Beyond making the fundamental bets on which team will win a match or by how much, many bookmakers give a wide selection of potential bets to the soccer punter. Virtually every aspect of a game can be bet on in several unique ways. Below are a couple of of the broad categories of alternative bets that will be available.
Goal betting is already very popular and will be done numerous ways. For several bet on which team or which individual player is likely to make the first goal or the last one. Bets can be made on which players could make goals during the match or which players can make goals in the first or second halves of the game. Other bets include which player is likely to make the most goals during the match, the positions of the players that score, and the way the first goal will be scored. If a team has a dominant striker, the bettor might make an educated bet on who will score goals during the match.
Card bets are wagers regarding yellow and red cards issued throughout the match. For a number of bet on which team or which individual players shall get yellow or red cards through the match. For various also bet on the total range of yellow or red cards to be issued through the match combined. If a team has 1 or 2 aggressive players with a record of getting in trouble, the punter may make an informed bet on which player is more likely to receive a card in the match.
Halftime bets effectively turn one game into two by allowing the punter to make all the same bets one makes for a regular match, but reducing the applicable time period to the first or second half of the game. Some teams are well known for starting off slowly and then finally getting into stride within the second half, or starting off strongly and then losing the initiative. For a number of also bet on which will win over all in each half of a game. An informed bettor acquainted with the tendencies of particular teams will make good money by betting on the final results of half the game.
Other bets can be made on the shirt numbers of goal scorers (or card recipients), on the outcome of referee decisions, whether the game will go into overtime, the number of corners taken, and so forth. These only include the bets that may be made within one game. If one looks beyond the individual match, a whole new range of bets become available, from how many goals will be scored by all teams on a particular day to which teams are most likely to advance to the next round or perhaps be relegated.
The variety of potential bets that bookmakers will take is only limited through the imagination of the individual punter and address here also the willingness of the bookmaker to allow the bet. Since the bookmaking industry is now so competitive, if one is prepared to shop around for several find a bookmaker that may accept almost any reasonable wager. This range of betting potential also means that the serious punter has to be disciplined enough to focus solely on the bets that work with his system in place of jumping wildly into every bet that seems like a winner.