Your average punter will place a standard accumulator on a Saturday, requiring several teams across the globe to pick up wins in their respective matches. Little did they know, there is whole different and exciting world out there – And that is cards betting.
It’s an exciting way to bet because there is a whole lot of research that can be carried out to provide you with a great chance of winning. Another huge plus is that a cards bet is always alive, right up until the final whistle (Unless you pick a player who is substituted, of course).
In your bog standard accumulator, one of your teams could end up 2-0 down in the first 10 minutes and then your slip is most likely tossed in the bin. With most cards markets, you are in with a chance right up until the match officials call time.
How do booking points work?
When betting on cards in football, a bookmaker will offer you a ‘booking points’ line, which could be set at over/under 40 points as an example.
So, how are the number of points established? Each yellow card is worth 10 points, a red is worth 25 points, and when a player is given his marching orders for picking up two yellows, it amounts to a total of 35 points.
The different markets
If you are confused by the whole booking points malarkey, then you could opt to go for the total number of cards market which you will find with some bookies. So, you could be backing over 3.5 cards rather than doing the mathematics behind booking points.
Betting on certain players to be booked is great, and where you can find some excellent value. There’s plenty of information out there about every single player in the game. Find out how many bookings they have picked up this season, how many fouls they commit on average per game, if they have any history against the team they are set to face. There are so many potential angles to be covered, in order to give yourself the best chance of winning.
Team to have the most cards is an interesting market. For example, a smaller club against much superior opposition will most likely pick up more bookings. They will experience less possession which will lead to more fouls and even frustration, quite possibly.
Researching the stats
As I alluded to before, there are plenty of angles to be covered when you are placing a bet on any cards market. There are a lot of resources to be used to your advantage, I quite like Fbref to look at players’ records and see how many bookings they have picked up and in how many matches.
I may be biased, but my Bet Builder Stats Packs are pretty useful for this market too.
There are websites where you can see how many bookings certain teams average, and then you can utilise that as you try and work out whether the bookies’ booking line has any value in regards to any particular match.
The referee
Something else that can be researched, there is even data out there for how many average booking points a referee hands out per match. Believe it or not, each referee has a different personality with some being more lenient than others.
For example, in La Liga and Serie A, referee’s are much more trigger happy when it comes to brandishing cards from their pockets. South America is a hot bed for bookings, with six of the top seven league’s across the world with the highest cards average coming from that part of the world.
Disciplinary records and rivalries
Something else to be taken into account is player disciplinary records and rivalries. For example, a player like Diego Costa or Alfredo Morelos is always worth a look at when it comes to bookings because they are both capable of losing their heads at any given moment – it’s just a case of looking at the odds and deciding if there’s any value in it or not.
Derby’s and rivalries are always a good place to start when placing a bet on booking points or any cards market for that matter. Tensions flare and more often than not, there will be an increase in the number of cards handed out.
Conclusion
To conclude, I am a big fan of the cards markets and the value/opportunities that it can bring.There are plenty of resources to use for research and it is possible to give yourself a great chance of winning if you put in the time.It’s also an exciting way to bet as more often than not, your bet will always be alive, right up until the final whistle.
There are many moments where tempers flare in the final seconds due to frustration or what not, and cards are still brandished well into stoppage time. It’s an approach to football betting that I would certainly recommend.
