Counter-Strike Betting Strategy Guide

counter-strike betting strategy guide
Image source: Flickr

Esports betting is one of the most popular entertainment industries in the world. Primarily because of its fast-paced increasing number of online viewers and players globally. Hence, more and more people are learning how to bet on esports in recent times. Esports bookmakers have opened betting doors to a variety of online games. With that being said, counter-strike: Global Offensive is one of the most popular esports with over 20 million monthly active users globally. This is why we have decided to compile a comprehensive counter-strike betting strategy guide.

This frenzy has led to global annual competitions with more than $1 million at stake in cash prizes. Esports betting can seem a little overwhelming to the ordinary person with no prior experience with esports betting. An online sportsbook guide for beginners is raving constantly regarding counter strike betting lately.

You can find countless CS:GO odds at the 22BET Sportsbook

Introduction to the game

Counter-strike was first launched in 2000 and ever since it has had 4 editions:

  • 1- Counter-Strike 1.6
  • 2- Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
  • 3- Counter-Strike: Source
  • 4- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The latest version being the Counter-Strike: GO was launched in 2012. Over the years these 4 different versions of Counter-Strike did not go through any major changes to its basic rules. This has made it easy for the fans to adjust to the newer versions fairly easily.

Twitch.tv, a very popular streaming site has been one of the biggest reasons for bringing Counter-Strike to the forefront of the gaming world. Where thousands of people watch professional championships live. The large database of fan following has ignited a great deal of interest in Counter-Strike from different bookmakers, pursuing them to expand their opportunities – including odds on Counter-Strike. This is where our Counter-Strike betting strategy guide comes into play.

counter-strike betting strategy guide
Are you ready? Image source: Flickr

Know The Players And the Teams

There have been several teams and players over the years that have seen their rise and fall. At the time of this writing, the following teams were topping the leaderboards. Team Vitality, Heroic, Big, G2 Esports, Complexity, OG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FaZe Clan. However, over the 20 years of Counter-Strike history, there have been many teams that are up there in the hall of fame.

The above would be true for the Counter-Strike players as well. However, the game is constantly being injected with new and exciting talent from all over the globe.

When you are pursuing Counter-Strike betting as a serious endeavor then it would be wise to keep an eye on the environment and be regularly updated about the teams and players. Being attentive to the latest transfers and patches whilst looking at important tournament results would be helpful too. All this information would be a rewarding experience when making money from Counter-Strike betting. Indeed, teams playing stand-ins can be hugely impactful and can completely alter the landscape of a match. Knowing about them would allow you to make informed and profitable bets.

Hltv.org is a great place for you to stay updated on the latest news and to learn about different teams and their statistics.

Events To Consider

For over 6 years now, many consider Counter-Strike as a popular esports.  The 20 years of its eventful history has allowed Counter-Strike to flourish while adding up tons of major tournaments with each passing year. With 40+ number of high-level Counter-Strike tournaments being organized each year is remarkable. While being remarkable, it would also overwhelm a person who is relatively new to the Counter-Strike betting experience. Big tournaments like the Counter-Strike Majors attract the most number of viewers globally and therefore the betting frenzy. Major bookmakers realize that big punters bet heavy on such tournaments, therefore they price their odds accordingly. It is difficult to find value odds in such major events. It would be wise to consider a range of tournaments to bet on and not just confine yourself to the major ones.

Esports is rising, among the best online gambling bonuses as well

Different Betting Types To Consider

Our aim with this Counter-Strike betting strategy guide is to help you understand the betting dynamics. Here is a list of betting types to consider when crafting your Counter-Strike betting strategy.

counter-strike betting strategy guide
Esports betting options are based on traditional sports betting – Image source: Flickr

Event Finalist

Simply this type of Counter-Strike bet would allow you to speculate whether a certain team will qualify for the tournament’s final.

Event Winner

This type of Counter-Strike bet would give you a chance to predict the eventual winner of a certain tournament.

Map Winner

The term is quite self-explanatory. With this type of bet, you are seemingly predicting that a certain team will win a particular map.

Handicaps

This type of bet is rather complex. Essentially you are trying to predict that a certain team will win the match while having a particular advantage or disadvantage. For instance, saying that a team will win if it starts from a hypothetical score of 0 – 1.5, 1.5 – 0, 0 – 2.5, or 2.5 – 0 while having a 1.5/2.5 map advantage or disadvantage.

Let’s suppose, you are betting that Team Liquid will beat FaZe Clan in a best of 3 matches while holding a -1.5 map handicap, then you are essentially betting on Team Liquid to win the match by a score of 2 – 0. Similar types of advantages and disadvantages can be considered when taking map winners into account instead of match winners. With map winner type bets, you are speculating that a team will win a map while possessing an advantage of 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, or even 6.5 rounds or even a disadvantage of the aforementioned number of rounds.

Number of rounds to be played in total on a map

With this bet, you are essentially saying that a certain map will end in less than a given number of rounds. If either of the teams won the match before the given number of rounds is achieved, you win.

Round Winner

Simplify you are trying to predict the winner of a certain round within a map. Pistol rounds in Counter-Strike are known as the first round of the map or the first round of the second half of the map (after the two teams switch sides).

Betting Odds Strategy

Understanding the betting odds offered by the bookmakers is essential to profitable betting experience. When you decide to place a bet on a match between two teams, the odds are usually expressed in the decimal form. Suppose, you are betting on a match between G2 Esports and OG, you might come across something like this. 

G2 Esports VS OG

File:G2 logo black.png - Wikimedia Commons
G2 logo – Image source: G2sport / CC BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons

1.35 – 2.95

This means that by placing a bet on G2 Esports, you would have made a realized profit of 35% if right. While on the other hand, you would have made a profit of 195% when betting on OG for the win.

The bookmakers draft the odds by analyzing and assessing the two opponents. The odds will be placed lower if a team is more likely to win, which essentially means lesser profits for you in case of a correct bet. Likewise, the odds will be priced higher if a team is less likely to win. Rarely it just so happens that you may find an underdog team having the higher odds, solely because the bookmakers were wrong with their assessments.

Mathematical betting odds strategy

Mathematically the odds are drafted in such a manner that you can not place a wager on both the outcomes and generate profit regardless of who wins. However, some tricks would help you accomplish this with minimal downside risk. Counter-strike live betting can achieve this.  The way this works is that at the start of a match, you will place a bet on a team that you believe will play better than the odds shown by the bookmaker. Once the match is ongoing and you see that the odds of the opponent are high enough, you will place a bet on it as well. From this point onwards, you will make a profit regardless of who wins.

You can diversify your betting by placing bets on match combinations as well, instead of just single matches. In this case, the multiplication of odds will occur. For instance, for betting on combinations consisting of two outcomes, the odds will be calculated in the following way: 

odds of the first outcome * odds of the second outcome = combination odds. Something to bear in mind is that you will have to win each outcome to win the overall bet.  

Counter-Strike Live Betting

Counter-Strike betting strategy guide includes live betting which is an exciting form of betting experience, to say the least. However, such betting is typically best for those with more experience with playing and watching counter-strike. Also, in-depth knowledge of the professional scene is a huge help. People with insights about how a match will end based on how the teams are playing are well-positioned for live betting.

Some of the challenges faced during live betting are the following:

Hard to obtain help while you are in the middle of live betting

While you are watching a live Counter-Strike tournament on Twitch.tv, Youtube, Facebook, etc, you will be on your own. You will have to make decisions based on your own judgment.

It is difficult to stay rational and stick to your drafted strategy

The experience of having your money on the line while live betting is intense. With everything being so fast-paced during an ongoing game that it is difficult to stick to your guns and not get carried away.

You need to be quick with your decision making

During live betting on a Counter-Strike match, the odds fluctuate quickly based on how teams are performing. The team more likely to grab the win will have its odds decrease as the match proceeds. If you’re not quick with your assessing and decision making then you might miss out on opportunities rather quickly.

Assessing Counter-Strike Betting Odds Before Planning Bets

counter-strike betting strategy guide
Image source: Wikipedia

As with all betting markets, in-depth research before you place your money down is necessary. As a Counter-Strike fan, you might put in hours watching professional teams take on each other. However, as fun as that would be, you should never rely on that information alone.

When you are trying to figure which of the two adversaries in an upcoming game is more likely to win, you need thorough research that provides you with an understanding of the game mechanics and how the two teams have performed against each other in the past. You need to examine what the two teams have accomplished in the past 3, 6, or 12 months. Study the players in each team. Looks for the maps that they are consistently good on. Some teams might have a location advantage i.e. playing in front of its home crowd. There are several data points that would help you assess the final outcome better and place informed bets.

Use A Stacking Plan

We can all agree that money management is key to a profitable and stress-free betting experience. A Counter-Strike betting strategy guide won’t be complete without pushing the need for a staking plan. A stacking plan is where you decide how much money you want to lay down on each of your wagers.

Staking plans can be neither fixed nor variable. With a fixed staking plan you always wager the same amount of money or the same percentage of your monthly budget. However, with a variable staking plan, you have a flexible system that lets you decide how much money you want to wager. The variable staking method is dependent on your confidence, whether you see a wager coming to fruition or not. In summary, if you are adamant that a wager will be successful, you bet more of your capital on it. However, if you are shy about a bet being successful then you will place lower deposits.

Approaching Counter-Strike betting with a staking plan will allow you to prioritize events, help you to understand your limits while making sure that you pursue betting in an analytical fashion. For instance, if a certain Counter-Strike team is favored to win a match then you will approach the game with a variable staking method. However, if you understand that a certain team is an underdog for an upcoming match but you have a slight feeling that they might cause an upset then you will approach it with the same variable staking plan but this time placing a much lower wager as you are not too confident about them pulling a win. This will allow you to bank big profit as some of the bookmakers would offer higher odds for the underdog team.

Get, set, go

Comparing counter-strike to regular sports betting isn’t that far of a stretch. It may be esports, but it is on its way to becoming the modern-day sports. Certainly, the time is here for you to let go of the misconceptions regarding esports and take part in this exciting venture. This Counter-strike betting strategy guide is a starting and ending point to learning everything about betting on this game. Just taking a look at the recent online sportsbook guides for beginners will be enough to convince anyone to dive into the gambling world of Counter-strike.

Click here to visit the 22BET Sportsbook

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