Esports Insider Gambling Report – The Summit 7

The Dota 2 scene is now in the home stretch towards The International 7 – Valve’s flagship tournament that’s looking likely to boast well over $20 million in prize money. Two of the final big tournaments are taking place this weekend. We’ve chosen Beyond the Summit’s “The Summit 7” for our Gambling Report. Good performance at this tournament is imperative for those looking to stake their claim for an invite to the year’s biggest event – so the pressure’s on. 

The tournament’s always a fan favourite amongst the Dota community. Gone are the huge crowds and high pressure main stages. They’re intimately replaced by sofa casting, players joining the commentary team and matches being played in cosy rooms. It gives the fans a glimpse at what their favourite professionals are like outside of the game. Understandably some are reserved yet The Summit has unearthed some phenomenal personalities in the past. 

We had a look across Betway, Bet365, Pinnacle, William Hill, Sky Bet and Unikrn to see who’s offering the best odds ahead of the action. We also previewed each match for those interested in having a punt themselves. 

Virtus.Pro versus Team Empire

Virtus.Pro are clear, clear favourites here. Then again – they were considered one of the favourites at EPICENTER: Moscow where they were heavily backed on home soil. They lost in the semi-finals to eventual winners Team Liquid and didn’t quite look like they had refreshed their ideas and adapted to patch 7.06. Empire’s recent results against Virtus.Pro haven’t been awful, having W1 D1 L1 in their last three. There’s clearly no value in backing VP so if you’re one for an underdog – there’s definitely value in Empire who beat them VP 2-1 as lately as May 15th. 5.190 from Pinnacle is the leading price whilst UK users can find similar prices at most bookmakers. 

Team NP versus LGD

There’s a reason that both of these teams are priced so closely across all of the above bookmakers. Simpy put, no one really knows that much about either of them. Team NP looked fairly strong in Taipei, only to lose to the first “Tier 1” opposition they faced in Newbee. With PieLieDie and FATA- in the NP ranks they look an intriguing prospect on paper. LGD haven’t faced anyone but Chinese opposition in their last 100 odd matches which means they too are an intriguing prospect. Flip a coin and you probably have as good a chance of predicting this one.

Team VG.J versus Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere did themselves no favours in the betting after their performance at EPICENTER: Moscow. The CIS fan favourite only made it to the tournament in Russia after a “redemption vote” sent them in. They were plunged into a group of death and didn’t manage a victory – bombing out 0-8 in the tournament. They’ll have to improve significantly to beat a VG.J squad that itself has struggled for form but still has infinitely more pedigree than this Natus Vincere squad. Betway at 1.55 offer best price for the Chinese squad – whilst Unikrn are best for those who like throwing money away.

Team Secret versus Digital Chaos

Team Secret are an incredibly good team to watch and on their day they look nigh-on unstoppable. Digital Chaos had somewhat of a honeymoon run in qualifying for Kiev and performing fairly well but haven’t really been able to sustain performance truly of note. They’re not to be underestimated but we saw Secret at EPICENTER and if they turn up they should have too much for DC. Odds are fairly similar across the board here.