Head to head betting is a bet on which team or player wins the game, and nothing else: there is no points start and no score to predict. You back one side at its decimal price and are paid stake x price if it wins, so at illustrative prices of $1.70 and $2.20, $50 on the favourite returns $85 and $50 on the outsider returns $110.
H2H is the abbreviation, and US sites call the same bet the moneyline. Its two prices show how likely the bookmaker rates each side and how much it keeps, and the result that catches people out is the draw.
How head to head odds work
Australian bookmakers quote head to head odds as decimal prices, and a decimal price includes your stake: a winning bet returns stake x price, and 1 / price is the chance the price implies. With illustrative prices for one game, Team A against Team B, and $50 on each side:
| Selection | Price | $50 returns if it wins | Profit | Implied probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team A | $1.70 | $85.00 | $35.00 | 1 / 1.70 = 58.82% |
| Team B | $2.20 | $110.00 | $60.00 | 1 / 2.20 = 45.45% |
A losing bet returns nothing. The implied probability doubles as the strike rate a price needs to break even: if you keep backing sides at $1.70, 58.82% of those bets have to win just to get your money back. Implied probability has a chart that runs from short prices to long ones.
In American odds, $1.70 is -143 (-100 / 0.70 = -142.86) and $2.20 is +120 (1.20 x 100), and the odds converter handles any other price.
The margin, worked at $1.70 and $2.20
The two implied probabilities add up to 58.824% + 45.455% = 104.28%, not 100%. The extra 4.28 percentage points is the bookmaker's margin, also called the overround.
Suppose bets arrive so either result costs the bookmaker the same: about $564 of every $1,000 on Team A and $436 on Team B. Either way it pays out about $959 ($564 x 1.70 = $958.80, $436 x 2.20 = $959.20) and keeps about $41, or 4.1%.
If that 4.28% margin costs both sides the same, about 95.9 cents of each $1 bet on either side comes back on average (1 / 1.0428 = 0.959). Turning each price into a fair one means taking the margin out, and removing the bookmaker margin compares the ways to do it.
Bookmaker margin compares margins across market types, and the bookmaker margin calculator works out a market's book from its prices.
Two-way and three-way head to head markets
A two-way market prices the two sides only. It suits sports where a level score is rare or impossible, such as AFL, rugby league, basketball and tennis, and it leaves the occasional draw to a settlement rule. A three-way market adds a price for the draw, the usual shape where draws are common, such as Test cricket and soccer, where the market is called 1X2 betting.
With illustrative soccer prices of $2.45 for the home side, $3.30 for the draw and $2.95 for the away side, the three implied probabilities add up to 40.82% + 30.30% + 33.90% = 105.02%. Two soccer markets sit between two-way and three-way: draw no bet refunds your stake on a draw, and double chance covers two of the three results at a shorter price.
What a draw does to your bet
| Market and draw rule | A bet on either team | A bet on the draw |
|---|---|---|
| Three-way, with a draw price | Loses | Wins |
| Two-way, draw settled as a dead heat | Paid half its face value | No draw bet offered |
| Two-way, draw settled as void | Stake refunded | No draw bet offered |
The NSW Bookmaker Declared Betting Events Betting Rules bind bookmakers licensed in NSW and authorised to take sports bets. Where no draw price was offered, they divide the payout by the number of sides tied and multiply it by the places they share, which on a head to head is half the face value (clause 5.1.8). Where the market did offer a draw price, every bet except the draw loses (clause 5.1.7). Bookmakers licensed elsewhere write their own draw rule, so find it in the terms.
Example: Illustrative prices, a drawn two-way game, $50 on each side. Team B's face value is $50 x 2.20 = $110, so a dead heat pays $110 / 2 = $55, a $5 profit; Team A's face value is $85, so it pays $42.50, a $7.50 loss. A void rule returns $50 on each, and where the draw had its own price both lose. A dead heat pays more than a refund on any price above $2.00, because half the face value is then more than the stake.
How draws settle by sport
Each sport's own rules decide whether a game can finish level, and the rule book behind your bet decides what a level finish pays:
| Sport | Can it finish level? | What that means for a head to head bet | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFL | Home-and-away games can be drawn, two premiership points each (AFL Regulation 2.5); a final level at full time goes to Additional Time (2.8) | A drawn home-and-away game goes to the draw rule; in a final, the rule decides whether extra time counts | AFL draw rules |
| NRL | Level after 80 minutes: up to 10 minutes of golden point, then a draw; finals play 10 minutes of extra time, then golden point | A game still level after golden point goes to the draw rule | NRL betting |
| Soccer | Yes, often | The result market prices the draw, settled at the end of normal time under the NSW rule book (5.2.7.3) | soccer betting |
| Cricket | Tests can be drawn or tied; many T20 competitions decide a tie with a super over | NSW rule book: a tied Test pays either team half its face value and the draw loses (5.2.2.4(f)); T20 bets leave out the super over unless stated (5.2.2.3(h)) | cricket betting |
| Basketball | No: overtime until one side leads | The NSW rule book counts extra time unless agreed otherwise (5.1.2) | overtime in NBA betting |
| Tennis | No | NSW rule book: a retirement or withdrawal voids single bets on the match (5.2.8.3) | tennis betting |
The NRL times are from its Telstra Premiership interpretations of the Laws of the Game (2023 edition), and the AFL's from its Regulations of February 2026. The settlement rules every sport shares, from postponements to players who never take the field, are in sports betting explained.
Head to head or line on the same game
A head to head bet asks whether your side wins. A line bet asks whether it wins once one side has been given a points start, which is why a favourite's line price sits near even money while its head to head price is short. With illustrative prices for the same game, Team A -4.5 at $1.93 and Team B +4.5 at $1.89, and $50 on each bet:
| Result | Team A head to head at $1.70 | Team A -4.5 at $1.93 | Team B +4.5 at $1.89 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team A by 10 | Returns $85.00 | Returns $96.50 | Loses |
| Team A by 3 | Returns $85.00 | Loses | Returns $94.50 |
| Draw | Settled by the draw rule | Loses | Returns $94.50 |
| Team B by 6 | Loses | Loses | Returns $94.50 |
Team A by 3 is the result the two markets disagree on: it wins the head to head and loses the line. Backing Team A at -4.5 for $1.93 instead of $1.70 means giving up every Team A win by 1 to 4 points. Turning one price into the other is only approximate, because it depends on how often games finish that close.
Comparing head to head prices across bookmakers
Every bookmaker sets its own prices, so the same team can pay differently at each one. With illustrative prices for one game at three bookmakers:
| Bookmaker | Team A | Team B | Book | $50 on Team A returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookmaker A | $1.70 | $2.20 | 104.28% | $85.00 |
| Bookmaker B | $1.75 | $2.10 | 104.76% | $87.50 |
| Bookmaker C | $1.66 | $2.28 | 104.10% | $83.00 |
Taking $1.75 instead of $1.66 returns $4.50 more on a $50 winner, and 1.75 / 1.66 = 1.054, so every winning bet at that gap pays 5.4% more. The smallest book is not always the best price on your side: Bookmaker C has the lowest margin across both sides and the shortest Team A price.
The best price on each side, $1.75 and $2.28, makes a combined book of 57.14% + 43.86% = 101.00%. When the best prices add up to less than 100%, backing both sides is an arbitrage, which only works if both bets are accepted at the prices shown. A bookmaker can also limit your stakes, void bets or close your account under its terms.
Compare only the same bet: markets with different draw or extra time rules are different bets at different prices. And compare before the start, because an Australian provider may take an online bet on a sporting event only before it begins (Interactive Gambling Act 2001, s 10B and s 8A(3)).
B337's Terminal lines these prices up on one screen: each bookmaker has a column for head to head, line and total markets, and the best available price on each selection is picked out. It carries prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports, with Betfair back and lay beside them, though not every bookmaker prices every game.
Prices are read on a repeating cycle, so a figure on the odds comparison board can trail the bookmaker's own: confirm it in your account. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds. Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners. B337 is not affiliated with them.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A better price raises what a winning bet returns, not the chance that it wins, and the price can change between your click and the bookmaker accepting the bet. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Mistakes with head to head bets
| Mistake | What it costs here (illustrative prices) | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Treating a short price as safe | $1.25 implies 80%, so at that chance one bet in five still loses | Read the price as a chance, not a verdict |
| Expecting your stake back on a drawn game | A dead heat pays $42.50 on the $50 Team A bet at $1.70, and in a three-way market a team bet pays nothing | Find the draw rule before you bet |
| Backing a soccer team to win a knockout game in extra time | Extra time only follows a draw, so the team's 90-minute result bet has already lost under the NSW rule book | Read which period the market covers |
| Betting at the first bookmaker you open | $50 at $1.66 rather than $1.75 gives up $4.50 on a win | Check two or three prices first |
| Joining favourites in a multi for a bigger price | Four legs from 104.28% markets compound to 1.04278 x 1.04278 x 1.04278 x 1.04278 = 1.1824, a 118.2% book, about $84.57 back per $100 on average | Count what each extra leg adds to the book; multi bets show how the margin builds |
Risk: Betting involves risk. Avoiding these mistakes lowers what your bets cost, not the chance that any one of them loses, and every cost in the table is on illustrative prices. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
When head to head is the wrong market
- When your view is about the size of the win. The line asks that question directly; the head to head only asks whether your side wins.
- When the price is very short. One upset undoes several wins: at an illustrative $1.12, eight winning $100 bets make 8 x $12 = $96, and one loss costs $100.
- When a draw is likely and you want cover for it. In soccer, double chance pays on a win or a draw, and draw no bet refunds the stake on a draw.
- When you cannot find what a draw, a retirement or extra time does to the bet. Until you can, you are betting on terms you have not read.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A head to head price is the bookmaker's view with a margin added, and a favourite at a short price still loses some of the time. See responsible gambling for limits and support.