Booking points stats are an important metric for football bettors. There are several markets featuring cards and disciplinary points, and these stats can be invaluable in your research. To discover how to interpret booking stats, how they influence markets and how to use them to find value, dive into our guide.
Why Should We Look at Booking Points Stats?
Betting on cards is extremely popular, with markets ranging from Over/Under to wagering on individual players to be shown cards. Booking points are a variation of this where, rather than placing a bet on a few cards or a player receiving a yellow or a red, you bet on a points value of the cards.
So, what are booking points in football and how are booking points calculated? The following system is used by UK bookmakers.
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1x Yellow card: 10 points
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1x Red card: 25 points
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2x Yellow cards for same player leading to a red card: 35 points
Therefore, the maximum that can be racked up by one player is 35 points. Some of the best UK bookmakers, including Betfred, have markets for booking points. You can bet on the team that clocks up the most booking points, as well as Over/Under. Booking points stats are a hugely valuable research tool when betting on this market.
As well as the specific market for booking points, this metric can be used as a pointer for related markets, such as betting on cards, and can be used as background research for other areas, especially when combined and cross-referenced with other football betting statistics, like card stats and foul stats.
Data-Driven Bets Based on Booking Points Stats
A vital component of a betting strategy is research. This applies to betting on booking stats and cards, where there is plenty of data available to help you. ThePuntersPage stats hub is a fantastic resource, and you can find detailed information of a team’s disciplinary record over the season across a multitude of leagues and competitions across the globe. You can view standings, results, player stats, team stats and referee stats. The betting stats section gives you key info on a range of popular markets for each team. This means that you can study current form, research your options and make data driven picks.
This data, obviously, includes booking points stats. You can break the information down further by looking at total booking points, disciplinary points built up in home and away fixtures. You can look at how often a team have gone over different booking points thresholds, you can view the season as a whole or target the last three, five or 10 matches. You can use these stats to see if teams get more booking points against a particular type of opposition and work out if there are any patterns building.
Booking points stats can be directly applied to a few markets that we have outlined below.
Simply bet on which team you believe will stack up the most disciplinary points over the 90 minutes. This is set out in the same way as the 1X2 match result market.
Here, the bookmaker will set a line, typically between 32.5 and 52.5, depending on the nature of the match. You then make a total booking prediction on whether the total number of booking points in the game will be over or under the line. This can be done for the match or for one of the teams.
It is obviously more difficult to make an exact booking points prediction, so inevitably the odds will be longer. To win, you must come up with the precise number of disciplinary points in the match or from one team.
Some bookmakers will have markets where you can bet on the number of booking points in a half. So, you can wager on 1st half booking predictions.
Handicap betting is available for bookings predictions at some UK bookmakers, including Betfred. This helps to make things more interesting and helps to get you better odds if one team looks far more likely to pick up cards. Card handicaps are also available and booking points stats, when used alongside card stats, foul stats and referee stats are a useful metric for this market too.
Instead of betting on booking points, you can bet on cards, for example over/under 4.5 cards to be shown in a match. Obviously, booking points stats are a good indicator for this market and can be combined with card stats when you are researching. You can bet on the match or on team cards.
This is a very straightforward market. Wagering on a player to be booked will be successful if your selection is shown a yellow or red card. To get better odds, you can place on which player will be booked first. Booking points stats can be used as background research for this market.
How Do Booking Points Stats Influence Betting Markets?
Booking points stats have an influence on several football markets. If you are betting on a market that directly involves booking points, such as Under/Over or which team will get the most points, then these stats will be a great tool to use for your research.
The card market is very closely linked to booking points, so, these stats are very useful for any sort of card betting.
When betting live, booking points stats could influence your choices if you were looking to bet on the next card to be given out. Or, there could have been a low amount of cards given out in the game so far, but if you can see tempers getting frayed, and you know a particular team often collects a lot of booking points, you may want to bet on a number of cards to be given out in the last 30 minutes before the odds shift.
Hidden Trends You Cannot Ignore
Betting points stats can highlight patterns and trends that can help you when betting, not only on disciplinary points and cards but on other markets.
Firstly, you can see how many booking points teams are accumulating over the season as a whole and in the three, five or 10 games prior to the match you are wagering on. You can then compare a team’s home disciplinary record to their away record. Do they tend to get more bookings away from home when they are not able to dominate games where the referee might be influenced by the crowd? Or does it work the other way? Can teams be overcommitted when backed by a passionate home support leading to players making challenges they shouldn’t?
If you look at performances over the season, you will be able to see if there is a difference in different types of matches against different types of opposition or tactics. A team may, for instance, get more bookings when they have had to play three games in a week are fatigued.
How to Bet on Booking Points Stats
All the top UK bookmakers have markets on cards, however, not every operator uses booking points as well. If you specifically want to wager on booking points, then two of the best bookies for this are Betfred and William Hill.
Booking points betting markets are usually found in the section for cards. This can sometimes be a joint section with corners. There will then be a few markets where you can place wagers based on disciplinary points. Read on, as we explore a couple of booking points markets.
Booking Points Stats Betting Profitability & Strategy
There is no foolproof way to guarantee profit in sports betting, however, having a strategy leads to you making more informed decisions with your wagers.
Research is important and a data-driven approach provides you with evidence to back up your picks. When wagering on disciplinary points and cards, booking points stats play a major part in this. They can also prove to be a useful tool when betting on related markets such as fouls.
When betting on a football match, looking at the recent record of the teams involved over the previous five matches and the season is a good starting point. This will allow you to investigate whether any recent changes in a team’s booking points could be a blip and whether there is a reason behind it. Studying the entire season allows you to see trends, such as disciplinary cards picked up in home and away fixtures, booking points picked up against the top teams compared to the teams at the bottom and cards picked up in games when the team may be tired.
As always, monitor injuries and suspensions and look carefully at the team news in the build up to games. Is one team resting players ahead of a European game? Is the game of more importance to one team than the other? Could a player who regularly collects booking points be left out of the squad? Or could such a player be a potential replacement? These factors can affect your wager. Check out the head-to-head record between the sides. Are there usually a lot of bookings in these clashes?
Take care towards the end of the season. Some teams have little to play for in the league once they get into the last couple of fixtures. They may be less motivated and less likely to get booked. If they are still in a cup competition, they might rest players in the league. And those who do play might try to avoid confrontations and challenges that could lead to suspension or injury.
When to Bet & When to Skip According to Booking Points Stats
Booking points stats can help you weigh up when to wager and when to look for a different market with potentially better value.
As mentioned in the last section, the end of the season can be a difficult time for placing bets on league games, as some teams have nothing left to play for or have other priorities outside the league campaign. This is particularly true when it comes to booking points in betting. If there is nothing tangible hanging on a game, players are arguably less likely to lose control of their emotions and make poor challenges. Tactical fouls might not be made with the same regularity, and the intensity of pressing may drop.
If you are looking at a match where the two teams have middling booking points, then you may not find much value in the bet. Therefore, you might be better advised to change market or look for another game to wager on.
Injuries, suspensions and doubts over team selection can massively effect things. If a team radically alters their starting eleven, then it can make a lot of your pre-match research irrelevant.
Football Betting Stats
ThePuntersPage Final Say
Booking points stats can be a huge boost to your research when betting on disciplinary points and cards. They can also play a part in wagers on fouls and other related areas. If you are interested in betting on booking stats, then using our guide and ThePuntersPage stats hub can help you develop a strategy.
Booking Points Stats FAQs
Booking points stats are data on the number of disciplinary points accumulated. A booking is 10 points, a sending off is 25 points and two yellows for the same player leading to a dismissal is 35 points.
Yes. Betfred and William Hill are two of the UK bookmakers that offer odds on booking points. All the major bookmakers, including Betfred and William Hill offer betting on cards.
This rule means that a given market is settled at the end of normal time, meaning at the end of 90 minutes plus injury time. Anything that happens in extra time or on penalties doesn't change the bet result.
The main markets influenced by booking points stats are the specific markets for booking stats. There is over/under betting, betting on which team will get the most booking points and handicap betting for booking points. Closely linked to this is betting on cards. Booking points stats can also be used to research other markets including fouls.