The Electronic Sports League is one of the biggest and most popular events in the Counter Strike: Global Offensive scene. The tournaments take place several times a year and are held in various cities around the world. The #ESL is organized by the company Modern Times Group and emerged in 2000 from the former German Clan League. In early 2015, the ESL already had five million members and around one million teams.

The ESL One Series is an international tournament in which teams and players from various countries around the world compete for high prize money. Until 2014, the tournament series was called ESL Major Series (#EMS) before it was renamed.

Tournament format of the ESL One Series

From tournament to tournament, the number of participants can rise or fall. For example, 16 teams competed in Cologne, while only 8 teams were invited in New York.

The tournament format mostly differs, whereas in the last tournaments only one group consisted of all teams. Usually a Swiss-Round is played, in which the winner of the first game plays against another winner. The winner of this match is automatically the group winner. Also losers of the first round play against a team which lost its first match. Here the losing team is automatically eliminated from the tournament. The loser of the winning match gets another chance and has to play against the team that won the losing match. Again, the winner of this match then earns an advancement spot. The remaining eight teams then play out the winner of the tournament in the knockout rounds.

Alternatively, however, two groups can be set up in which the first two places automatically qualify for the play-offs.

The next ESL One tournament:

ESL One New York 2017

• As in 2016, the tournament will be held at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and will once again host eight teams, which will be split into two groups.
• The tournament starts on 15.09.2017 and is already over again on 17.09.2017.
• A total of 250,000 US dollars in prize money has been announced and will be paid out to places 1 to 4 on a pro-rata basis.
• The field of participants: Astralis, FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, Virtus Pro, Team EnVyUs and Cloud 9.

A preview of the tournament

The participating teams have already been drawn into two groups of four teams each. Group A includes the favorite SK Gaming, Cloud 9, Natus Vincere and Team EnVyUs. The second group will be played between FaZe Clan, Astralis, Team Liquid and Virtus Pro.

In group A, SK Gaming should be able to prevail, after the team last performed incredibly well in Cologne and won the tournament. Natus Vincere, on the other hand, won the tournament last year and is considered the secret favorite to win the tournament.

Group B is much more balanced and will offer some excitement. The FaZe clan around Niko and Co. should have the best chances of winning here, ahead of Astralis and Team Liquid.

Betting on the ESL One tournament in New York 2017

A good overview can be found in our CS:GO introduction text which you can find HERE. Bet365 and betway as well as the pure eSports bookmakers gg.bet, Simple Casino Sport or eGamingBets will offer all games of the tournament.

The map overview of ESL One New York 2017

• Cache
• Cobblestone
• Inferno
• Mirage
• Nuke
• Overpass
• Train

Thus, the map rotation in New York changes for the first time in a long time and hosts the outdated Inferno instead of the outdated Dust 2.

What betting options do the bookmakers provide?

For the most part, the winner or loser bets are offered here. In addition, the following options will certainly also be offered:

• Winner of the pistol round 1 and 16.
• Over or under bets on the number of rounds
• Handicap bets that give teams an advantage or disadvantage on a map
• Overall winner of the tournament
• Winner of group A or B
• Which team will reach the final
• Region of the winner

Watch the betting live on Twitch.tv

Also for the ESL One in New York in 2017, 99Damage will certainly provide a German stream again, in which the commentators talk about the game action and not infrequently also give a tip, which team will have the upper hand on the map to be played. In addition, the tipster can of course get an idea of the teams and their players themselves and thus find a bet on an upcoming match.