While many of us primarily bet on Dota 2 for entertainment purposes and to ramp up the excitement of the professional matches that we love to watch, others are hardcore bettors that look for nothing else than making a profit from their bets. Regardless of which of these two stereotypes defines you the best, making a profit is always a great feeling. To help you achieve this, we have put together a list of the most important Dota 2 betting tips. While some of these may be more advanced than others, they will all help you on the journey of becoming a profitable bettor.
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Tip 1. Base your bets on research
Maybe the most obvious, but also one of the most important Dota 2 tips on betting you can get is to study the game, the professional teams and the matches going down. Bookmakers set their odds and make their profit by being good at this, but they aren’t perfect, which means that you can take advantage of their odds by simply having a better knowledge than them.
Dota 2 is first of all a game that constantly changes as regular updates are being made to balance heroes, introduce new ones and sometimes completely reshape the game, which we for instance got to experience with the 7.00 update. These changes can have a great effect on a team and the markets that you’re placing your bets on.
It’s always to your advantage staying up to date with these changes and having in mind how they may affect drafts and if this has a particular impact on a certain team. More importantly may however be how certain markets are affected by these changes. If the game for instance became a lot more intense through a certain update, this may affect markets such as the total kills that will occur in the match and how long it will last for.
If you manage to pick up on these changes before the bookmakers do, you might find flaws in their odds that you’re able to take advantage of. It’s however not just about finding flaws, but also ensuring that you don’t base your bets on an old meta game as this can hurt your profits.
Researching can be quite a lot of work, but if you do have the time to spare, it can definitely pay off well
Staying up to date with the game is a valuable point, but to become a profitable bettor it’s equally important to research the two teams that you’re betting on. You should always consider checking their previous match history against each other and how they have recently been performing to give you a good idea of their current form.
When doing this, make sure that you take the skill of the teams they have been facing into account. A losing streak might not mean much if they have been up against some of the best teams in the world, whereas a winning streak against very weak opposition probably isn’t very telling either.
When you look up previous matches the teams have played against each other, also make sure that you notice when these were going down as the teams might have improved or gotten worse since they took place. There might for instance have been player changes in the teams which have affected their results. These player changes are always good to be aware of as well since they can have a great impact on team dynamics.
Included in this researching category of betting tips on Dota 2 is also getting yourself familiar with the match and how much a win or a loss would mean for either team. If it’s a group stage of a tournament, it might be that one of the teams already have a huge lead and therefore don’t have to perform very well, which means that they might not be on top of their game or try something new that might cost them the match. In contrast to this, the other team may require to win at all costs to be able to advance, which could motivate them enough to bring their A-game.
Tip 2. Take part of match predictions
Doing the extensive research mentioned in the first betting tip on Dota 2 may be quite time consuming and not of any interest to the casual bettor. In this case, taking part of match predictions that others have written can be very valuable. Doing so, you do of course have to put trust in the knowledge of the writer and that the information provided is accurate, but it can be a very easy way of getting information that might make you more profitable in the long run.
Reading match predictions can be an alternative or a complementary way of doing your own research
The fact is that these match predictions can actually be quite good taking part of even if you have done your own research as you’re then able to compare your own findings with others, which may help to improve your own predictions.
Tip 3. Place bets that are profitable in the long run
Although doing your research well and having a wide knowledge is an important part of a profitable bettor, this doesn’t mean anything if you don’t choose to place bets that are profitable in the long run. So what exactly is a profitable bet? This is a bet that you place on odds that are higher than the odds that you have predicted yourself. Now this may sound confusing, but let us explain it in detail for you.
Whether you do your own research or choose to take part of match predictions, you should always give the outcome you’re interested in betting on a certain percentage of likelihood of occurring. Let’s say that Team Secret is playing against Fnatic and you’re interested in betting on which of the two teams that will win the match. The first thing you should to do is to make a qualified guess on the probability that each of these two teams have to win it.
Let’s assume that you believe Team Secret will win 80% of the time (8 out of 10 matches) and Fnatic the remaining 20% (2 out of 10 matches). To figure out what a profitable bet in the long run would be, these percentages would have to be transformed into odds. This can be done by using an odds to probability calculator that you can quickly find on the internet. For a decimal view of the odds, you can also easily get these by just dividing 100 with the probability. In our example, this would give Team Secret 1.25 in odds (100/80) and Fnatic 5.00 in odds (100/20).
Research won’t do you any good if you place bets that aren’t profitable in the long run
Once you have these odds, you can compare them with the ones that the bookmakers are offering. Assuming that the prediction you have done is correct, the only long term profitable bets to place are the ones that are higher than 1.25 for Team Secret or 5.00 for Fnatic. We can easily illustrate this by picturing the match taking place 10 times and every time betting €100 on one of the teams. Let’s also assume that the bookmakers have been giving Team Secret an odd of 1.20 and Fnatic an odd of 5.50.
By betting on Team Secret, we will win €120 every time they win the match as a €100 bet to an odd of 1.20 equals €120. According to our prediction this win happens in 8 out of 10 matches, which means that we will win a total of €960 if the match is played ten times (8 * 120 = 960). This is €40 less than the total amount we’re betting as €100 on every match means a total amount of €1000. By betting on the favorite team, we’re most likely to win, but in the long term we’re actually losing money by placing this bet.
Now if we compare this to placing a bet on Fnatic, we will win €550 every time they win the match as a €100 bet to an odd of 5.50 equals €550. This win will happen in 2 out of 10 matches, which means that we will win a total of €1100 (2 * 550 = 1100). This means that even though Fnatic is least likely to win the match, we’re making a €100 profit in the long run if we choose to place a bet on them.
A match is of course only played ones, but this doesn’t matter as if your predictions are always correct, you will always lose in the long run if you don’t place your bets on odds that are higher than the odds you have predicted yourself. In the same way, you’re guaranteed a long term profit if you always do this.
Tip 4. Consider betting with a bonus
This Dota 2 betting tip is a simple one that everyone can take part of, but that still has the potential to be very valuable. Bonuses are regularly offered by eSport betting sites as a way to attract players in a very competitive industry where we as bettors have the option to choose from countless of sites to bet on. By taking part of these bonuses we are able to receive an added value, such as extra money upon making a deposit.
As you may already know, these bonuses always come with certain terms and conditions, such as a wagering requirement that has to be fulfilled. This usually means that you have to turn over the amount received (and sometimes your own deposit) a certain number of times on bets that have a certain minimum odd. As this wagering requirement can be quite high for some bonuses, whereas others have quite a low one, the value of taking part of a bonus will vary from one to another.
Taking part of a bonus can be very profitable, but make sure that you choose the right ones
To make sure that it’s always in your favor taking part of an offer, it’s important to be aware of the terms and conditions, including the wagering requirement and how this will affect the bets that you place. Although receiving extra money is often a great thing, it might not be worth it if you’re forced to place bets you’re not comfortable making, thus risking too much doing so.
Tip 5. Place accumulator bets
If you don’t know what an accumulator bet is, this is a way to increase your Dota 2 odds by combining several matches or different outcomes with each other. By doing this, the odds for every outcome will be multiplied with each other. If you for instance add four outcomes to a coupon that has 1.25 in odds and choose to combine these rather than placing them as four single bets, the total odds will be 2.44 (1.25 * 1.25 * 1.25 * 1.25 = 2.44).
Although this can be a useful betting tip on Dota 2, it should be mentioned that it won’t always do you anything good. The odds might increase, but for you to win the coupon all the combined outcomes must be successful and if one is lost nothing is paid out. This means that you take an increased risk of losing by placing an accumulator bet. The fact is that the amount the odd increases is exactly the same as the enhanced risk, which means that in the long run it really doesn’t matter if you place an accumulator bet or not.
Placing accumulator bets can be advantageous in certain situations, such as when betting with a bonus
With all of this being said, there are circumstances where accumulator bets are favorable to use. If you have taken part of a bonus and are required to meet a minimum odd on your bets, combining outcomes to achieve this minimum odd can be very effective. It might be that you’re not always able to find long term profitable bets (as mentioned in tip 3) that have high enough odds to meet the wagering requirement. However, by combining outcomes with lower and profitable odds you’re able to meet the wagering requirement without giving up any of your equity.
Another reason to place accumulator bets is if you’re able to take part in a profit boost campaign. These are quite popular on certain eSport betting sites and mean that you receive extra money the more outcomes you have combined in a coupon. Five combined matches may for instance give you a 10% extra profit if you win, whereas ten combined matches may give you 25% extra. As long as it’s profitable bets that you’re combining, such a boost will always be advantagous taking part of in the long run
