Here at BetWithout.Online we want to ensure that you are aware of all different types of betting opportunities. Card index betting applies to football (soccer) match betting and is popular with many online gamblers. It is a different way to bet on football and you can become successful with it if you do your homework.
Sometimes, card index betting is called “red and yellow card betting”. In virtually every professional football match, there will be at least one yellow card shown to a player by the referee. The chances of no cards being branded by the referee in a match are very slim, so it can be a very exciting bet for you to place.
What is card index betting?
A lot of online bookmakers will allow you to place card index bets. The bookmaker will specify how many points are allotted to a red card and to a yellow card. Usually, this is a fairly standard points total, but it can vary from one online bookie to another so make sure that you check the points allocations for red and yellow cards before placing your bet.
With most online bookmakers, the yellow card will be worth 10 points and the red card will be worth 25 points. It gets a little more complicated if the referee gives a player two yellow cards which automatically mean a red card and the player being sent off.
You may think that the points total for this would be 20 points for the 2 yellow cards and 25 points for the red card totaling 45 points. But most bookmakers will give you 35 points for2 yellow cards as they only count the first yellow for 10 points and the red for 25 points. The second yellow is deemed irrelevant in this situation.
Typical card index bets you can place
It is likely that you will be given three choices for a card index bet by your online bookmaker:
- 0 to 20 points
- 21 to 40 points
- 41+ points
Beside all of these options will be the odds that the bookmaker provides. Usually, the odds will be in the region of 5/4 for 0 to 20 points, 13/8 for 21 to 40 points and 23/10 for 41+ points. Let’s take a look at the different scenarios here.
If you go for the 0 to 20 points bet then there can be from zero to two yellow cards shown by the referee in the match for your bet to be a winner. A red card will make your bet a loser as will more than 3 yellow cards. The 2 yellow cards must be for two different players and not for the same player as this would result in a red card and 35 points.
With the 21 to 40 points option, there must be between 2 and 4 yellow cards for your bet to win or the issue of a straight red card which is 25 points, or 2 yellow cards for the same player which will be 35 points. A lot of gamblers go for this option with card index betting as they feel that it is the most likely outcome to occur.
Finally, the 41+ points card index bet has the most generous odds but is the most unlikely to win and can be risky. We are talking about 5 yellow cards in this match or even 2 red cards. Of course, matches with a high card count do happen. More on this later.
Real life examples of cards issued in matches
In the English Premier League, it is not unusual for the team with the most bookings to receive in the region of 70 to 80 cards for the season. At the other end of the scale, teams that have the least number of bookings tend to receive between 40 to 50 cards.
Then you need to take into consideration the number of yellow and red cards. In the Premier League, the worst team may have received 70 yellow cards for the season and 3 red cards for example. The best team from a discipline point of view, may have only received 41 yellow cards and only a single red card for the season.
Tips for winning with card index bets
We recommend that you choose a specific league or tournament to place your card index bets and find out as much as you can about the teams that are involved. Here are some of the things that we recommend that you look for:
- The average number of cards per match for each team
- The average number of fouls per match for each team
- The average number of tackles per match for each team
- The history of the match referee showing cards to players
Let’s look at each of these factors in detail.
If a team has a high average number of cards per match, then you can assume that it is likely that they will continue with this trend. Some teams in the Premier League are very defensive, especially when they are playing the top teams.
Tackles and fouls are usually linked together. If a team makes a high number of tackles in a match, the chances are that they will have a high number of fouls against them too. The more fouls that a team commits, the more likely they are to receive yellow and red cards.
We also recommend that you look at the history of the referee when it comes to issuing cards. Some referees seem to rush to their pockets to issue yellow and red cards a lot during a match. Others are more lenient and will not show as many cards.
Derby matches can be very feisty affairs. In the Premier League, clashes between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United and Liverpool, can produce a lot of cards even if the teams have a good disciplinary record.
