We're kicking off a new week with a big evening of Esports action as our resident Esports guru Michael Lee has delivered his best bets from around the world. Tonight's action comes to us from League of Legends Pro League and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Snow Sweet Snow #2.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, March 1st
FunPlus Phoenix vs JD Gaming
League of Legends Pro League
FunPlus Phoenix suffered a 0-2 loss against Royal Never Give Up on Saturday, however, they deserve some slack for that defeat since they had to field their academy jungler Yang "Beichuan" Ling as a replacement for Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang. Although Beichuan performed well, it’s hard to expect much from a player that has never before played in the top league nor has he had enough time to practice with his new team.
With that loss, FPX are third in the league with a 7-3 record which below the expectations, but they're statistically still one of the best teams in the world right now, which is quite impressive considering they are dealing with jungle issues for the past month. I can only see this team improving as the season goes on, which is quite terrifying to see for anyone who is not an FPX fan.
JD Gaming might be viewed as one of the best teams in the world, but their performances of late suggest otherwise. Based on what JDG’s numbers are showing, I wouldn't rank them above league average, however, it's far to note they've been performing somewhat better of late and also had to endure a very difficult schedule.
JDG still won most of their games and are on a four-game winning streak, but even in their wins, they don't look very clean, so while I wouldn't say JDG are playing well, they're not terrible either.
This match is very difficult to predict since we don't know whether FPX will manage to exploit JDG's flaws due to their roster issues. Statistically, FPX are much stronger than JDG, but the eye test makes me believe JDG stand a realistic chance to steal the W. I'm taking the better odds on JDG for this one.
SINNERS Esports vs GODSENT
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Snow Sweet Snow #2
Sinners Esports and GODSENT last met at the start of February, during the first season of Snow Sweet Snow, when GODSENT won with 19-16 on Nuke and 16-14 on Inferno. As the result would suggest, the match was incredibly close and could have gone either way.
GODSENT then went on to defeat EXTREMUM (2-0) and Izako Boars (2-1) but ended up losing against Gambit Esports with 9-16 on Inferno and Vertigo in the quarter-finals. That, however, is not a terrible result considering Gambit are currently one of the best teams in the world.
GODSENT haven't played a single official match since that loss, meaning they enter this match off a three-week hiatus and are likely a bit ring rusty. SINNERS, played out 23 games since and won all but six. Even though SINNERS haven't beaten any high-profile teams during that stretch, they still won 74% of their games, so they're clearly in great form.
There is no reason why SINNERS should be priced as high as they are for this match. Not only are they in great form and are facing a squad that hasn't played a single match in almost a month, but SINNERS also came extremely close to winning their previous bout with GODSENT. Bet on SINNERS to claim a revenge win against the Brazilian squad!
SINNERS Esports Win
$2.50
Movistar Riders vs AGO
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Snow Sweet Snow #2
Movistar Riders lost both of their Intel Extreme Masters XV - World Championship fixtures against BIG (6-16) and Cloud9 (11-16 and 16-19), however, I wouldn't like to criticise them too much for their lack of success at one of the most stacked tournaments of the year.
After an unfortunate run at the IEM Katowice, Movistar Riders improved their impression by pocketing a silver medal from the European Development Championship Season 2, where they beat the likes of K23, Izako Boars, Budapest Five and Nemiga Gaming, but fell short in the finals against Sprout (1-2).
AGO have not attended IEM Katowice or any other notable tournaments in recent weeks. The only two competitions AGO were active in this month were ESEA Season 36: Premier Division and the Snow Sweet Snow #2, where they made little to impress me.
The Polish squad enter this match with a 2-3 record from their last five and hold a 1-3 record from their last four. That run includes losses against LDLC, SKADE, SINNERS and a narrow 2-1 victory against Styldunow.
AGO are not only individually weaker than Movistar Riders but are also playing very poorly. Anything less than a 2-0 sweep for Movistar Riders will be a huge disappointment.
Movistar Riders -1.5 Maps
$2.10
PuckChamp vs Hellbear Smashers
Dota 2 Snow Sweet Snow #2
PuckChamps enter this match priced as 3.50 underdogs, which makes completely no sense to me. This team has dominated ESL One CIS Online Season 1: Lower Division only a week ago and have so far dropped only one game this tournament.
PuckChamp's only loss so far came against Creepwave (1-2) on Friday, albeit it was a very tight affair, so I wouldn't put too much weight on that result. At this point, it's also fair to mention Creepwave came close to winning one map against Hellbear Smashers two weeks ago, so it's not like Smashers have been doing much better against the same-quality opponents than PuckChamps.
These teams met three times during the first season of Snow Sweet Snow when SMASH won all three with an aggregate score of 7-1. Although that number might suggest SMASH will lock in another comfortable win, I expect stronger resistance from PuckChamps, who have shown solid improvement recently. Bet on PuckChamps to win at least one map.
PuckChamp +1.5 Maps
$1.78
