Daily Sports Betting Preview 3/18/2020: League of Legends and Table Tennis

• League of Legends (LoL) is one of the biggest esports in the world, and betting on LoL it is worth understanding in this time of crisis.
• The LPL, China’s League of Legends competition, is one of the best in the world, and features three matches.
• The Russian Pro League in table tennis brings an astounding amount of volume to today’s betting slate – over 40 games!

BEIJING - The Daily Sports Betting Preview is back, with another round up of all the sports betting around – sports betting that the average bettor might not be aware of.

Today, the Preview starts out in the LPL, the Chinese League of Legends competition, where three games are taking place at the end of the day going into tomorrow.

Then, the preview takes on the Russian Table Tennis Pro League, which is the volume play for the day – over 40 matches are set to be played in that competition.

Let’s jump right in!

League Of Legends Betting Overview

There are three matches coming up in the LPL, featuring some of the biggest names, not only in Chinese League of Legends, but in the world.

Before jumping into the matches, it’s worth covering how League of Legends betting works. In the LPL, matches are played in a best of three style format.

Moneyline bets are the same as a normal moneyline – the teams are handicapped and odds are offered based on that.

Spread bets refer to the amount of games won in the match. Generally, the sportsbooks tend to use a system similar to the puck line in hockey, where each team is given a handicap of + or – 1.5, and then betting is done using those handicaps.

This means that a team with a -1.5 handicap has to win the best of three match 2-0 in order to cover that spread. A team with a +1.5 handicap can lose the match 2-1 and still cover the spread.

Totals bets in League of Legends refers to the amount of games required for the match to end, and they are overwhelmingly set at 2.5, and then odds are given on the over and the under. This makes sense – matches can either end in two games (2-0) or three games (2-1), with no other real options.

LPL League Of Legends Betting Preview

The LPL brings three matches to the betting slate, which is good. The downside for American bettors is that these matches take place overnight, but the upside, of course, is that any online sportsbook that knows what it’s doing will have odds on them already, so it is very easy to bet on any of them right now.

Dominus Esports vs. Team WE

In the first match, Dominus Esports takes on Team WE. WE, formerly known as World Elite, are one of the oldest esports organizations in China.

Dominus Esports are significant underdogs against one of the mainstays of Chinese League of Legends, with +155 odds on the moneyline.

WE boasts -215 odds on the moneyline, and WE -1.5 is -145 on the puck line analogue that LoL betting uses, while Dominus -1.5 is -200 on the puck line.

The Over on 2.5 games has even odds, while the Under is -140, reflecting a belief in the possibility of a WE 2-0 victory in this match.

Invictus Gaming vs. LGD Gaming

In the second match, Invictus Gaming matches up against LGD Gaming, and IG are enormous favorites in this match.

IG, the 2018 world champions, are -800 on the moneyline, while LGD are +450. IG’s -800 odds make them the biggest favorite in any LPL match this week.

Even on the puck line, Invictus -1.5 is still favored, with -185 odds. LGD +1.5 is +135.

The totals also are shaded towards the under, heavily. Under 2.5 games has -250 odds, while Over has +180 odds.

The big takeaway here is that online sportsbooks expect Invictus Gaming to win this match 2-0, fairly easily.

Suning Gaming vs. Funplus Phoenix

The last match is Suning Gaming taking on Funplus Phoenix. This match is similarly lopsided to the last one, with Funplus Phoenix coming in as heavy favorites.

Phoenix, the reigning world champions, are -750 on the moneyline, making them the second largest favorite of all the LPL matches that will be played this week.

Suning Gaming enters with +425 odds to win the match outright.

On the puck line, Phoenix are still significantly favored – Phoenix -1.5 is -175, while Suning +1.5 is +125.

The totals in this match once again seem to point towards a 2-0, as Under 2.5 games has -240 odds, while Over has +170 odds.

The LPL provides top tier League of Legends competition – the last two world champions came from this region, and are playing today. LoL is one of the biggest esports in the world, and sports bettors would do well to familiarize themselves with the sport.

Russia Pro League Table Tennis Betting Preview

For the volume gamblers amongst the readership of this column, there is a special treat available. The Russian Pro League for table tennis is running an enormous event today, and there are over 40 matches that will be played over the course of the day.

The matches will be continuing until past 10 p.m. EST – the last match starts at 9:50 p.m. EST, so this is an all-day affair. It would be wise for sports bettors to get in while they can.

These matches don’t have spreads, simply moneylines, so a given sports bettor could go through and bet on as many of them as they liked, in a short timeframe, simply by focusing on picking winners and losers.

The biggest thing that’s worth pointing out is that nowhere in the more than 40 matches being played today is a player being favored at -300 odds or more.

All of these matches are handicapped incredibly evenly, with the largest favorites at the time of writing coming in Aleksandr Klavdenkov’s matches against Sergey Vakar and Vladimir Marshalov, wherein Klavdenkov is a -225 favorite in both.

This means that there is a lot of value in keeping an eye on live betting during a competition like this – the odds swing drastically during these matches, and that’s where the best opportunity for profit is in competitions like this.