An In-Depth Guide to CS:GO Betting

Betting on CS:GO matches needn’t be a difficult and confusing activity to engage in. To make things easier for you, it’s recommended that you check out our complete guide to CS:GO betting here before proceeding with it.

Where to Bet on CS:GO Matches

Numerous online platforms provide users with the capability of betting on CS:GO events, as well as events for various other eSports. They differ in terms of how they allow you to do this, though. Essentially, it all comes down to if you’re looking at betting with CS:GO skins or if you’re intending to bet with real money instead.

In terms of the former option, it’s necessary to ensure that your inventory of sins is large enough in number. So, we suggest at least 15 skins, giving you a much better hold on your own bankroll. However, if you do find that you have a smaller number of skins, you could try trading them for a variety of lower value items to bet with.

When it comes to real money CS:GO gambling, there are still various options available to you. Different payment methods are also supported at most betting sites for this, too. Therefore, you should have no issues with depositing via Skrill or credit card or Paysafecard at one or more of these platforms. Even cryptocurrencies are supported at many of them. So, whatever your preference in this area, there’s sure to be a CS:GO gambling site that suits you.

A Few Basics

So, it’s always good to have a few basics behind your everyday betting routine. Otherwise, you’re simply walking in there blindly. If you try to keep a grasp on these pointers, you shouldn’t go far wrong:

Betting Range

It’s vital that you know how much money you’re betting with in total and how much of that you want to split up to bet on a specific market/match. If you have a bankroll of €100, then perhaps you’ll want to bet no more than €5 or €10 on each CS:GO match. At least this way, you’re guaranteed not to run out of your bankroll swiftly. It’s quite pointless to decide that €50 will go on two bets when you can place so many more with a lower percentage of your total balance. Especially for a newcomer to this form of betting.

Some bettors opt to utilise an actual percentage in order to define the bets that they’re placing. So, for example, if you’re intending to place a medium size bet, 5% can be what is taken from the balance. Therefore, if you have a €100 balance, a 5% bet would be €5. Of course, you can set your own percentage boundaries for wagers. Just be sure that you’re not betting like crazy or betting more than you can afford.

Small bets are always recommended for those players who haven’t engaged in CS:GO betting before. So, it’s always good to start out with something like a 2% wager from your balance. This can, of course, always be increased once you garner some more experience.

Medium bets can be very much utilised on overdogs, which are the events where a team is likely to win against their opponent. Of course, these don’t take an exceptionally huge figure from your balance, so if the team does lose, you’re not losing masses of money.

Last of all, if you decide to place a high bet of around 10%, then this should only be done in cases where the team is pretty much guaranteed to win the match. This is not something that should be entered into lightly, though. Be sure you’re fully informed on the teams prior to betting with high values.

The Avoidance of Going All-In

It’s really not uncommon for new bettors to CS:GO gambling to opt for going all in with their balance. So, this would see them take their entire €100 balance and gamble it all on a single match and market. Naturally, this is done because they’re looking at gaining a swift profit and seeing the money roll in. In many cases, they’ll back their favourite team instead of backing the one with more potential.

While there’s the chance of making such a bet and coming away successful with it, there’s also just as equal a chance that the outcome won’t be the one you want. With such a losing bet, you’d be left with nothing to bet with at all. That’s why it’s never good to go all-in with your funds, even more so as a newcomer to the scene.

At the same time, never rush into betting. If you start placing smaller bets here, there and everywhere, then once again, you’re going to use up all your balance within a short time period. Give yourself time to study properly first, place your smaller bets and wait for the matches to finish to see what profit you get.

Don’t Bet on Every Single CS:GO Match

There can be temptation to bet on each and every CS:GO event taking place. But what would be the point in that? You have to keep up with so much taking place at once in these circumstances, and that never does anyone any good. Don’t place bets on a match just because you think you should. Take your time.

Of course, once you gain more experience, you may want to place two or three bets at once. But you should only do this when you can readily decide upon which matches can bring you profit, and which ones won’t. It’s all about understanding the odds, what type of bet is a good one for the match and whether it’s worth betting at all. In the end, you’ll understand that all you need to do is choose a few specific matches to bet on, and you’ll likely come away with profit.

Avoidance of the Unknown

Sometimes, you may come across matches that feature what are known as low-tier teams, and these teams haven’t really been heard of by many people. Even with research taking place on these low-tier teams, you’re not likely to discover much about them. Their roster of players tend to change a lot too, so there’s a likelihood that any information you do find out is out of date.
This is why it’s a good option to avoid betting on these altogether. Furthermore, the lower tier teams sometimes have the temptation to fix match results or even cheat at times, as a way of gaining profit on bets. This is due to the fact that they don’t receive any money at all to play on their teams, due to them being of that lower tier level. The best route to take when it comes to these unknown teams is to avoid betting on them altogether.

Keep Your Emotions in Check

It’s very common for newcomers to the CS:GO betting world to become quite enraged or upset when suffering a loss. Yet, it’s important to realise that gambling is just like anything else – some days will be good and other days will be bad. You can’t guarantee that you will win every single wager that you place. Even the best professionals can’t guarantee that, because there are certain things they don’t have control over.

So, you should always enter into gambling with the mindset that you will lose. It’s important to not get into a low emotional state when it comes to those losses as well. If you do, you stand the chance of becoming a rage bettor, and that’s an awful state to be in.

Betting in moments of rage will usually see players try to recoup the money that they have lost previously, and this means placing higher bets to recover such funds. Don’t do it. It’s quite the slippery slope to be on when you do this. If you’re feeling angered by a particular loss, then the better option is to walk away and calm down for a while. Don’t ever place bets while your emotions are unstable.

Confidence Can Be a Killer

It’s always great to win. In fact, who doesn’t love winning, especially when money is involved? Of course, this is bound to boost your confidence levels, but keep in mind that being overconfident can be quite the killer. It’s not uncommon to see people experience several wins and then think they’re unbeatable at CS:GO betting.

Then, when it comes to it, a loss hits them hard and they go on a downward slant of consecutive losses. Those losses don’t just equate to standard losses though, but you’re losing money in those circumstances, too. Be sure to stick to the previously mentioned betting ranges, remember that you shouldn’t get too emotional or overconfident, and you’ll be fine. Take it one step at a time and as it comes.

Watch Out for the Odds Changes and Take Advantage

Take notice of a team that plays more than one CS:GO match in the same day, which is especially common when it comes to large tournaments. You’ll probably notice that once a team loses their first game, the odds switch to their opponents on their next match. This can often turn them into quite the good underdog team to back.

Check into the gameplay and see if you can figure out why that team lost their first match. See if that losing situation applies to the next match they’re playing, and if it can’t, then there’s a good chance they won’t lose it. Additionally, sometimes teams just don’t get the start-up or outcome they expected, and it’s a one-off loss. They may simply have lost momentum in the game they were playing. This doesn’t mean that they’re a total write-off.

Take advantage of the odds being changed though, so as to bolster your balance. This can often be a great way of betting – but of course, don’t exceed your betting range.

Bet Warily on Inconsistent Teams

There are certain CS:GO teams that are quite inconsistent in their results. One day they may end up battling their way to the very top of the rankings and the next see themselves slumped at the bottom. This makes them very difficult to predict in terms of results. So, identifying these teams is a good thing to do initially, as you don’t want to be betting on them too frequently, if at all. Inconsistency is never a good thing when it comes to gambling.

Inform Yourself on the Professional Betting Scene

On the other hand, you should get to know the professional teams participating in CS:GO matches. This way, you know which ones do better in certain scenarios and which ones don’t. You can then utilise that knowledge as a basis for placing your own wagers. Of course, don’t place bets based solely on this information, but combine it with other information to form a solid bet stance.

Different teams have strengths in different areas, which is why you should inform yourself on the pro scene. Upon gaining this knowledge, you will be able to hold on to it and base all of your bets around it. This isn’t something that will simply happen overnight, though. It takes time to get to know the different teams and remember their respective ups and downs.

Play the Odds

You’ll usually find that two types of bettors exist in the world of CS:GO gambling. These are present in the gamblers who bet on the favourite and the others who play the odds. Of course, wagering on favourites can work, but it doesn’t have much of a constant profit outlook for the future.

Smarter bettors will play the odds, which takes advantage against other bettors’ general opinion. Once you gain your own experience after researching matches, teams and more, you’ll basically be able to come up with your own specific odds. These will come from studying results, maps and various other factors, so you’ll pretty much be able to predict what the possible chances for each team winning is.

So, let’s say that in your opinion, the real odds for a game stand at about 60% - 40%. However, when you view the sports betting site, the betting odds stand at around 75% - 25%. Do you take the risk and decide to bet on the overdog in this situation? Not at all! Their chances of winning the match are way lower than 75%, and in the same instance, the underdog has much more chance to win the match than just 25%.

In this particular scenario, the smart bet to utilise is a low bet on the underdog team. Naturally, you’ll lose some of these bets. However, the profit that you gain from a correct one will most likely cover the smaller losses, leaving you in profit for the day in general. Of course, this isn’t something that we recommend you do every single match. Make sure that you pick the right ones to do it with. Should your personal odds be close to the website odds, then perhaps you should skip the bet or simply decide to bet on the overdog instead.

The Steps to Proceed with Doing Your Own Research

When it comes to doing your own CS:GO betting research, this guide will teach you how to proceed with such. There are various features that you should look at in order to conduct such research.

Look at a Team’s Roster of Players

In all instances, this is the very first step you must take. It’s usually expected that a team is playing a game with their usual players, although sometimes, not all those players are available and in action. This means that the teams need to bring in one or two newer players to their side. It’s important to confirm what the roster of players looks like before you bet on a team.

Information such as this can be found on various websites, giving you the direct team details that you require. If one or more stand-ins are being used in place of regular team members, then try to find out more information about those players. Are they good and able to bring something helpful to the team? Is this their first time playing for the team or playing professionally? It’s common to believe that those stand-ins will play badly, due to the fact that they’re not usually part of the team as a norm.

However, that’s not the truth at all. Some substitutes have really proven their worth over the years of CS:GO betting taking place, and they can sometimes be the catalyst that is required to secure the win. Obviously, a stand-in may be looking to prove himself in these situations, so they can frequently out-perform their makeshift teammates.

Any Practice Taking Place?

It’s quite important to discover if the players and the team have been practicing on CS:GO, especially when it comes to times of year like Christmas or summertime. It’s not difficult to find this information out. You can do the following to find out if players have been practicing:

Enter a player’s nickname into Google and add the word ‘Steam’ on to the end. You’ll usually find that the first search result is his profile.
Opening this will allow you to then click on the ‘Games’ column, found below the badges.
Click on the first tab marked ‘Recently Played’ and below CS:GO, it will show how many hours the player has accessed the game over the past two weeks.
Naturally, if a player has been practicing, he stands more chance of being able to perform well in pro matches. This isn’t a 100% guarantee of course, but it does hold some ground. Check through all the players on a specific team and you can get a picture of where they stand in this area. And if there is a big inconsistency between the hours that the players have been practicing, the likelihood is that while they have been playing, they haven’t been practicing together as a team.

Check Previous Match Results

It’s imperative to know what sort of gameplay the teams have been experiencing recently. Make sure that you check into their history and see what their previous few results were. Have they won a lot, or have they found themselves on the losing end frequently?

Statistics can be found for teams and players in two different ways. First of all, you can filter the stats for the past three months, and you’re able to view their respective Kill/Death ratio or Rating. Alternatively, you can look into their match history in specific. This will display the Rating of each player on each of the past games the team has participated in. Take a look at the past 10 matches for example, and then calculate an average for the players.

Do a comparison between the two teams in this instance and see which one is most likely to come out on top.

Is the Match an Important One?

So, some might say that all CS:GO matches are important, but actually, some are more important than others. Find out what the teams are playing for in the first place. Is it for show? Is there a large sum of prize money at stake? Do they need to qualify for the tournament, or have they already obtained their place in the next round?

Various sites provide information about the tournaments and leagues, which gives you a heads up. Information such as prize money, the winner and loser brackets and so on can be found. Use these details to build up more of an idea of how aggressively the teams will be playing to try and secure a successful outcome.

Twitter Can Help

So, how can social media be of some assistance in these circumstances? Well, if a player isn’t feeling so well or doesn’t have the mindset to participate in a CS:GO match, then they may have made a post about their current status on Twitter or Instagram, for example.

Naturally, if a player isn’t in tip-top shape, this could affect their gameplay. Always utilise this information to the best of your abilities.

Additional Research to Do

So, to finish off with, there are a few bits of additional research that you can do, should you be finding it a little difficult. Try to utilise these to make things slightly easier:

Roster changes – has the team taken the decision to change any players on the team recently? How long has the current set of players been participating in tournaments together? Get to know the new players, if they have any on their roster.
Strategies – it’s not uncommon for a team to hide their potential strategies prior to a Major event. So, they may therefore play in a completely different way in their previous match to this.
This could affect the outcome of the game, as tactics in CS:GO are very essential when it comes to winning.
Frequency of Tournament Play – has the team participated in many CS:GO tournaments? If so, how has their experience helped them? Have they won a lot of prize money in the past? If a team hasn’t participated in many events so far, then perhaps they’ll go all-out to try and gain a high standing.
Major Wins Lately – check into if the team has secured any sort of Major victory lately. Top teams will usually be found as the victor of these more often than not. But, it does give you the chance to see which teams are considered the best and whether or not they’re likely to continue their winning ways.