CS:GO Live Betting Guide

In recent times, it’s been common to find more real money betting sites incorporating the possibility of betting on CS:GO matches. As the popularity of eSports wagering surges, this is likely to continue to appear at more platforms. Already, big-name brands like Bet365, Betfair and so on have these CS:GO betting opportunities available to engage in.

And it’s not only the fact that you can outrightly bet on these matches, but that you can access live betting on them, too. This presents you with a much more in-the-moment experience, as you basically bet on the matches while they’re taking place. So, it’s not like studying the teams and their history prior to placing a bet. You’re actually benefiting from being able to see what’s taking place and structuring your bets in accordance with that.

A lot of sites will recommend live betting to more advanced bettors who actually have more of a grasp of the game and the eSports sector in general. However, this doesn’t mean that those with less experience can’t learn more about CS:GO betting and engage in it. That’s precisely why we’ve created a guide to it. This way, you’ll be able to inform yourself on how everything works and how to proceed with participating.

Research the Sites First

With regard to the online sites noted previously, these can be found as accessible platforms in many countries at the moment. Therefore, you’ll need to be prepared to provide proof of identity after registering to ensure that you can place bets. If you’re under the age of 18, then you shouldn’t bet at these platforms, and this ID check is to assist with this. Of course, once you are registered for an account, you can benefit from some wonderful welcome bonuses at them. Be sure to browse through the available promotions at the different sportsbooks before joining one or the other.

Another good feature to check into with online eSports betting sites is the speed at which their odds change. This comes in relation to the different streams that are available for the game you’re watching. Why is this necessary? Well, sometimes you’re able to watch streams that are faster than the streams providing the information to the online betting sites. With that in mind, you’re able to take advantage of a stream and place bets at crucial times before the odds alter. That works in your favour. Of course, it’s always advisable to proceed with caution and utilise smaller bets in these circumstances. Betting platforms are aware of this practice occurring and can take the decision to limit your account if you overuse that way of gambling.

When Should You Place Bets?

CS:GO gaming is as unpredictable as standard sporting events. Therefore, betting on the events can also come with a certain level of unpredictability. Naturally, someone with more experience in live betting would have much more of an advantage of those with little knowledge of it. That being said, even a single round of gameplay is enough to tip the scales one way or another. Upsets can take place frequently enough, but this is very much noticeable when it comes to CS:GO. Statistics show that a team winning both pistol rounds also has an 80% chance of winning the map altogether. Those pistol rounds do tend to be a lot more skill-based, as you’re not equipped with a huge number of grenades. As a result, pistol rounds are fairly random in their outcome, as professional gamers need to have a lot of skill to get through them.

Pistol Round Betting

Pistol rounds occur twice during the map, and these can actually be quite pivotal moments in an event. Odds are able to change in the most dramatic fashion for live bettors, when it comes to pistol rounds. It is also the case that these rounds are very important for the game players. The team that wins a pistol round will go on to play against a force buy in the second round and then a full eco in the third, in general. The losing team will only have the opportunity to buy in the fourth round, unless that team are terrorists and have proceeded with planting a bomb in the previous rounds.

It's necessary for you to take notice of that side each of the teams are when betting. If the team winning the pistol round is on the terrorist side of a map for example, then they stand quite the good chance of winning the map overall. This is due to the fact that maps like Nuke or Train are traditionally the worst maps to play on the terrorist side.

Buy Rounds

Alongside the pistol rounds, buy rounds are important rounds to take notice of as well. These usually play out as the closest rounds in the maps. It’s often the case that a team can only participate in two or three buy rounds in a row without winning before they eco. Placing bets prior to a buy round that can grant access to eco rounds is a good strategy to undertake. Just be sure that the team you’re wagering on has the money to buy in the next round, just in case they lose. Otherwise, that can prove to be a difficult situation to find yourself in. Another good strategy to utilise in these buy rounds is to wait until one of the teams is in the position of having a great numerical advantage over others.

Ensure You’re Informed on the Teams’ Economies

While there are various factors that you should take note of when it comes to CS:GO live betting, one of the most important is to ensure you’re aware of the economy of the teams. It’s exceptionally hard for a team to win a map if their economy is able to be destroyed multiple times over. A team without money isn’t able to purchase weapons. So, if they’re up against a team with great weapons, it’s exceptionally difficult for them to win. This is a familiar piece of knowledge for regular CS:GO players.

Economies are built around being able to proceed with losing as few players as possible and also securing the rounds. So, a team that can win the first pistol round and then secure rounds two and three without losing players in all instances has a huge advantage. The losing team has a supremely difficult time in this circumstance as they will need to break the economy of the other team by winning the next two or three rounds. A loss of one of those rounds will force them to go eco once again.

Inform yourself on how much money the team you’re looking at backing has. Also be sure that you know whether or not they store guns, if the losing team saves important guns etc. If a losing team has saved high-quality weapons, then they can go through a high impact return to form with those guns.

Teams with Momentum on Their Side

Whenever a team is on a hot streak, it gains momentum. This allows the players’ confidence levels to rise significantly, and teams with high levels of momentum are very difficult to play against. This is especially true if the other team has lost some rounds by suffering under basic mistakes. So, bear in mind that teams with large levels of momentum can be very aggressive in their gameplay and can be good ones to back with bets. Analyse the circumstances properly and you could come away with a nice profit.

Check the Crucial Rounds within a Match Taking Place

Just to follow on from the teams with high levels of momentum, sometimes teams can lose very important rounds, thanks to silly mistakes. A player’s mentality can very much be impacted by losing team kills or bad smokes and any other number of errors. This can send a player and, subsequently, the team into a state of disarray. This gives their opponents the capability of firing back with a huge comeback. So, be sure to keep a close eye on the errors made by both teams competing. This way, you can adapt current or place new bets to suit the circumstances occurring.

Body Language Explains a Lot

Body language will always give a person away, and this is something that relates to CS:GO gaming as well. You can often see how affected a team is by the round they’ve just played. It’s common for players who look down in the dumps after dying to then not play at their best level afterwards. This is due to them tilting, which keeps them from focusing on the game at hand. Therefore, a drop in performance can be expected at this point. As a result, it’s generally better to back the opposing team of these players.

Use a Trading Strategy

You don’t need to solely bet on a single team once. As it happens, you’ve got the possibility of betting plenty of times and profiting from almost every round. If you’ve ever ventured into the world of stock trading, then a similar strategy in eSports betting can be very valuable. Essentially, look at it as a “buy and sell swiftly” sort of routine. This way, you stand the chance of earning profit as you go, without being tied to something for a long time.

As an example, just imagine that you’re watching a CS:GO game take place. The odds on the two teams are 2.2/1.8. Yet, the underdog is close to winning the pistol round, and so you place a live bet on them to win. That outcome happens, and this sees the odds change to 1.7/2.3. If you were to then bet the same amount of money on the team that is losing, you hold wagers on both teams with odds over 2. So, in this circumstance, you would finish in profit regardless of which team goes on to win in the end. It’s all about knowing when the right time to place a bet is and taking advantage of that.

Should You Ever Cashout?

There are some online eSports betting sites that allow users to utilise a cashout function. This basically allows you to finish a bet before the event has come to a close. So, if you see that you are in profit at any point, you can hit the cashout button and be sure to obtain that profit. Additionally, cashout works quite appropriately when it comes to finding yourself on the losing end of things. If you see that things aren’t going your way, you can frequently cashout and minimise your losses in the process.

As a CS:GO bettor, you have hundreds of opportunities to place bets on a single match, and these are available across several different markets, too. Many players tend to focus on betting on the team that will win the whole map, rather than betting on the winning team in a best of three. Opting to bet on the winner of each map will provide additional opportunities to bet afterwards on the other maps, without being tied to the best of three situation.

Odds Changing During a Match

So, how do the odds change while a CS:GO match is in progress? And is it really all that much to worry about? Well, in actuality, it can be. And if you have ever participated in football betting in a live scenario, then it’s not that different. The odds can chop and change very swiftly, and this is enhanced even more so when it comes to CS:GO matches. Almost every single round brings major odds changes, which can be a little bit chaotic at times.

Basically, what will happen is that if a team is winning 10-8 for example, and they have odds of 1.4 on them, that value could drop dramatically to 1.1 after just one round. Imagine that the team wins the round and makes the total score 11-8. This means the other team would need to eco twice over, and the odds would then drop to something like 1.1 or similar. In the following round, the odds most likely wouldn’t drop, even if the favourite actually wins. That’s because it’s fully expected for the first team to win against a full eco team.

Utilising Opportunities from the Uneven Changing of Odds

An uneven change of odds can provide a great opportunity for you to place a bet on an underdog side. If that team can somehow manage to acquire some kills and operate on a 5v3 or similar outcome, the round will be very close. You’ll still be able to place a bet prior to the odds altering, and even if the underdog team does go on to lose the round, you’re not likely to lose a huge amount of money because of it. The odd, after all, wasn’t supposed to drop so much. On the other hand, if the underdog does manage to come out on top. In the example used earlier, the game would stand at 11-9, making it much closer. This would see the odds rise quite a lot, to something like 1.4/3.2.

That would result in you receiving a good profit from the round, and there are other examples to take from pistol rounds. If a team wins a pistol round and the odds change significantly in their favour, it signifies that they’re likely to win the next two rounds. Of course, should the other team win the second round, the odds will turn in their favour. The differences in odds can be quite dramatic when they shift.

eSports Betting at Betfair

Should you have the opportunity to access Betfair from within your country, then this is great. It comes with some of the greatest odds for you to benefit from. And this is due to the fact that the odds are determined by the number of bets that players put on each team, rather than being determined by the site itself. Betfair then takes a commission of 5% on your winnings, although this is a significantly better loss than what would occur if you lost completely on other sites.

Additionally, the Betfair site affords you the capability of utilising multiple trading software options. These can assist you in betting, with software like Geeks Toy giving you the possibility of watching closely on the increases and decreases in odds in real time. Therefore, this can be heavily used to your advantage.

Of course, this software is frequently tailored a lot more to advanced traders, so if you’re not fully aware of the basic principle behind sports betting, it’s not recommended to use them outrightly. Instead, why not check out some YouTube tutorials on such? These do place a focus on betting on football and other sporting events, but some of the techniques can be adapted to suit CS:GO match betting.

Choosing a Favourite Team to Bet On

It’s a common piece of knowledge to not go straight ahead and bet on your favourite CS:GO team. This is especially true if you’re a newcomer to this world. Obviously, if we like a team more so than others, we tend not to look at their downfalls. So, wagering on them because they’re our favourites can lead to bad decisions being made. Instead, look at the teams as being completely equal in your mind’s eye where favouritism is concerned. This way, you can view them for their pros and cons and bet on them much more easily.

Learn from Your Wins and Losses

It’s all fine and well looking at your losses and remembering what you possibly did wrong to learn from it. However, you should also learn from your winning trades as well. It’s good to remember when you placed a good bet, why you placed that bet and how you profited from it. This is why it’s good to keep a note of all your major trades in CS:GO betting. This way, you can hone your gambling skills as you proceed.

Make sure that you watch out for any patterns forming within your own betting strategy. Obviously, you may not recognise it as a strategy straight away, but there’s a likelihood that it will turn into one. You can then take the knowledge that you have garnered from studying these patterns and use it for future eSports bets.

Confidence Levels

We all like to win, right? After all, that’s the prime reason for most people to involve themselves in any sort of betting. And you may come to a point in time of winning several bets in a row. That’s great. Of course, you should never allow this to boost your confidence levels above and beyond what is the norm. Being confident with the bets that you place is a good thing but being overconfident can lead to severe consequences. Don’t go betting stupid amounts on teams with low odds just because your confidence has boosted so much that you believe they will win. And don’t expect to always win when engaging in eSports betting. You should always expect to lose some rounds as much as win.

Mistakes along the way are common, even for the most professional of sports bettors. Nobody is guaranteed to win 100% of the bets that they place. The best you can do is learn from your mistakes, hone your gambling strategy as much as possible and proceed with a calm, level head.

Avoid Betting If Losses Seem to Upset You

Losing bets is 100% something that will happen to you. Nobody has gone through a betting journey without experiencing losses along the way. Yet, it’s how you deal with those losses that can really dictate how you should proceed. If you find yourself getting upset, angry or lacking in concentration after suffering a loss, then it’s always better to step away.

There are numerous stories of people getting enraged and trying to recoup what they have lost on eSports bets. This has led to a slippery slope, as in many cases, those players have lost even more money and fallen into some sort of gambling abyss.

Instead, you should take a break from placing bets if you find that your mood is unstable after losing. Go for a walk, read a book, watch some TV, listen to some music. Do anything to unwind and forget about the loss. Put it out of your mind before returning to CS:GO betting.