Taking place in China on an annual basis, the Hainan Master Cup is a huge celebration of DOTA 2 as a competitive eSport, both online and off. Open to teams from across the world, it’s an international event, bringing in players and teams from far and wide, attracting a vast array of top tier professional talent. With this comes a number of different opportunities to place down a bet and make a potential profit, as we shall now look at in greater detail here.
Organized by the BOMI Esports Culture Media Company, it typically takes place in the Chinese city of Haikou, being the culmination of the years many invitationals and qualifiers prior to the main event itself. Usually set for the beginning of November, it happens over just a few days, with it consisting of eight DOTA 2 teams in total. There are commentators in both English and Russian, as well as Chinese, marking it as a huge international event, with a global reach beyond China itself. Part of the Dota Pro Circuit too, it’s officially recognized by the professional DOTA 2 eSports community as well, with many of the teams continuing to excel after the event has finished.
Along with the prize money on offer, there’s a lot of prestige to winning this event, meaning the stakes are at an all time high. Given all the pressure, there’s also a large betting market surrounding the tournament, which we shall now examine further, seeing how you can capitalize from such an event yourself.
Where To Bet The DOTA2 – Hainan Master Cup:
America: Offering comprehensive coverage of the Master Cup, along with the season overall, Bovada is the best option available for North America.
Canada: Here Bet365 Sportsbook is best, as it usually has most of the DOTA 2 events and tournaments when available.
Everywhere Else: Outside of Canada, Bet365 Sportsbook is again the best option going, with its international coverage of most DOTA 2 events.
What is The DOTA2 – Hainan Master Cup?
Part of the Major tier of professional eSports events, the Hainan Master Cup draws in the best of the best when it comes to Dota 2. With the Spring Invitational and the online qualifiers, the cup itself comes down to the final eight teams, providing a high level of talent in the process. Played before a live audience, as well as being live-streamed online, it’s one of the largest and most exciting events of its kind.Discounting the earlier money for the qualifiers and invitationals, the prize-pool for the Master Cup itself currently stands at $71,000, and this continues to grow. Here’s a general layout of how the tournament is presently formatted:
- Online Qualifiers: Using groupings of six teams, there’s a best-of-two round-robin format used, with the top two of each bracket advancing through to the playoffs.
- Playoffs: Besides the single best-of-one match for the lower bracket, best-of-three matches are used, as the top two go through to the finals.
- LAN Finals: Taking place offline, this is where the majors themselves happen, with an eight team single elimination system used to find the winners.
The finals draw in a huge crowd, making for a highly competitive and exciting betting market, with enticing odds offered. Where do you start though, and how do you best navigate when looking to predict the winners of such an event?
Common DOTA2 – Hainan Master Cup Betting Questions:
What bets are there and who should I keep an eye on?:
Betting on the teams to come out on top overall is going to be what you’re first met with using any sportsbook. This means you need to pay attention to who is playing and when, seeing how each individual team-member handles the map and terrain. You will then have smaller prop bets, if available, dedicated to predicting things such as who will destroy the first tower, and who will gain at least one win. Balancing your money over the many different wagers on offer will be your best bet, tailoring and experimenting with your betting slip until you find something that’s more agreeable to you.
How do I view the games?:
There’s a number of Twitch streams available online showing the games, such as BeyondTheSummit, which has live coverage along with older matches archived. The channel pro_cast2 is another that covers a lot from the event, with Russian commentary provided throughout. Then there’s YouTube, which shows a lot of the older games, allowing you to catch-up on many of the previous matches. Keeping up-to-date through social-media is hugely beneficial, as you can find a number of different streams from the individual players as well.
How to Bet The DOTA2 – Hainan Master Cup:
Bovada: Using ‘Sports’ at the top of the first landing page, go on and then select ‘All Sports (A-Z)’ on the next, giving you a drop-down menu. On the second row down you should then find ‘eSports’, which will take you through to the eSports section itself. With the following ‘All eSports’ drop-down, choose ‘Dota 2’ at the top, then ‘China Dota2’, and it is here that the options for ‘Masters Tournament’ and ‘Cup’ will be, giving you the subsequent bets down the middle of the page.
Bet365 Sportsbook: At the top of the first page use the ‘Sports’ option, before selecting ‘Esports’ down the left-hand side of the next under ‘Darts’. The ‘DOTA2’ events should then be midway down the listings, including the Masters Cup when it’s available. Opening it up, you can then find the options for the different games and bets, allowing you to create your own individual coupon tailored to you.
The DOTA2 – Hainan Master Cup Betting Strategy:
Dota 2 is very much a game of strategy, as the two teams push against one another on the field in a struggle to overpower the opposition. Take note of the tactics used, such as whether or not a team opts for more defensive strategies as opposed to aggressive stances. Any updates to the game, such as patches made, is also noteworthy, as some players can become reliant on specific versions and map layouts.
You can keep yourself up-to-date with all the latest developments through social-media and newsfeeds. This will then give you a better researched wager at the end of it all, allowing you to maximize your profit potential even further.