Dota 2 Betting Tips & Live Streams
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About Dota 2
The first Defence of the Ancients (DotA) game was created almost two decades ago, back in 2003 as a mod of an existing map from World of Warcraft III.
The game’s popularity and explosion into the esports scene drew the interest of Valve, who wanted to produce a commercial sequel. The development of Dota 2 was officially announced in 2010.
A year later, the game was unveiled at an esports event in GamesCom in Cologne, an iconic revelation of what would later go on to become one of the world’s most popular esports games.
The game itself was distributed in advance to the 16 participating teams, all set to share the spoils of a $1.6 million prize pool. It turned the esports industry on its head - no other esports tournament in history had ever offered a sum this large. This tournament was the first-ever edition of The International.
Where to bet on Dota 2
Betting on eSports is big business now and the world's biggest bookmakers all offer tournament, pre-match and in-play betting on Dota 2.
You can see the best betting sites for eSports in your region or choose to bet with this month's top five ranked sites.
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Dota 2 Live Streaming & Where To Watch
You can catch livestreams of most Dota Pro Circuit games on popular streaming sites. The Dota developer Valve usually carries broadcasts during major tournaments, so you’ll be able to catch the Majors and The International on:
- Betting Sites bet365, Stake and Pinnacle
- Valve’s official channel on Twitch
- Valve’s official channel on YouTube
- The official Dota 2 Twitch channel, dota2ti
- The official Dota 2 YouTube channel, dota2
The Electronic Sports League (ESL) organizes many Dota 2 tournaments all over the world. You’ll be able to find broadcasts of these matches on their official Twitch.tv channel, ESL_DOTA2.
Dota 2 eSports Major Tournaments & Structure
Since its inaugural season in 2011, TI has grown into the world’s biggest and most popular esports tournament. But up until 2017, only teams that were directly invited by Valve could compete because there were no regulations in place to decide the participating teams.
In light of the criticism on that front, Valve introduced the Dota Pro Circuit that year as the official qualification path to TI. The DPC is structured into two main categories, seasonal majors and the regional leagues, each of which earns the participating teams points. The top twelve teams with the most points at the end of the season will qualify for TI.
Here’s a breakdown of the Dota Majors:
- They are international tournaments that carry a minimum prize pool of $500,000 sponsored by Valve, and are organized by third parties
- The teams that finish within the top eight earn points
- Invited teams should include four teams each from Western Europe and China, three each from Europe and Southeast Asia, and two each from North America and South America.
- There are usually two Majors organized every year, apart from The International. The most recent was the PGL Arlington Major 2022
- This is the brief structure of the Regional Leagues:
- Earlier called Minors, the Regionals are played out across three tours organized through the year.
- Each of the leagues represent one of the six main regions, spread out across two divisions with eight teams each.
- The prize pool for each league is $280,000, split as $205k for Division I and $75k for Division II.
- The top four teams from Division I will qualify for the upcoming Majors. The bottom two teams from Division I will be relegated to Division II, while the top two teams from the latter get promoted. The teams at the bottom of Division II will be replaced by the best performing teams from open qualifiers.
- Generally, Dota 2 tournaments are split into the following categories:
- Tier 1, which include TI, Valve-sponsored Majors, and other international tournaments that offer prize pools in excess of $275k
- Tier 2, which include the Regional Leagues and other events offering $50k and over as prize pools
- Tier 3 tournaments are smaller, their prize pools fixed at $3k and above
- Tier 4 are the lowest-ranked tournaments, usually played online
Qualification For Dota 2 Tournaments
Here’s a brief outline of the points system that determines qualification for Dota tournaments.
- Each of the leagues are worth 690 points for Tour 1, 920 for Tour II, and 1150 for Tour III.
- Each of the majors earn points as well. The first is worth 1900 points, the second 2700, and the third 3500 points.
- The earlier tournaments generate less points, so teams are rewarded better for performances towards the end of the season and closer to TI.
When the third tour concludes, the twelve teams with the most DPC points will qualify directly for TI. The remaining six slots will be filled by the teams that perform in the regional qualifiers.
Any of those from the third DPC tour will be eligible for these qualifiers, as long as they don’t make more than two changes to their official roster.
Valve have introduced other regulation measures to reward teams with stable rosters. Roster locks are set on teams prior to the start of each Regional League, which will unlock at the league’s conclusion in its respective tour. Any roster change by a team will see 15% of their DPC points docked.
There is also a cap on the substitute players that a team can use. Each team is allowed to use a substitute in four out of seven matches in the Regional League, and any team that crosses that limit will be disqualified and have to forget their matches.
Teams that compete in a Major with a substitute will be docked 40% of their current DPC points.
Best Dota 2 Teams
PSG LGD from China is widely regarded as one the most consistent teams in the Dota 2 circuit, though they have never won a tournament. These are some of their notable achievements:
- Finished as TI11 runners-up twice, once in 2018 and again in 2021
- Finished in third place three times, in 2012, 2015, and 2019
- Finished in fourth place once, in 2017
- Qualified for quarterfinals in 2022 and 2014
Aside from OG, there is no other team to have won TI more than once in the tournament’s history. Here is the full list of winners:
- Natus Vincere won the inaugural edition of TI in 2011, when the game was unveiled for the first time
- Invictus Gaming in 2012
- Alliance in 2013
- Newbee in 2014
- Evil Geniuses in 2015
- Wings Gaming in 2016
- Team Liquid in 2017
- OG is the only team to have won TI twice, back-to-back in the 2018 and 2019 editions
- Team Spirit in 2021
- Tundra Esports in 2022
Ten different teams have won Dota 2 Majors after the system was introduced in 2018. OG, Team Secret and Virtus Pro have all won five majors each since then, while PSG LGD have won three. Here’s the list of teams that have won the most number of Majors:
- OG won the Frankfurt Major 2015, the Manila Major 2016, the Boston Major 2016, the Kiev Major 2017, and the ESL One Stockholm 2022
- Secret won the Shanghai Major 2016, DreamLeague Season 8, the Chongqing Major, MDL Disneyland Paris Major, and DreamLeague Season 13
- Virtus.Pro won the ESL One Hamburg 2017, ESL One Katowice 2018, the Bucharest Major, ESL One Birmingham 2018, and DreamLeague Season 11
- Mineski Dota 2 won the Asia Championships 2018
- PSG LGD won the EPICENTER XL, MDL Changsha Major, WePlay AniMajor
- Team Liquid won the China Dota2 Supermajor
- Vici Gaming won the EPICENTER Major 2019
- TNC Predator won the MDL Chengdu Major
- Invictus Gaming won the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021
- Team Spirit won the PGL Arlington Major 2022
Dota 2 FAQs
What is esports?
Esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports) refers to sport competitions using video or computer games.
What is Dota 2?
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game.
How can I watch Dota 2 Live Streaming?
Check our live streaming calendar to see where you can watch Dota 2 live streaming.
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