Trixie Calculator

Each of the 4 bets is settled on its own. A double multiplies two winning selections together; the treble multiplies all three. Any bet containing a losing selection returns nothing. Because there are no singles, a Trixie needs at least two winners to pay anything at all — that is the whole difference between it and a Patent.

Take a £1 Trixie (total outlay £4.00) on three selections at decimal odds of 2.00, 3.00 and 4.00, with all three winning:

That is £50.00 back from £4.00 staked — a profit of £46.00. With only the 2.00 and 3.00 selections winning, a single double pays £6.00 against the £4.00 outlay: a £2.00 profit, and the bet has still done its job. With one winner or none, a Trixie returns nothing.

Trixie or Patent?

Both cover the same three selections. The Patent adds the 3 singles, taking the bet to 7 lines and 75% more outlay, and it pays out when just one selection wins. The Trixie keeps the cost down and puts everything into the multiples. Which of the two is better value depends on how many of the three selections win and, with exactly two winners, on the price — the arithmetic is set out below. To compare either against a straight treble on the same three selections, use the Accumulator Calculator.

Because a Trixie carries no singles, its break-even table has only two live rows. With one winner it returns nothing at any price. With two winners at the same price it needs 2.00 (evens), since the one surviving double pays 4 units against a 4-unit outlay. With three winners it profits however short the prices are.

The Patent covers the same three selections and its equivalent figures are 7.00, 1.83 and any price, because adding the singles moves the break-even to 2^(n/k) − 1 with n selections and k winners. That one rule, and the same table for every bet in the family, is in our comparison of full-cover bets.

Pound for pound against a Patent

Equal money at risk is the only fair comparison, not equal unit stake. Below, £28.00 goes into each bet — £7.00 a line across the Trixie's four lines, £4.00 a line across the Patent's seven — with every selection at 3.00 (2/1), win-only.

The Trixie owns the three-winner row at every price, and loses the one-winner row at every price. Only the two-winner row depends on how big the prices are: setting the two returns equal puts the crossover at 2.67 (5/3, between 13/8 and 7/4). Below that the Patent is ahead even when two of the three win; above it the Trixie is. The Trixie is therefore the bet for someone who expects to be right about most of the card at a decent price, not the cautious choice it is often taken for.