Returning once again to the delight of the CS:GO community, our ESL Pro League betting guide is all you need ahead of the upcoming season. Just like last season, $850,000 is on the line as the best CS:GO teams in the world are heading to Malta to crown a champion. Read on for our very own ESL Pro League Season 18 betting guide!
Best Sites for ESL Pro League S18 Betting
CSGO is one of the top titles for esports betting in the world. For many esports bookmakers, CSGO markets are a must as they’re bound to attract players, particularly when they’re combined with tasty bonuses and offers. Sign up with these recommended betting sites to take part in a little ESL Pro League betting:
Event Overview
Here’s a look at all of the essential details for ESL Pro League S18:
| Series | ESL Pro League, Intel Grand Slam |
|---|---|
| Venue | Malta |
| Start Date | 30th August |
| End Date | 1st October |
| Teams | 32 |
| Prize Pool | $850,000 + seeds for IEM Katowice 2024, BLAST World Final 2023 |
ESL Pro League Odds: Season 18
At the time of writing, the ESL Pro League odds are available for the upcoming Playoffs stage. Learn more in our ESL Pro League Season 18 Playoffs betting insights.
How to Bet on ESL Pro League
For fans looking for competitive odds on a reputable platform, GG.Bet is a brilliant site for ESL Pro League S18 betting. This is an advanced platform that is built with the bettor in mind, offering in-play markets, some of the best odds in the industry, and statistics for each team. Check out GG.Bet review for a comprehensive look at this site.
Crypto betting sites, like MyStake Esports, will offer diverse and popular markets for the ESL Pro League events. These betting opportunities will pop up everywhere when the Season 18 tournament gets underway. Typically, there’s a wide range of markets to be discovered, from the most mundane to the complex, special markets.
Traditionally, most bettors will gravitate towards the ‘simpler’ markets, which tend to be the outright winner categories. These are much easier to predict, and they will typically require very little knowledge of the game itself.
It’s a case of using the odds that the bookmakers are presenting and maybe looking at the form of each team. If you’re feeling lucky, you could lean towards an accumulator for your CSGO wagers, compounding bets and multiplying your odds.
There are some more complex markets that require a little clearer forward vision of the competition itself. For example, you could land on a ‘Number of Maps Won’ market or a Correct Score market. These markets are made much safer when you know a thing or two about the teams playing the matches themselves.
And finally, we can discuss the CSGO-specific betting markets. These are markets that are only really found within the confines of CS:GO itself, and they’re not replicated across other esports titles:
- Most Clutches Won
- Rounds Won by Bomb Defusing/Explosion
- Win Both Pistol Rounds And The Map
- Round 16 Total Kills
- Map 1 Knife Kill
These markets can usually be found on every esports betting platform. There are so many markets to choose from when it comes to CS:GO betting that it can sometimes be a little tough to understand where to go next, particularly for a newcomer. However, the next section of this guide should help out with that.
ESL Pro League Betting Tips
The ESL Pro League is one of the biggest esports events of the year. There’s some real money to be made through CSGO betting, provided you have the right information in your mind ahead of time. Here are some of the most valuable CSGO betting tips we can provide:
- Learn about the landscape. We’ve already discussed this, but it is considerably important. As with any esport or traditional sport, the more you know about the teams, mechanics, and players, the better your chances for betting.
- Play the field. If you’re new to CSGO betting, you’ll likely be able to take advantage of countless welcome bonuses and offers. It can pay off massively to scan the environment and pick out a handful of reputable sites, spreading your CSGO bets around a little. By doing this, you could potentially pick up better odds, and receive a wider yield of bonuses and offers.
- Don’t be afraid to back the underdog. We’ve already explained that esports betting can be unpredictable. You could sometimes back a total outsider and win big – but it is a bigger risk. If you have picked up a world-class tip or key information regarding an underdog, don’t be afraid to place that bet.
- Follow the gameplay. The entire ESL Pro League event is streamed live across the internet. If you’re placing in-play bets, you’ll almost certainly need to watch the competition itself. But, seeing how a team is performing in real-time can help the bets you place in the future.
As always, keeping an eye on your overall expenditure is advisable. If you are slipping into a losing streak, take some time, re-evaluate the field, and play safer bets and markets.
S18 Competing Teams
If anyone is getting involved with ESL Pro League betting, it’s highly recommended that they learn a little something about the teams themselves. This can be so important in the journey to betting success, as knowing which team is more likely to beat the other can make all the difference. It’s true that there are so many CSGO tournaments held throughout the year, and at all of them, esports bettors stand to make a lot of money.
Here are the participating teams, according to their means of qualification for the event:
| Permanent Partner Teams | Astralis, BIG, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, FURIA Esports, G2 Esports, Heroic, MOUZ, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, Team Vitality |
| ESL Challenger Katowice | Virtus.pro |
| ESL World Ranking | Cloud9, GamerLegion, 9INE |
| ECL S44 | Monte, MIBR, Lynn Vision Gaming |
| ECL S45 | Apeks, M80, 5yclone |
| European Conference | Eternal Fire, ORKS |
| ANZ Champs | Grayhound Gaming |
| South American Qualifier | 9z Team |
| Oceania Qualifier | Rooster |
ESL Pro League Season 18 Predictions
Overall, the last time we saw an international competition was at IEM Cologne a few weeks ago – here’s how the competition stacked up back then:
- 1st – G2 Esports
- 2nd – ENCE
- 3-4th – Team Vitality, Astralis
- 5-6th – Cloud9, Heroic
- 7-8th – GamerLegion, Natus Vincere
G2 Esports dominated 2023’s IEM Cologne event, and they are clearly the favorites heading into Season 18.
ESL Pro League 18 – Format Explained
We’ve got fantastic news for those totally new to the world of CSGO betting. This tournament boasts a remarkably simple format, which has remained unchanged for quite a while. It’s a traditional, back-to-basics CSGO tournament that encourages excitement while remaining easy to understand.
When the ESL Pro League Season 18 tournament kicks off, the best CSGO teams in the world will compete across two stages. Starting with the Group Stage, the format is similar to last time. Accordingly, four teams of eight will compete in a triple-elimination format.
Here are the randomly seeded groups to note when betting on the ESL Pro League:
- Group A: Team Vitality, Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FURIA Esports, Movistar Riders, Grayhound, GamerLegion
- Group B: Heroic, BIG, Monte, MOUZ, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, ENCE
- Group C: FaZe Clan, Imperial Esports, Fnatic, Apeks, M80, 5yclone, Natus Vincere
- Group D: Cloud9, Complexity, 9INE, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, Lynn Vision, G2 Esports
Following this opening stage with four triple elimination format groups with BO3 matches, teams will progress to the Playoffs from each group according to the following criteria:
- Winners – advance to the Quarterfinals
- Runners-up – advance to the Round of 12 (High Seeds)
- 3rd place – advance to the Round of 16 (High Seeds)
- 4th place – advance to the Round of 16 (Low Seeds)
In the Playoffs, the remaining teams will fight it out through an intense, single-elimination bracket. These fixtures will again boast a best-of-three format, concluding with a best-of-five grand final. At the end of it all, one team will be crowned the champion of the ESL Pro League Season 18 tournament.
Apart from a piece of the prize pool, the overall winner earns a coveted seed to the IEM Katowice 2024 and BLAST World Final 2023! At this tournament, no team goes home empty-handed. Even if the ESL Pro League Season 18 odds are against them, they’ll take home something in the way of a prize.
How to Watch the ESL Pro League Live
Almost every esports tournament is broadcast live on the internet, either through Twitch or YouTube. The ESL Pro League 18 uses Twitch, and it is broadcasted in a relatively wide range of languages. If you want to watch the ESL Pro League CSGO event live, this is the popular Twitch channel:
- English: https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo
Get Ready to Follow the Action
If you’re eager to start your ESL Pro League betting, you can do so now. It’s as easy as picking the platform (or platforms) of your choice, signing up, and placing your bets. If you want a hassle-free way to follow the markets, you can use our CSGO odds tracker.
We wish you the best of luck!
