Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back, and today he brings you his betting predictions for three Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches in Elisa Invitational 2023 Winter. Here you can find Lee’s tips for 00 Prospects vs ENCE Academy, BIG Academy vs GTZ Esports, and IKLA vs Turow Zgorzelec, who will clash in the first round of the Elisa Invitational 2023 Winter Contenders Stage on Monday, January 16.
Check out his esports betting tips below, and If you're looking for the best esports betting site, look no further than Picklebet. They're pioneers in the Esports landscape and offer a great range of markets!
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, January 16th
00 Prospects vs ENCE Academy
Elisa Invitational 2023 Winter: Contenders
00 Prospects didn’t make any roster changes for the 2023 season, which doesn’t surprise me too much, mainly because this squad has achieved a lot in 2022. Although 00 Prospects aren’t a very good team, they played well for their standards and won two tournaments in late 2022, including Esport Tour 2022: Series #3 and Svenska Elitserien Fall 2022.
In December, 00 Prospects also added a fourth place finish at Global Offensive Champions League Season 2, but then had a rough stretch with early exits from three events, including CCT Central Europe Series #4.
ENCE Academy followed the same strategy of keeping its roster intact, mainly due to the team’s relative success in late 2022. They won MistGames Heroes of Tomorrow Fall 2022 and added two runner-up finishes at Elisa Open Suomi Season 3 and Finnish Esports League Season 10. Last week, we also got to see ENCE Academy attend Forward Cup, but they couldn’t make it further than the quarter-finals, where they lost against FTW Esports.
Bookmakers have 00 Prospects priced as 1.61 favourites and ENCE Academy at 2.20 which sounds fair. But I’ve seen enough shaky performances from 00 Prospects lately to believe that they might struggle to dominate on Monday. At even odds, I’m taking over 27.5 rounds bet.
Over 27.5 rounds
$2 (1 Unit)
BIG Academy vs GTZ Esports
Elisa Invitational 2023 Winter: Contenders
BIG Academy performed well throughout 2022, particularly towards the end of the year, collecting three tournament titles across six attended. That includes a title-winning run at ESL Meisterschaft: Autumn 2022 in December.
However, while BIG Academy have had some success, they’ve also been very inconsistent. In August, BIG placed third at WePlay Academy League S5, but then exited Season 6 in ninth-10th place. They also struggled in CCT Central Europe Series #2 (17th-18th) and ESEA Season 42: Advanced Division – Europe (39th).
GTZ Esports recently won OMEN WGR Challenge 2023: Iberian Qualifier, adding to their success in December when they claimed gold at Famalicão Extreme Gaming 2022. But outside of those two events, GTZ Esports haven’t achieved much.
Even though GTZ had collected a few top-four finishes, most of those came from C-Tier tournaments, so I wouldn’t overreact to how decent their record might look at first glance.
This is a match between two relatively weak teams, but from what I saw in late 2022, BIG Academy look stronger. They’ve done well even in some tougher events, whereas GTZ Esports haven’t even qualified for any significant tournaments. BIG Academy to win with at least three rounds to spare looks appealing at the offered odds.
BIG Academy -2.5 rounds
$1.80 (1 Unit)
IKLA vs Turow Thorzelec
Elisa Invitational 2023 Winter: Contenders
IKLA are priced as 1.31 favourites for this match against Turow Thorzelec, and that doesn’t surprise me. We’re still talking about two weak CS:GO teams, but unlike Turow Thorzelec, IKLA are a known squad that achieved some success last season.
In the final two months of 2022, IKLA placed third at CCT North Europe Series 1 and added another bronze medal from ESEA Season 43: Advanced Division – Europe. However, they were lacklustre elsewhere, so it’s not like we can feel overly excited about the Ukrainian squad.
Turow Thorzelec haven’t won anything noteworthy in 2022 and struggled in some B-Tier events, including CCT Central Europe Series 4, where they finished in 13th-16th place. But I don’t feel like this is an unwinnable match for the Polish team.
IKLA look stronger at first glance, but they rely too heavily on SENSEi. He is a solid player, but he often need to carry his team. So if he gets shut down, IKLA will struggle.
PickleBet is offering 1.82 on Turow Thorzelec with a +4.5 map handicap, which is a good play in my book. They’re not a strong team, but neither are IKLA, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility for Turow Thorzelec to win at least 12 rounds.
Turow Thorzelec +4.5 rounds
$1.82 (1 Unit)
