Skills
Low hold
When an offer asks you to bet cash, bet both sides at two books and pay a known few dollars instead of risking the whole stake. Here is what hold is, which numbers to take, and how BreadSync finds the pair.
What hold is
Bet both sides of one game with cash and one bet wins while the other loses. You usually end a little down, because each book prices its sides slightly in its own favor. That small amount, as a share of everything you staked, is the hold.
The classic case is a coin-flip game priced -110 on both sides. Bet $110 on each side and one wins $100, so $210 comes back from $220 staked: $10 lost, about 4.5%. A low-hold pair is one where two books disagree enough that the cost shrinks to a percent or two.
When you use it
A low hold is a cost, never the profit. You use it when an offer needs cash bets placed, and the offer's reward is the profit:
- A qualifying bet, like the $100 daily bet in Fanatics' FanCash offer.
- A profit boost, like the Caesars tokens. The boost lifts one side's price, which can turn the small cost into a profit. See Profit boosts.
- A deposit match with rollover, where the bonus unlocks only after a set amount of betting.
Bonus bets never go through a low hold. They pay only winnings, so they are converted in the Free Bet view instead (Bonus bets). And a day of only low holds shows red in your tracker. That is expected: the green days are the days a reward lands.
Good and bad numbers
The Low Hold view shows hold with a minus sign, because it is a cost: -2.65% means about $2.65 for every $100 you stake across both bets.
| Hold | What to do |
|---|---|
| Under 1% | Take it every time. |
| 1% to 2% | Great. Take it. |
| 2% to 3% | Normal. Take it rather than wait. |
| 3% to 4% | Only on a thin day with few games, or to finish an offer. |
| Over 4% | Wait for a better pair. A plain -110 / -110 game is about 4.5%. |
In dollars: with $500 staked across both bets, 1% costs $5, 3% costs $15 and 6% costs $30. Do not hold out for a perfect number. A 2% pair you place beats a 0.5% pair you are still waiting for, especially when the offer has a deadline.
Watch out: a row that shows a big profit instead of a small cost usually means one book posted a wrong price. Books can cancel bets on obvious errors, which would leave your other bet on its own. Skip it.
Spotting a pair by eye
- Near even money, look for one plus and one minus price within about 10 to 15 points. +112 against -120 costs under 2%. Twenty or more points apart is usually too much: +152 against -184 costs over 4%.
- Two minus prices cost more than they look. -110 against -115 is over 5%; -110 against +105 is about 1%.
- Bet each team where its price is better. Book A: Nationals -141, Rockies +127. Book B: Nationals -149, Rockies +129. Nationals at A and Rockies at B costs about 2%. Swapped, nearly 4%.
Find the pair in BreadSync
Checking every game at every book by hand takes a long time. The Low Hold view compares the books you switch on and ranks the pairs by cost, with both stakes worked out.
Do it in BreadSync
Odds Screen · Low Hold view
Finds the cheapest two-sided bets for clearing rollover or using a profit boost.
- 1.Set "Primary Book" to the book with the offer, and "Bet Size" to the amount the offer asks for.
- 2.In "Books", switch on only books where you hold cash ("All books with a balance" does this once Bankroll is set up).
- 3.Using a profit boost? Type it into "Boost %" (100 for a 100% boost) and that book's prices update. Clear it afterwards, because the screen remembers it.
- 4.Sort by "%", take the top row, place both bets at the stakes shown, then click the green bookmark to log them.
No set amount, like when you clear a rollover? How much to bet gives a round "Bet Size" from your bankroll. While you are learning, skip any side shorter than about -300: $300 at -300 wins only $100, so you tie up a lot of cash to move a little. Setting "Min Odds" to -200 is a good habit that keeps those rows off the list.
A worked example
Say an offer asks for a $100 cash bet at Fanatics. With Fanatics as "Primary Book" and 100 as "Bet Size", a row like this comes up:
| Book | Bet | Stake | Back if it wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fanatics | Dodgers -155 | $100 | $164.52 |
| DraftKings | Braves +140 | $69 | $165.60 |
You stake $169 in total. If the Dodgers win, $164.52 comes back: $4.48 down. If the Braves win, $165.60 comes back: $3.40 down. The row shows the worse case, -2.65% and -$4.48. That is under 3%, so take it. About $4 is what it costs to place the $100 the offer asks for without risking the $100.
No Pro? Find both prices in your two apps, then the free Low Hold Calculator in Tools sizes the second bet. It measures hold from the two prices alone, before any rounding, so it reads 2.45% for this pair.