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Their stunning victory over pre-tournament favorites ROX Tigers during the group stage has been rated as the greatest upset in esports gaming history by some observers.
That win secured ANX a place in the quarterfinals for the qualifiers, the first time ever a qualifier had made it into the last eight.
However, the Russian team’s luck ran out on Sunday when taking on the established H2K team from Europe. H2K came through this best of five matchup with relative ease, defeating the emerging ANX team 3-0.
That brought an end to the quarterfinal stage in Chicago, which pretty much went as the esports bookmakers had predicted with the three Korean giants, SK Telecom T1, ROX Tigers and Samsung Galaxy all progressing into the semifinals with relatively comfortable wins.
SK Tigers’ 3-1 win over Royal Never Give Up was matched by ROX Tigers defeating EDward Gaming by the same scoreline to set up a mouth-watering semifinal this week between the two teams that most experts feel are clearly the two best in the tournament.
H2K’s opponent will therefore be Samsung Galaxy, who comprehensively defeated North America’s final hope, Cloud9, 3-0 to be the first team into the semifinal stage.
LoL betting markets available as Worlds descends on NYC
This week, the four remaining teams in the competition will head west to the famous venue of Madison Square Garden in New York where the two semifinals will take place this week.
The epic ROX Tigers-SK Telecom T1 clash is Friday, while Saturday will see Samsung Galaxy take on H2K.
Checking out the latest esports betting odds, it is clear that the bookmakers feel the winner of the first semifinal will likely claim the crown.
SK Telecom T1 and ROX Tigers are 5/4 joint favorites to win the tournament outright on Bet365, while Samsung Galaxy are a 4/1 shot and Europe’s H2K are the 33/1 shot outsider.
If a bettor fancied a flutter on the match winner market, then things are a little more interesting.
In the first semifinal, it is the current holders SK Telecom T1 who are the 8/11 favorites to win against ROX Tigers who are an even money shot. That looks like a good bet, given that ROX Tigers were the form team coming into the event and have already racked up some key wins over SK Telecom T1 this season.
The second semifinal is a more clearcut affair with H2K ranked as 3/1 outsiders and Samsung Galaxy (the red hot favorites) to make the final in Los Angeles at 2/9.
As with the previous weeks of the tournament, Bet365 is offering a host of different bets on the LoL Worlds, and perhaps more betting is available on this event than any other comparable esports event in history.
Check in over the weekend to see if any of the 23 individual betting markets currently available are worth a flutter.
[show-table name=cta-alphadraft region=US] [show-table name=cta-bet365 region=ROW]Is EPICENTER 2016 the most closely contested CS:GO event ever?
EPICENTER 2016 got underway on Monday at the VTB Ice Palace in Moscow. The eight competing CS:GO teams split into two groups and played against each
other in a round robin format.
Well, after two days of intense competition, only one of the eight matches has seen a definitive 2-0 victor, with every other match between teams finishing in a 1-1 draw.
Day Three dawns as I’m writing, and every team still has a chance of progressing either into the semifinals as a group winner, or the Round of 6 as one of the second or third place teams.
Group A
In Group A, all four games so far have ended in a draw, meaning that all four teams have two points and it is only the total score differential that separates the team.
At the time of writing, that puts Team Dignitas on top with a score difference of +3, G2 Esports second with a differential of 0, Natus Vincere third with a -1 differential, and lastly Ninjas in Pyjamas with a -2.
The final matches in Group A see G2 Esports taking on Team Dignitas, while Natus Vincere take on Ninjas in Pyjamas, and there’s plenty of three-way betting on these games both pre-match and live in play on Bet365.
Group B
Issues in Group B are slightly more clearcut, but any of the four teams competing could still make the next phase.
In this group, only three games finished all square, with Virtus Pro’s win over SK Gaming seeing them hold the top position in the group. Fnatic and HellRaisers are second and third with two points apiece after two draws, but Fnatic have a better differential of +7 to Hell Raisers’ -10.
SK Gaming bring up the rear with a single point and a differential of -15.
The group will conclude with SK Gaming facing HellRaisers and Virtus Pro battling Fnatic to decide which two teams are eliminated, which enter the Round of 6, and who earns the coveted semifinal spot for the team finishing at the top of the group.
For EPICENTER betting, Bet365 has a dedicated section outlining several different bets available, including the ability to bet on the winner of each of the maps, a handicap betting section, and a section on each of the rounds played on each map.
As always, there are plenty of other top esports betting opportunities to enjoy over the coming week with Bet365, so remember to check out the latest markets on site regularly.
