We are all well used to the basic football betting markets such as full time winner, both teams to score, double chance, or the Over 2.5 goals. These are and will always be the most popular markets in football betting by a mile. However, this specific article will not cover them. Instead, we will rather deal with the more exotic variants the bettors usually go to when they want to have fun. We have asked one of the top betting experts in the UK, John Pentin from BettingPicks4You.com, to help us creating this article.
While their main objective is to offer fun for football punters, we can sometimes easily spot extraordinary value hidden behind these less popular football betting markets. This is why it is always good to check them every now and then and try and figure out whether at least one of them brings the value you need.
Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the list of the most popular exotic markets in football betting.
Yellow Cards
It is very hard to predict how many yellow cards will be shown in a particular match. Nonetheless, you can still investigate this market to the maximum to try and find the edge over the bookies. The way to do it would be to research the referee’s habits and history, previous head to head games between the teams involved, their recent matches, and potential outside reasons for a higher number of cards (the hatred between the clubs, managers, players, etc.
Among the obvious Over/Under lines, nowadays you can place these exciting bets involving yellow cards:
• Both Teams to Receive a Card
• Player to Be Booked
• Card Handicap
• First Card Received
• Time of First Card
• Team Cards
Corners
This market will likely secure a higher entertainment level for you than the yellow cards. When you bet on corners, you can cheer for your pick in every single attack, regardless of the team with the ball in their feet. Of course, most of us prefer the Over because the matches are much more exciting to watch when you bet the Over on corners. Much like the case is with the cards, you can do your own research before placing the bet. You can check how many corners were there in the previous head to head encounters and in the recent outings played by both teams.
Besides total corners in the game, the variants include:
• First Half Corners
• Corner Match Bet
• Corner Handicap
• Time of First Corner
• Team Corners
• Corners Race (to 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.)
• First Match Corner
• Last Match Corner
• Multicorners
• Corners – 1st 10 Minutes
Specials
We will complete the article by mentioning several betting markets labeled as “Specials” by most bookmakers. These involve a wide range of options (again, depending on the bookie), but namely involve the following:
• Shots on Target
• Shots
• Tackles
• Offsides
• Player Shots on Target
• Player Shots
• Player Tackles
• Player Assists
• Player Passes
All these markets are available in distinct variants. You can thus place bets on totals for the entire match as well as each team individually. Whilst providing the next-level fun and entertainment, it is worth noting that these markets are somewhat tougher to analyze and predict. This is because teams tend to change their strategies several times within a single game, let alone several matches. This is why it is very hard to take any data or comparisons that would help you beat the bookies. Instead, the best way to use these special markets is via in-play betting. This way you can simply watch the game and notice the trends and the teams’ strategies to make wiser calls. Anyways, fun along the way is guaranteed regardless of the outcome.
