No.

You are just burning money over the long run.

Example, lets say you have a 10 pound free bet to keep the numbers simple and assume no juice.

You bet an evens side with the free play to win 10

You bet the other side evens 5 pound to hedge.

Yes you are 100% guranteed to win 5 pound whoever wins.
You gain half the value of the free play (not good)

Now lets say you bet Burnley at 25/1

Lets assume the odds are spot on and they win exactly one in 25 times they play.

So over the long run of 100 tries you will lose 96 times but win 4 x 250 = 1000

Which works out closer to the 10 pound per bet instead of 5

Obviously there is some bookies juice involved but you will probably get back over 95% of the free play value over the long run.

The same applies to roulette in a casino.

Never hedge red/black as you will only get less than 50% of the free play value.
Bet 1 number straight up at 35 to 1 and get back over 90% of the free play value.

Posted By: usacanary, Jan 16, 00:33:43