Yellow/red card bets is a fundamental offer of any top online bookmaker. For whatever reason, they are quite popular among tipsters, which we think is a little weird? Why? Because football is about scoring a goal and winning a match but not about getting fewer cards than your opponent? Yellow and red cards are like a side effect of the rivalry. Therefore it is hard to bet on them and their amount.

However, there is still a whole group of people who are passionately betting on cards. They are experts in their field. If you are one of them or want to become a part of that group of people, then take your time and read this article right here. So, what type of bets are proposed by the bookmaker and where to find value? Let's take a look!

One of the most common cards bets. In this scenario, tipster must guess the right amount of the referee's bookings. Of course, not precisely. Bettors just have to guess if the line (ex. Over 6) will be covered or not.

They're a lot of factors to be taken into consideration. Some matches are foreseen to be more physical than others. So what? Despite this, the bookmaker has as much knowledge as you do about it, offering us a lofty line, where there can be no questions about value.

We, then can try out luck and place a bet before the kickoff or wait till the match starts and create a live slip. You will find out information about this and a lot more, further in our guide.

Seems quite simple. Would be enough just to guess the team, whose players will be booked more often by the referee, and wait for your winnings. It is not really how it works! Why? Because football is very unpredictive and the number of yellow cards, for the most part, depends on players' mood and therefore, on the current score.

Let's just use Juventus vs Chievo Verona matchup in Serie A as the example. Of course, the bookmaker will expect the Old Lady to conduct the course of the match, and the away team will do everything to stop it, even if it requires a heavy tackling and therefore cautions.

The situation is getting reversed completely if Chievo would come up with a brilliant counter-attack and score. We can most probably expect Juventus players to be more nervous and release their frustration on the opposite team. 

Some bookmakers offer to bet on the time (minute) before or after which the referee will reach out for the card (let's say the bookmaker proposed a 25-minute line, which means that we have to guess if there will be any cards before the set time).

It is also tricky and depends on lots of variables (physicality of the game, the score, overall atmosphere at the stadium, and most importantly, on the decision-making referee).

Here, tipsters have to guess which team's player will get booked first. It is also not easy, because it is not said anywhere that the weaker team's player has to be cautioned by the referee first. This type of bets is very random and is not suggested by us.

Here, tipsters have to guess if someone would be sent off the field (receive a red card). Despite the appearance, we can find a better value than in other above-mentioned types. First of all, these bets usually have odds around 4.00/6.00 (3/1, 5/1). Besides that, there are fixtures, where you know something will be happening and teams might just not finish it with the full squad.

Different derbies and bloody rivals matchups are what we are looking for here. It is important for fans to "hate" each other, in this case, we can expect players from both teams to show more competitiveness.

In such a case, tipsters must guess if the particular player will get a card or not? This task is both easy and hard. It is obvious, there are players who like to play more "on the edge" and have a higher chance of getting booked (like Sergio Ramos). Even them, though, are not getting cautioned by the referee in every match.

A good idea here will be applying progression, meaning if the "brutal" player hasn't got a yellow card if a couple of matches then, it is rather more probable that he will in the upcoming games.

Now, it is time to talk about live betting. Placing a pre-match bet is indeed hard and requires lots of work dedicated to both teams' playing style, referee's way of conducting the game & fans opposition towards each other analyses, which is the case of live betting is supposed to be easier. 

An experienced tipster, watching the game live (in front of a TV or at the stadium), is capable of the aggressiveness of the match evaluation, knowing right away whether or not to expect the cards.

The best example is the end of the tied matches (on one is leading after the 70th minute), where players do anything possible to turn the game around. It is then more probable that a constantly getting more tired player will get loose, and the referee will stop tolerating it, awarding a yellow card. Let's not forget about the fact that at the end of the match players get a little rough, doing anything not to lose, which is usually resulting in referee's bookings.