Right now the largest gaming festival in the world is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and this week CS:GO will take centre stage as 16 of the best teams in the world compete at Gamers8. With more than $15 million in prize money up for grabs over the course of the festival, not only is there a lot of prestige and visibility on the line for the winner of CS:GO Gamers8, but there’s also a big chunk of cash to be had.
With CS:GO having one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory in terms of major event winners, this tournament could go many different ways. Will Team Vitality back up their Paris Major win by claiming a big title here as well? Or will G2 Esports carry on their winning ways from Cologne and continue their hot form in Riyadh? We break down the answers to these questions and more with the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill as we outline the best bets to make on Gamers8 CS:GO this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 15th, 4:00 P.M. (GMT)
When there are razor thin margins separating the top five betting favourites, you know it’s going to be a tight tournament. Team Vitality has the slight lead in the betting odds at 5.00, but only just, with both ENCE and G2 Esports sitting on 5.50 behind them. Next, Heroic pays 6.00 before Cloud9 come in at 6.50 to round out the top five betting favourites.
If ever there was a time of an upset in CS:GO, it’s now. Rather than the usual tournament structure with groups and double elimination brackets, this week it will be sudden death—16 teams become eight, eight become four, then the semi-finalists battle it out for a shot at the title in the final match. Does this mean we’ll see another name added to the winners’ circle in 2023 or can one of the more experienced teams this year come away victorious?
We say the best bet this week is to go with a balance of form and overall performance this season. G2 Esports began their year strong, winning the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023 and also the first Masters of the year in Katowice. While they had something of a lull mid-season, they returned to their winning ways recently at the IEM Cologne 2023, winning the title of the most recent S-tier event in CS:GO.
Given the nature of their win in Cologne—three clean sweeps, plus impressive wins over Team Vitality and ENCE—they look like the smartest wager to win in Riyadh. Sure, the extra pairs of eyes will be a new hurdle to overcome but with such experience winning big events in 2023, G2 Esports is the team to back at 5.50 at Gamers8 CS:GO.
