Adam provides his expert insight into the Pinnacle Cup Championship, analysing which challengers could cause an upset, the contenders that might compete to win it all, and where the value may lie in the market. Read on to find out more.
Pinnacle Cup Championship explained
The most significant CS:GO event Pinnacle has ever hosted, the Pinnacle Cup Championship, will be taking place from June 8-11 in Lund, Sweden. It will be the first offline event Pinnacle has ever held and will have an incredible $250,000 prize pool. There is quite a respectable participants list to boot, with Heroic and Astralis headlining the field, accompanied by two of the top Brazilian squads, Imperial Esports and MIBR, a newly revamped Fnatic and Pinnacle Cup IV winners, Team Finest.
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Sign upLog inWhat are the special markets at the Pinnacle Cup Championship?
There are a number of tournament Specials up. Starting with the Outright market, Heroic are the clear frontrunners at 1.990* to win the first-ever Pinnacle Cup Championship. While their odds are perhaps a tad short, considering they have not won many trophies in the past six months, they have consistently been placing in the top four at some incredibly competitive events. Some of the Danes’ most recent losses have come against top teams, including NAVI, ENCE, and FaZe Clan, but with none of those teams attending, the Pinnacle Cup Championship ‘should’ be an event they win. It is theirs to lose.
The longest shot to take the trophy home is North America’s Evil Geniuses. Despite their experience, talent, and the history of the organisation, this current roster has not delivered anything in years. What they are practising in their ample time away from deep playoff runs I am not sure; however, we have yet to get a taste of anything resembling EG being up to snuff for this level of event. That being said, this organisation made massive esports headlines this past week by announcing they had signed 10 additional players to their roster, making a total of 15. This is a first for CS:GO and brings many questions; however, EG fans should hope that it lights a fire in these players to bring North America back to contender status.
Astralis and BIG flank Heroic as potential runners-up on the Outright market. At the time of writing, the German team BIG are currently sitting in the semi-finals of the IEM Dallas event having beat NiP (who were without IGL “hampus”), MIBR, and FURIA Esports. Astralis also attended the Texas-based LAN event; however, were knocked out in the group stage after suffering losses to Team Vitality and G2. Each is being given between a 20-25% implied probability of winning the Pinnacle Cup Championship which presents considerably more value than with Heroic.
One line I like the look of is under the Tournament Matchups. This is a head-to-head based upon finishing place. I am backing BIG to finish higher than Imperial Esports at odds of 1.570*. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s new Brazilian creation, a replication of an old legendary roster, created some buzz at the recent PGL Major Antwerp event, finishing 2-3 in the second round. Their biggest victory in years came against one of the tournament contenders, Cloud9. They eventually lost in two maps to Copenhagen Flames; however, they certainly exceeded expectations given how long most of these players had been away from this level of competition. One of their three losses came against BIG in a best-of-one match, losing 16-11 where they only accumulated two Terrorist rounds in 15 attempts.
Pinnacle has also posted some map prop markets. Classically, these cover four categories among the sportsbooks that dedicate an in-house team to esports but not frequently for events outside of Majors, so this is a treat. Pinnacle has posted three for these Championships: Map with the Highest CT Side Win % (All in); Map with the Highest T Side Win % (All in); and the Most Played Map (All in).
The Pinnacle Cup Championships is a testament to the growing interest and respect for esports betting. As we know, LAN is the ideal format for competitions so a successful first event in the heartland of CS:GO could lead to significantly more investment from Pinnacle and indeed, from bookmakers everywhere as they recognise the popularity and professionalism of this great title.
How to bet on the Pinnacle Cup Championship
You can find all of the betting markets available for the Pinnacle Cup Championship on its dedicated page on the Esports Hub. Also, be sure to watch all of the action from the Pinnacle Cup Championship on Twitch!
