Betting: August 16th and 17th (LMS, LPL, EU LCS)

LOL Pro League (China) 8/17 Schedule:

(pending)

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EU LCS (Europe) 8/17 Schedule:

(pending)

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League Masters Series (Taiwan) 8/16+8/17




8/16 Schedule:

JTeam (-345, -1.5 @ -115) vs Team Afro (+230, +1.5 @ -118)

Hong Kong Attitude (-244, -1.5 @ +124) vs Machi eSports (+1.5 @ -175)

8/17 Schedule:

MAD Team (-385, -1.5 @ -102) vs AHQ eSports (+238, +1.5 @ -141)

Flash Wolves (-714, -1.5 @ -167) vs G-Rex (+362, +1.5 @ +117)



The LMS is finishing up its final week of the regular season with Flash Wolves in full control of the #1 seed, HKA and MAD duking it out for #2 and the #4 yet to be decided with JTeam and G-Rex in non-mathematically eliminated situations. Things to know. LMS does a gauntlet style playoff similar to the LCK so seeding is really important. Flash Wolves have had first place locked up and will automatically go to finals yet again. They're miles ahead of the rest of the region. HKA and MAD are convincingly the #2 and #3 teams in some order (personally I think MAD has looked better recently). These are the only three teams I actively watch in the LMS. There is another large gap between #3 and #4 so whichever team gets the #4 seed, whether thats JTeam or G-Rex doesn't really have that great of a chance of even winning the first round but hey, anything can happen. The point here is that Flash Wolves COULD get to "pick" the team that either they'd like to face in that miracle scenario where the #4 team actually gets to finals or the team they think has the best chance to knock off either MAD or HKA which leads me to my first pick.

Handicapped: JTeam -1.5 @ -115 (2 units)

Handicapped: Hong Kong Attitude -1.5 @ +124 (1.5 units)

Both of these are "must win" teams against bottom of the table teams. I know I'm MEGA squaring this slate but I think the handicaps are the way to go today. This is also sweet value considering the situation I'd think these lines are at least a little higher.

Handicapped: Flash Wolves -1.5 @ -167 (3 units)

So in a way Flash Wolves get to choose who they want to face here. They could punt this game on purpose to G-Rex to give them to the win and allow them to clinch the #4 seed regardless of a JTeam victory if they wanted. It's doubtful either G-Rex or JTeam would get through the bracket to Flash Wolves in the finals but they do get to choose a bit. JTeam have taken one of the three game wins off of Flash Wolves this season but we don't know how scrims go and we don't know what Flash Wolves thinks of these teams behind closed doors we can only speculate. Here's the information we need to know if you're going to play this situation:

• Hong Kong Attitude vs G-Rex 2-0 (4-1), vs JTeam 1-1 (3-3), vs MAD 1-1 (3-2), vs FW 0-2 (0-4)
• MAD Team vs G-Rex 1-1 (3-3), vs JTeam 2-0 (4-1), vs FW 0-2 (0-4) vs HKA 1-1 (2-3)

IF you're going to play the speculation game on this then my read is, especially considering MAD Team's most recent victory on 8/11 over HKA and the absolutely ridiculous play of budding superstar Kongyue and strong midlaner Uniboy, that MAD are the actual #2 right now so Flash Wolves would want the team that could beat them which, based on season results is G-Rex which leads you to say Flash Wolves might just let them win this game.

That said I don't think it will matter here and Flash Wolves, even playing very conservative as to not show anything still should smash every team in this region 2-0 in most situations. It's what they've done for two calendar years. I don't think that's going to really change. The only reason these odds are like this is because G-Rex have something to play for and Flash Wolves don't unless you count them more or less fixing their playoff opponents.

I'm going to straight up square bet this (as I'm one to do) and take Flash Wolves to win anyway because honestly, this team is so much further ahead of this entire region than maybe any other team in any other region on earth right now. We'll keep it to three units because of the G-Rex must win + Flash Wolves throwing on purpose if they think G-Rex is weaker than JTeam but I doubt that has any effect on this game. I also doubt a team like them wants any sort of allegations lobbied at them and with this being the last game before weeks of time off waiting for finals they want to end on a good note.

TL:DR - I'm not going to overthink the "Flash Wolves would rather see G-Rex so they'll let them win" narrative here and I'm just going to expect Flash Wolves to Flash Wolves on people like they do. I'm not concerned about the two game losses they've dropped recently and I think they'll want to end on a strong note as they'll have a lot of downtime before Finals.

Handicapped: MAD Team -1.5 @ -102 (2 units)

(UPDATE: My initial wager on this was 2 units but when I went back to add on my book was closed, This will be an addition 2-3 units for a total of 4-5 depending on where the line is when it opens back up.)

This line is so weird to me. MAD have looked really good outside of a match where G-Rex played out of their mind for a 1-2 loss (watch this game, it wasn't MAD team messing up as much as it was G-Rex just overperforming). They also upended HKA for the #2 spot in their last match and should be riding this momentum. If MAD were to lose this they'd lose the #2 seed with an HKA win over Machi (likely to happen) because HKA hold the tiebreaker (in LMS it goes h2h match score then to h2h game score that HKA leads 3-2). Again since LMS does a gauntlet style playoff seeding is crucial. MAD Team can clinch the #2 spot with a win and AHQ are dead last and with nothing to play for. They haven't really been using subs often but it wouldn't surprise me to even see some subs tried out here looking forward to next year. MAD Team are the second best team in this region right now and NEED this win, AHQ have nothing to play for except maybe some subs potential careers if that happens or potentially some pros last professional games if they choose to retire but this just seems like a sad end type of situation to me. I have no idea why this line isn't near to twice this number. I know these aren't elite teams so relying on the 2-0 is sketchy but this is a bad line and I'm going to attack it.

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PARLAYS:

These have absolutely no semblence of system or logic just a handful of yolo, fun parlays I've put down at different points today. Putting them down for the record but tail at your own risk. Also going to be mixing quarter unit wagers on the iterations of 2-3 but I'm not gonna write all those out.

Parlay (2): JTeam -1.5 @ -115 + Hong Kong Attitude -244, Total Odds: +164 (0.5 unit)

Parlay (2): JTeam -345 + Hong Kong Attitude -244,  Total Odds: -122 (1 unit)

Parlay (4): JTeam -1.5 @ -115 + HKA -244 + JD -1.5 @ -256 + Invictus -1.5 @ -154, Total Odds: +505 (1 unit)

Parlay (4): JD -1.5 @ -256 + IG -1.5 @ -154 + MAD -385 + FW -1.5 @ -167, Total Odds: +362 (0.25 units)

Parlay (6): FW -1.5 @ -167 + MAD -385 + IG -1.5 @ -154 + JD -1.5 @ -256 + JTeam -1.5 @ -115 + HKA -244, Total Odds +1119 (0.25 units)

Parlay (6): JTeam -345 + HKA -244 + JD -1.5 @ -256 + IG -1.5 @ -154 + MAD -1.5 @ -102 + FW -1.5 @ -167, Total Odds: +1222 (0.5 units)
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The International 2018 Picks (DOTA2)

So I don't play or analyze DotA at a high level or anything but I do enjoy watching the game quite a bit and usually try to find time to watch what I can of the majors. I'll do like casual fans do and just pick a team and ride them. Couple friends of mine that know the game better are on Virtus.Pro so I'm gonna ride with them for the tourney. I'll be taking the VP 2-0's for 0.25 units per tomorrow.

Virtus.Pro -161 vs TNC (0.25 units)

Virtus.Pro +105 vs Team Secret (0.25 units)

These are like soccer bets since they are best of twos so these are for the 2-0 only.