Our betting preview this week centres around the League of Legends World Championships. The most watched esports event in the world has reached the semi-finals. The final four is comprised of three Korean competitors and H2K who hold the hopes of the rest of the world firmly on their shoulders.
Above: The game which sealed H2K’s place in the last four of the competition.
H2K’s dominant 3-0 win over Albus Nox Luna ended the wildcard’s fantastic run in the tournament and saw them seal a contest on October 22 versus Samsung Galaxy. The winners of the contest will then face either pre-tournament favourites SK Telecom T1 or ROX Tigers in the final. H2K are priced at around 4.00 with most bookmakers however it’s going to be really tough for them to progress.
The first contest is an intriguing one. ROX Tigers showed great form to dispatch Edward Gaming by three games to one in their quarter final whilst SK Telecom T1 knocked out their opponents Royal Never Give Up by the same scoreline. The all Korean semi-final is a rematch of the 2015 Grand Final in which SK Telecom came out victorious in a dominant display whereby ROX only took one game.
Both teams are priced at 1.83, but with ROX Tigers not having taken a series from SK Telecom T1 since March – we can only see one winner. Whilst ROX have always been an extremely impressive team, they have always struggled to beat SK and therefore we would back SK Telecom T1 to beat ROX Tigers (1.83 with Bet365).
SK beat ROX 2-0 in June, 3-1 in April and 2-0 in July in the teams last three meetings. Should the trend continue, then SK Telecom -1.5 map handicap at 2.70 with BetWay could be good value.
Away from League of Legends, we found a pick that appeals in the CS:GO ELEAGUE ante-post betting. Virtus.Pro are the team that have all the form at the moment. At the moment they are priced at 8.00 across various bookmakers to win the tournament. The tournament gets underway in late October and the final will be played in December. The group stage draw looks favourable and VP should have no trouble getting through. It seems fairly generous to have them priced at 8.00 considering just how good they’re playing at the moment.
Esports Insider: We fancy SK to get the better of ROX at 1.83 or a more adventurous 2.70 for a -1.5 map handicap. In CS:GO Virtus.Pro look great value already at 8.00 to win ELEAGUE.