Question about hedge betting

[AOSpades]

Ok, so I'm very new to everything but whenever I read about hedging bets, it usually refers to hedging your parlays when you only have 1 event remaining. But here are two situations that I ran into in the past 2 days that it seemed to make sense to bet against myself for a guaranteed profit. How often are these done? And is there a name for this other than hedging?

Situation 1:

I bet on the Cubs ML to beat the Padres yesterday at +118. $20.00 to win $23.60

The cubs started winning and obviously the lines started shifting around. I don't remember the exact number, but I was then able to place a bet on the Padres for $20.00 to win $90.00.

Now although making a profit of $3.60 is a lot less than the $23.60 that I could've won had I not hedged it, it was at least guaranteed money.




Situation 2:

I bet on the 49ers ML to beat the Vikings at -155. $20.00 to win $12.90

The game is pretty close right now and the ML for the Vikings is at +300 and I can make the bet for $10.00 to win $30.00

Once again, if the 49ers win, then I'll net $2.90 and if the Vikings win, I'll net $10.00



I feel like I'm missing something really obvious as to why these aren't good ideas lol, but as I said I'm new and hoping to get some insight.

[CGBatch]

Basically because if you keep limiting your upside (plays you would have won without hedging), you won't make enough to cancel out plays that you lose (and don't have an opportunity to hedge)

[AOSpades]

Basically because if you keep limiting your upside (plays you would have won without hedging), you won't make enough to cancel out plays that you lose (and don't have an opportunity to hedge)

Ahhh there we go. I knew I was missing something stupid lol. Makes sense, thanks!

[r3coil_]

If you like the idea of risk free money, look up arbs (arbitrage).