Sequential Laying Guide

Advanced•8-10 min•Advanced Methods

What sequential laying is

Sequential laying means laying each accumulator leg only after the previous leg has settled, with no overlap between fixtures. You back the acca at the bookmaker, then place exchange lays leg-by-leg in match order. If a leg loses, the acca is dead and you stop laying further legs.

When to use it

• Qualifying accas for insurance or other acca-based offers.
• Free-bet accas (SNR) where you want controlled retention.
• Situations where laying the whole acca in one go is impractical due to price gaps or liability.

Key rules

• Fixtures must not overlap. Allow enough time between legs for result confirmation and placing the next lay.
• Update lay odds if the market has moved before you place each leg; re-run the calculator.
• Stop laying when your acca has already lost (one losing leg).
• Keep sufficient exchange balance to cover the worst-case combined liabilities if the early legs all win.

Using the tools

Use our sequential lay calculator to calculate your stakes and profit. Add the correct number of legs and then enter the correct lay odds. Place each lay bet and update the lay odds as you go. As soon as one leg loses, you should stop laying and your profit should show.

Open Sequential Lay Calculator

Example

Example: £10 acca, total odds ≈ 4.00, 2 legs (Leg 1 lay 1.66, Leg 2 lay 2.50)

Open the Sequential Lay Calculator, enter stake £10, total acca odds ≈ 4.00, the two leg lay prices and your commission. Set the mode to Standard.

Calculator shows Leg 1 lay stake ≈ £9.64, projected profit ≈ −£0.36 (rounded).

Place the Leg 1 lay. If Leg 1 loses, the acca is settled as a loser so stop laying. If Leg 1 wins, continue to Leg 2.

Suppose Leg 1 wins and, by the time Leg 2 is due, the lay price has moved from 2.50 → 2.55. Update the calculator: Leg 2 lay stake adjusts from £16.00 to £15.69 and the projected profit shifts from −£0.36 to −£0.55.

Now place the Leg 2 lay at the updated stake. Your final result under Standard mode is the small qualifying cost shown (≈ −£0.55 here).

Each leg in the accumulator must be at a different time. This allows you to lay each leg one at a time.

If the leg loses then the acca has settled and you stop laying. If the leg wins you move onto laying the next leg. You repeat this until either a leg loses or all legs have settled.

Calculator Modes

As opposed to selecting standard you can also indicate that the acca is a free bet using the free bet mode. Additionally you can set it to underlay which means all the profit is concentrated on the accumulator winning (your profit is £0 if any legs lose).

You can also select the 'Lock In' mode. This is similar to an underlay, but it will split the profit on the final leg. Thus, if any legs lose your profit will be £0 unless it's the final leg losing. Your profit if the final leg loses is the same as if all legs win.

Frequently Asked Questions

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