CALCULATOR HOLD ↑EDGE

Hold Calculator

Hold is the margin a book builds into a two-way market — the share of the pair it keeps whichever side wins.

SHARP READ

The two prices add up to 102.38%, so the book keeps 2.38% of the pair. That is sharp-book territory: the quotes sit close to the fair 51.16% / 48.84% underneath them.

2.38 — MARGIN ON THE PAIR
SUCKER READ

−110 on both sides means the book takes 10%.

The two-way market

What each price implies

Decimal odds, side 11.909
Decimal odds, side 22.000
Implied probability, side 1 52.38%
Implied probability, side 2 50.00%
Both sides together 102.38%

Two outcomes can only happen 100% of the time between them. Everything the pair adds up to above that is the book's, not the market's.

What the book keeps

Hold on this market 2.38%

Under 3% is sharp-book territory. There is little padding between what you are quoted and what the market believes.

The fair price underneath

No-vig fair probability, side 1 51.16%
No-vig fair probability, side 2 48.84%

Divide each implied probability by the total and the margin comes out proportionally. Those two numbers are what this book actually believes, before it charges you for the opinion.

WHAT THE NUMBER DOESN'T KNOW

Hold measures the price of a market, not the accuracy of it. A 2% hold on a line that is set wrong still costs you money, and a 7% hold on a line nobody else has beaten is not automatically a pass. It also only reads a two-way pair — three-way markets and same-game legs carry their margin differently. Compare the same market across books before you decide what this number means.

Sharp Booksthe price the market trusts · 6:00 No-Vig Fair Odds strip the fee out of a two-sided market Put the math on your sidePRICING