IEM Cologne is scheduled to start at the beginning of July and it will bring together the best CSGO teams. Over the course of two weeks, it will be the most important Counter Strike Global Offensive tournament. This means that it will provide some of the best opportunities for punters, to turn our IEM Cologne 2021 betting tips into profits. With a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million and plenty of Pro Tour Points and Blast Points, it will give the 24 participants plenty to fight for.
IEM Cologne 2021 Format and Schedule
CSGO betting fans are in for a treat starting on July 6 when the IEM Cologne 2021 is scheduled to begin. During the first days, the teams will compete in a play-in stage, with a double elimination bracket. Opening matches are played in a best of one format and the next in a best-of-three, with the top eight teams advancing to the group stage. During this phase of the competition, matches are played in a best-of-three format, with the top three teams from each group qualify for the playoffs.
Group stage winners go straight to the semifinals, while the runners-up will play in the quarterfinals as high seeds. The teams in the third-place also play in the quarterfinals, but they start as low seeds. During this stage of the IEM Cologne winners will be decided at the end of a best-of-three series. Only the Grand Final will require up to five games to determine the winner and it will take place on July 18.
Intel Extreme Masters Prizes and Favourites
The tournament has a prize pool worth $1 million and every participating team will receive a share of the cake. Winners get the lion’s share of $400,000, while the runners-up will receive $180,000. The next two teams will get $80,000 each and prizes diminish gradually, with the final four teams to claim $2500. Blast Premier Points are awarded only to the top 8 finishers, while the best 20 teams also get Pro Tour Points.
Bookmakers were quick to publish the odds for the outright tournament winners, allowing players to place early crypto bets. Not surprisingly, Gambit Esports are the main favorites once again after a stellar performance in 2021. They are priced at 3.50 to lift the trophy, which is relatively low given the strength of the competition. The team looks unstoppable this year and will try to confirm its quality in a major LAN event. We trust them to carry on their good form and at least make the final in Cologne.
IEM Cologne 2021 Betting Tips on the Outright Winners
Na’Vi will try to use this new opportunity to showcase their quality and defeat Gambit in a major tournament. The team has experienced little success against their rivals, but they are the second-ranked team worldwide. Odds of 4.00 look particularly good and this is another strong candidate for the grand final. We were particularly impressed with the likes of Heroic, which get odds of 4.50 at GG.bet. They are among the pleasant surprises of 2021 and among our preferred IEM Cologne betting tips. There’s definitely value in the odds offered by the bookmaker on this in-form team to win the tournament.
Punters seeking more ambitious esports betting tips with higher odds of 7.00 should look no further than G2 and Virtus.pro. These are strong teams with a lot of experience who have what it takes to make a deep run in the tournament. They have a tradition in overcoming the best teams in the world in previous events of similar magnitude. Risk-averse punters will probably steer clear of teams such as MiBR, Spirit and Liquid but they are all worth considering for play-by-play bets.