Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a team-based shooter with a maximum of five players on each side. The aim of the game depends on the location, that is, the map where the battle takes place. There is a total of 30 rounds and each round lasts 102-105 seconds. The team that wins the most rounds out of 30 wins.
Types of Tournaments
FACEIT Major is a rather popular and significant tournament for the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In 2018, its prize pool was as much as $1 million. FACEIT Major tournament consists of three stages. The Challengers Stage is the first stage, which features the top teams in the Minor stage, as well as the teams ranked 8th through 16th in the last Major stage. The top eight teams then progress to the next stage called the Legends Stage where they compete against the best eight teams from the previous Major. The third Champions Stage is the Finals where the top eight teams battle it out for the top prize.
ESL Pro League is the biggest tournament, on which CS: GO fans place their bets the most. The first ESL Pro League match was held in Germany in 2015. At that time, 24 teams of professional Esports players took part in the tournament, and the prize fund amounted to as much as $500,000. Over time, the organizers increased the number of participants to 48, thus giving more players the opportunity to show themselves in this eSsport. Team Fnatic and Astrails earned the most wins for 2019, and Team Liquid Gamer won the last tournament.
ELEAGUE CS: GO Premier is also a pretty big tournament that consists of a group stage and a playoff stage. ELEAGUE CS: GO Premier includes 16 teams from different European countries and USA and the prize pool of this championship is $1 million.
Types of Bets in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
We’re going to talk about the most basic ones that are present in almost every line. We will consider the matches of the bo3 format as an example:
- Betting on the victory of one of the teams in a match is the most basic thing that can happen. Today, if the match is equal, the odds are the same for a victory of one of the teams with a value of about 1.9.
- Handicaps on the cards. Game on 3 cards or until 2 wins. Accordingly, it is possible to make a prediction on a victory of one of the teams in a match on 2 cards with handicap F (-1.5). Betting F (+1.5) on the underdog assumes that the team will draw at least 1 card, or even win the match.
- Card totals. With totals everything is simple. Betting on TM (2.5) will play if 2 cards are played, and TB (2.5) if 3.
- Bets on the score. An alternative to a handicap is a bet on the exact score. For example, on 2-0 or 2-1. The 2-0 score will have the same odds as the F1(-1.5). But if there is a high probability that the outsider will draw one card, then a bet on the score 2-1 will bring profit more than a handicap on the outsider F2(+1.5), if the match ends with a score of 2-1 in favor of the favorite. The most common option for online predictions is where favorites lose a little to the underdogs.
- The outcome is on the cards. It is possible to predict the winner within one of the cards. Will be a useful tool if you properly analyze the strength of teams within specific cards.
- Handicap by rounds within one card. Useful if you are looking to play a one-win game or a head-to-head game. Who wins 16 rounds, wins the card? With a score of 16-13 bet on the winner F1(-2.5) by rounds will play, and F1(-3.5) will not.
- Total rounds within one card. It is also possible to make a prediction on a particular card on the total of rounds. A maximum of 30 rounds can be played. A score of 16-13 says that 29 rounds have been played. So, for example, a prediction on TB (26.5) will make a profit, but a similar TM will not.
- The rest of the bets are purely your imagination within the bookmaker’s line, especially if you are an avid punter.
Esports Betting on the Outcome of Tournaments and Events
Naturally, betting on results is the easiest and most popular way to make money on eSports disciplines. For example, GGBET at https://ggonline.bet/en/esports offers to bet on CS:GO on the outcome of matches in real-time and online. However, it is interesting that draws are almost never offered here because very few tournament operators hold tournaments in this bo2 (best-of-2) format, where there is a possibility of a draw.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also has its favorites, as well as standard traditional sports disciplines. After all, the element of chance in the game is not particularly higher than when betting on regular sports such as soccer, basketball, golf, hockey, etc.
There are the aforementioned bo2 and bo3 formats, as well as best-of-1 and best-of-5. The best-of-5 format means that the match will be played on five locations or maps and the team that wins first on 3 maps wins. But in best-of-1 matches, the randomness element is much greater as teams only play on 1 map, which usually means that the team that plays on that map will most likely win the match (a total of 7 different maps are now used in competitions).
Betting on Matches
The most popular and main type of CS: GO betting is on the results of matches and championships. Many platforms and websites even duplicate the functions of real bookmakers so that players can bet and bet in real-time. Usually, such services combine all the main esports betting areas. But, as a rule, each site has its own specialization.