hedge one's bets

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hedge one's bets try to minimize the risk of being wrong or incurring loss by pursuing two courses of action at the same time. Hedging (formerly hedging in or hedging off) one's financial liabilities, especially bets, meant limiting potential losses by putting money on the other side in such a way as more or less to balance any potential loss on the first transaction. In betting terms this means in practice putting money on more than one runner in a race.