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- What: CS:GO Gamers8 2023
- Date: Wednesday, August 16 – Sunday, August 20, 2023
- Location: Boulevard Riyadh City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- How to Watch: Twitch
A $1 million prize pool is up for grabs this week when 16 of the top Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO) teams in the world head to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tournament. This year is the first year Games8 has presented the CS:GO event, which will award the winning team $400,000. The runner-up squad in the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tourney takes home $180,000, and the third and fourth-place clubs each receive $80,000.
The CS:GO Gamers8 2023 event features the following teams: Apeks, Cloud9, ENCE, Team Falcons,FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports, G2 Esports, GamerLegion, Heroic, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, Team Vitality, Fnatic, MIBR, and 9INE. The teams represent the following regions: Europe, CIS, and North America.
The event features a single-elimination best-of-three format throughout the tournament.
Before we look at the betting picks for the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tournament, check out our guide to CS:GO betting and the best sports betting apps and mobile options.
CS:GO Gamers8 betting picks
| To Win 2023 Gamers8 CS:GO |  |  |  |
| Team Vitality | +400 | +400 | +400 |
| ENCE | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| G2 Esports | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| Heroic | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| Could9 | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| FaZe Clan | +700 | +700 | +700 |
| Natus Vincere | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Virtus.Pro | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Apeks | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Team Liquid | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Fnatic | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| FURIA | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| 9INE | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Team Falcons | +7500 | +7500 | +7500 |
| GamerLegions | +7500 | +7500 | +7500 |
| MIBR | +15000 | +15000 | +15000 |
Team Vitality
Based out of France, Team Vitality is the No. 2 ranked CS:GO team in the world, according to ESL. Vitality trails Heroic by 60 points in those rankings. The team is coming off a 4th-6th place finish in the recent BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023 tournament and a 3rd-4th place finish earlier this month at the IEM Cologne event. In June, the European squad placed second at the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023. Earlier this year, Team Vitality picked up a win at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023 and a victory at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
A member of Team Vitality since 2018, ZywOo, who, along with apEX, is the longest-tenured player on the roster, has been one of the best CS:GO players in the world since he joined the club.
Team Vitality has played well recently, but they do have losses to the following teams playing in the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 event: Heroic, NAVI, G2, and ENCE. The club opens the event as the No. 2 seed and faces MIBR in the opening round. There is a possibility that they could face NAVI in the quarterfinals, G2 in the semis, and Heroic or ENCE in the grand final.
ENCE
The No. 4 ranked CS:GO team in the world, Finland’s ENCE, is coming off a bit of a surprise runner-up performance at the IEM Cologne 2023 event. The team entered that event with betting odds of +700, which put it behind Vitality, Heroic, G2, and FaZe. G2 defeated ENCE 3-1 in the Grand Final of that early August tournament. One of the better teams over the past few months of CS:GO play, ENCE’s two other losses since late May came against Virtus.Pro in June in the Grand Final of the ESL Challenger Katowice 2023 event.
In addition to their runner-up finishes in Cologne and Katowice, ENCE won the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023 tournament in early June.
ENCE open the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tournament against Team Liquid. Their stiffest competition in their bracket is Heroic, who they could meet in the semifinal round.
G2 Esports
Playing out of Europe, G2 Esports heads into the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tournament with a lot of momentum. The No. 3 ranked CS:GO team in the world, G2 has two big wins in 2023, picking up first-place finishes at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 in February and at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 in early August. However, the team had disappointing finishes at ESL Pro League Season 17 (9th-12th) and the Paris Major, where they failed to make it to the Champions Stage. G2 also finished 5th-6th at Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023, 3rd-4th at BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023, and 7th-9th at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023.
G2 will have a challenging path to the title in Riyadh City. They open the event against 9INE and are in the same bracket as FaZe, NAVI, Vitality, and Virtus.pro. However, their win in early August in Cologne cannot be overlooked coming into the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 event.
Best bet to win CS:GO GAMERS8 2023
The format of the CS:GO Gamers8 2023 tournament makes things interesting, as there is no chance to get back in the mix if a team has a bad game. It’s once and done, and while that makes things exciting for the fans, it also makes placing a bet on the event rather tricky. With the brackets lined up the way they are for this event, the betting pick is to go with ENCE to pick up the win in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Best CS:GO GAMERS8 2023 betting pick: ENCE to win CS:GO GAMERS8 2023.
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