When writing a betting preview, it’s tough to analyse and have a look at anything except the ante-post. Whilst there is a plethora of games being played in esports, due to the format and nature of most tournaments the fixtures for the day after are only decided the day before – which means that bookmakers are limited to the matches they know are happening.
Regardless – there’s a lot of Dota 2 action at the moment. The Summit 6 is in full swing at the moment and you can read our previous preview here.
Final series of the day is about to get started! Can the red hot Virtus Pro topple defending TI champions Wings Gaming? #TheSummit6 pic.twitter.com/Y26sdhvj3P
— BTS Dota (@BTSdota) November 17, 2016
The opening couple of days have been great entertainment, and with all eight of the teams competing heading to the Boston Major at the beginning of December, it should hopefully give us some ideas about who’s hot and who’s not.
We’ve pulled the ante-post odds from three of the best esports operators around, Skybet, Bet365 and Betway to compare and contrast and identify where they might be some value for anyone looking to have a bet.
| Bookmaker/Team | Wings | Newbee | EG | OG | EHOME | Faceless | DC | VP |
| Bet365 | 3.50 | 5.00 | 5.50 | 10.00 | 11.00 | 11.00 | 17.00 | 12.00 |
| SkyBet | 4.00 | 7.00 | 4.50 | 9.00 | 9.00 | 13.00 | 17.00 | 17.00 |
| Betway | 3.55 | 5.00 | 5.25 | 10.00 | 11.00 | 11.00 | 15.00 | 18.00 |
| Bookmaker/Team | LGD | NP | iG | Ad Finem | MVP Phoenix | WG.Unity | Execration | CoL |
| Bet365 | 19 | 34 | 41 | 51 | 51 | 101 | 201 | 301 |
| SkyBet | 17 | 26 | 41 | 34 | 34 | 81 | 81 | 101 |
| Betway | 18 | 35 | 41 | 50 | 55 | 100 | 151 | 251 |
So far at The Summit, Wings Gaming were made to look ordinary by Virtus Pro as they were comprehensively dismantled and dispatched 2-0 into the lower bracket. Although they’re still not out of the tournament yet and may well come back to win it, odds as short as 3.50 just don’t appeal to us at all.
The other two “favourites” (or two teams in the same odds band) are Newbee and EG. Newbee are the only team in the first table who are not in attendance at The Summit. Whilst they’ve showed glimpses of something special on the international scene, they are again way too short for our liking. EG are stuttering, losing to OG by a fair margin in their last match. Similarly, the last time they faced NP they lost the series as well. We have a look at their odds at 5.50 and then NP at as high as 35.00 and wonder why the disparity is so ridiculously large.
The two teams we would be inclined to pick out here are OG and Virtus Pro. It may be because the two teams are already guaranteed a top three finish at The Summit but they’re both looking great.
By relatively simple logic, 7 of 8 of the top teams (according to the above bookies odds) are in attendance at The Summit 6. One of OG and VP is guaranteed a top two finish. OG are priced at 10.00 despite their emphatic victory over EG last night and VP are as long as 18.00 with Betway.
For those looking to back an outsider – Execration at 201.00 on Bet365 are a team that can beat anyone on their day. You just have to hope it’s their day – but at 201.00 why not?
Esports Insider says: There definitely is value in OG and VP here if recent form is anything to go by. VP have shown that Wings are not invincible in the Dota 2 space and OG have looked impressive in the first real competitive action we’ve seen from them in a while. For them to be priced as they are compared to some of the “favourites” is astonishing so get them whilst you can. Should either of these teams continue their impressive form at The Summit we’re sure the odds will come crashing back down.