-term injury could make a difference, but a team is unlikely to be completely derailed by a suspension, red card or minor injury.

Squad strength is also a massive thing over the course of a season or cup competition, with rotation likely in both, so consider that before making your selections.

Research is key as always with these selections, while there is often no form to go on as such, which does sometimes make the eventual champions more difficult to predict.

This is a simple market to understand, and even a small stake can keep you interested for the entire season.

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For more information, check out How to Bet on Football Online with Betfred

You can check out all our latest Football Betting Odds on the market page at betfred.com