Michael Lee is back with esports betting tips and predictions for Monday January 17th. Today he looks at two China Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) upper-division matches between EHOME and LBZS, and Team Aster and Phoenix Gaming. Check out his esports tips below!
Esports Betting Tips - Monday January 17th
EHOME vs LBZS – DPC CN Tour 1 Division I
EHOME looked set to take down Team Aster on the first map of the series last Tuesday but ended up losing a sizeable 5.1k lead and lost. Unfortunately, things did not improve on the second map, where Team Aster took the reins of the match into their hands and cruised to an easy 24-minute victory with a 25-7 kill score.
Following a humiliating defeat, EHOME bounced back against the struggling Vici Gaming on Sunday to go 3-2 on the season, which essentially guarantees them a top-six finish and a spot in the upper division for the second tour of the season.
LBZS have been slightly less convincing with their showings as they ented the final week of the winter tour with a 3-3 record. Three wins are enough for LBZS to remain inside the top-six, but due to the cancellation of the Winter Major, we don’t expect the teams to take their final placement lightly – since they’re still fighting for a higher finish and more DPC points.
Picklebet has EHOME priced as $1.65 favourites and LBZS as $2.10 underdogs, which doesn’t surprise me. LBZS have managed three wins, but they did not look too good in their win against Phoenix (2-1) last week, nor was I impressed with their performance against Invictus Gaming on Sunday (0-2).
EHOME have shown a lot more stability over the season, which is why I have to take their side for this match. EHOME to win at $1.65 is a solid bet, but we’ll take their side with a -1.5 map handicap.
Team Aster vs Phoenix Gaming - DPC CN Tour 1 Division I
Unfortunately, we won’t have a DPC Winter Major, so we won’t be able to see how the teams stack up against international opposition. But if I had to rank Team Aster and where they sit in the current global rankings, they would deserve to be inside the top 10.
I don’t believe Aster will end the year as the top-10 team in the world, but they’re surely playing like one now and are a scary team to face. Perhaps we could have seen that one coming since Aster nearly won against PSG.LGD in week one, then swept aside Vici Gaming and LBZS, and just last week humiliated EHOME.
As mentioned above, EHOME came close to winning one map in their clash with Aster, but the outcome of that game tells me more about Aster’s ability to fight back from a losing position rather than them not playing well in the early game. Nevertheless, Team Aster stomped EHOME in map two, so it wouldn’t be fair to say that the series was close overall.
Unfortunately, I have nothing positive to say about Phoenix Gaming. As a newly formed roster that was supposed to emerge as one of China’s top teams, Phoenix fell flat on their face and haven’t produced anything worth celebrating.
They’re without a single map win eight games in, and I don’t see them improving their record by the end of this tour. Perhaps they might do some damage on Sunday when they take on Vici Gaming, but that’s a story for another day.
This should be a fast and easy win for Team Aster, who shouldn’t struggle too much to close out the series. A bet on under 36 minutes (map duration) is worth a look, but we’ll take under 46.5 kills at better odds.
