First - why is it called "Asian Handicap"? Simple - this form of soccer betting originated from the sportsbooks in Asia first and made its way to UK and Europe, where fixed odds were the dominant form of wagering on soccer games available at the time. Asian Handicap is very similar to the American bet option of point spread. The Asian Handicap simply gives one of the two football teams a handicap in the form of a certain number of goals, effectively eliminating the option to bet on a soccer game ending in a draw.

 Asian Handicap Explained - as we already mentioned, when preparing the Asian handicap odds, the bookmakers will give one of the teams a handicap in the form of a certain number of goals, let's say "+1.5" goals. When a punter wants to bet Asian Handicap he or she will have to choose which team will win the game after the Asian Handicap has been added to the final result. Let's look at an example. Let's say that Manchester United is hosting Chelsea and the Asian Handicap at your favourite bookmaker is posted as "Man Utd -1.5" and "Chelsea +1.5". The numbers represent how many goals the Asian Handicap consist of and the plus "+" and minus "-" signs show whether the goals are added to the final score of the soccer team (if there is plus sign in front of the handicap number) or if the goals are taken away from the team's final score (if the sign is minus).

 So using the soccer game example from above, if the final score is United 2 - 0 Chelsea and you placed an Asian Handicap bet on United, taking the 1.5 goals away from Man Utd will make the final score Man. United 0.5 - 0 Chelsea and you will be a winner, since United is still winning the game, even after the Asian Handicap has been subtracted from the final score. But if you bet on the Asian Handicap given to Chelsea - your soccer bet will be a loser, since even after adding 1.5 goals to the Chelsea's tally in the end they will still lose the game with 2 - 1.5 score.

 Now, there are cases when the bookmakers will list an Asian Handicap as a round number, for example "+1". As you can imagine, in this case the game could and up in a draw, after the handicap is added/subtracted from the final score. For instance, the game ends in final score of 2-1 and you placed Asian Handicap +1 soccer bet on the losing team, making the score 2-2. In such instances, the bet is simply a "push" and the bookmaker returns you the money you wagered on the particular Asian Handicap soccer bet.

 Here is the basic process of placing an Asian Handicap bet: First, you'll have to choose a soccer match to bet on, then look at the Asian Handicap numbers posted by the bookie. Have a final score of the game in mind and then add the Asian Handicap to one of the teams and subtract it from the other. See which of the two Asian Handicap options are likely to lead to a victory by one of the teams and bet on it. It's simple as that.