So you’ve been matched betting for a few months now, completed the signups and you’re wondering what next.

You’ve heard the term 2ups a little bit in the community but you’re wondering what they are.

Well, you’re in the right place!

What is a 2up?

2Up is an offer based around Bet365 and Paddy Power’s, ‘Early Payout’ offer. This offer states that should the team you back go 2 goals up at any point in the match, they pay you out as a winner.

This means if you backed Arsenal and they went 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 etc at any point, you receive the money from the bookie as if your team has won.

This is great because they haven’t yet won the match and your lay bet is still active.

Then, if the team that goes 2 goals in front DOES NOT go on to win the match, your lay bet wins as well! 2 wins, massively increasing your takings from this offer!

How often does it happen?

To be honest, rarely. But this is still more than enough due to the size of the payouts!

After doing some calculations recently, I worked out that over my entire matched betting experience, I have made a profit of £3.92 EVERY time I placed a 2up back and lay bet.

Bearing in mind these take literally 20 seconds, that is a pretty good earning rate. 

You might not hit one for 30 or 40 matches in a row but when you do, it should more than make up for the qualifying losses. 

We are working with averages here though, so you can go on barren runs. For example, we have had months where a 2up only occurred once or twice and we weren’t on either!

This can be soul destroying when you have been racking up the qualifying losses and then miss one that turned out to be a winner, but you have to move on and it will turn around in your favour.

How much can I earn?

This depends on your stake size. We recommend starting small with maybe £10 or £20 stakes, as you grow your bank and get used to the offer. 

However, it won’t be long until you can up your stakes, to £50, £100 or even £200 a time. Wins of between £300 and £500 aren’t uncommon here, odds dependant of course. 

We know of people that used to regularly stake in excess of £1000 per match, but this is becoming more uncommon due to the tightening up on matched bettors by the bookmakers. 

It’s becoming harder to go unnoticed, especially when betting on close matches, so we stick to around £100 stakes.

How do I do it?

It’s one of the quickest matched betting offers around.

You should see the offer available in your promotions with a list of leagues that it’s offered on. This is only on healthy accounts.

Bet365 covers more leagues and usually has better odds, however, Paddy offer “Justice Refunds” occasionally. 

This is when a team you backed missed out on the win due to VAR decision and Paddy pays out as if you won. This is at their discretion though and usually only on high profile Premier League games. It shouldn’t be relied upon as an offer in itself.

To place a 2up, you simply back and lay the team that you have chosen and wait for the match to kick off.

Let’s say we have found a match at 3.5/3.6 and want to place a £100 2up. It’s as simple as putting the odds into the calculator and placing the back and lay. 

How do I know which matches to choose?

There are 2 main tips here that are important to follow

1. Only choose matches that are a 97% match. This means that for every £100 staked, you will have a maximum qualifying loss of £3. By keeping to this, we ensure that we can be profitable long term.
2. Only back teams with odds of 1.7 or higher. This ensures the payout would be worth the qualifying loss. If we backed Real Madrid at 1.20, firstly its quite unlikely that they would go 2 goals up and then throw it away. Secondly, even if they did, the payout would be pants!

The best way to find matches that are close enough is by using Back Yourself Betting’s 2up alerts group. This is a free service if you are part of our Sport Reload group!

A useful alternative is Oddsmonkey’s oddsmatcher. This will allow you to sort eligible matches by the best odds at the touch of a button to give you an advantage when trying to find matches. They also have a handy email alert feature when matches come to your level of interest.

You can sign up using the link below and receive a trial worth £45.

https://backyourselfbetting.co.uk/recommends/oddsmonkey/

What do I do if my team goes 2up?

There’s a few different approaches to cashing out but if your team goes 2up, don’t do anything. It can be tempting to take the profit and run but it’s not smart in the long run.

If however your team goes from 2up to 2-1, this is when it gets interesting. Using the Early Payout calculator from Oddsmonkey, we can use the change in odds to lock in a profit by backing our team at the exchange. 

(When we refer to ‘cashing out’ a 2up, this is what we mean. We do not cash out at the bookies, we simply back them at the exchange, effectively nullifying our lay bet. Never touch your bet at the bookie!)

Often, we like to take 50% of our position out, which you can alter by using the slider. Depending on the odds, this usually guarantees us a profit of around £40-£120. We now have locked in some profit if the team don’t score a second to level the scores. It does however still leave 50% in to profit if they do get the second goal.

If they then score an equaliser, its time to cash out the rest and pop open the champagne! 

The alternate option is you can let it run from here and hope the team you backed doesn’t go on to win the game. This leads to a greater payout but much higher risk. If the team you backed win, you earn absolutely nothing and take the qualifying loss.

We personally like to take 50% out at 2-1 or 3-2 etc, and then cash the rest out at a level score. Some will wait for a full turnaround as although it occurs less often,the payouts are bigger. 

If you are a long time football fan and are watching the match, you can always use your reading of the match to influence your decision, but it is best to stick to a set technique that you decide upon pre match. 

Having a set method removes emotions such as greed seeping into the decision making. There’s nothing worse than realising you could have locked in £100 and just a couple of minutes later, the opportunity is gone. It can be quite a frantic moment when the time comes, so be prepared and stay calm! 

Summary

We have found 2ups to be the most profitable offer in matched betting. 

Some months, 2ups have been over half of our income, often well in excess of £1,000, from just £100 or £200 stakes.

2ups offer the elevation in income that many struggle to find after finishing the signup offers. Just remember, it’s a long term offer that does incur qualifying losses. You just have to keep the faith