Halo is a mixture of a military and science fiction type of first-person shooter game which was first developed and published by Bungie and is now developed by 343 Industries. The hugely popular franchise, which was first released in November 15, 2001, is in essence an interstellar war between humans and an alliance of aliens which is known as the Covenant.
It is a version of an Arena shooter game, in which players start with equal chances of winning (they possess the same weapons, abilities, and types of equipment) and have to master and control weapons and positions on the map to gain an upper hand on and ultimately defeat the opposing team. The concept of the game is simple – you have to control the map and destroy your opponent to achieve victory.
In terms of gameplay, competitive Halo is played out between two teams of 4 players each (Red and Blue) and they compete on three different gametypes: Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Strongholds. These gametypes are played out on 8 different arena maps (Coliseum, Eden, Plaza, The Rig, Truth, Empire, Fathom, and Regret) which can be symmetrical and asymmetrical.
The Slayer gametype is a type of a death match in which the first team to get to 50 kills or the team with the most kills in 90 minutes is the winner. Capture the Flag (played on symmetrical maps) on the other hand, is a gametype in which the winning team is the one which takes the enemy team’s flag back to their base while making sure that their flag is still in their base. The first team which captures 3 flags wins. Finally, the Strongholds (played on asymmetrical maps) gametype requires that a team captures and controls at least two out of three strongholds (hills) to start scoring points. The first team to 100 points is the winner.
In competitive Halo, when a player dies he is respawn after 8 seconds of his death, which gives the opposition team time to capitalize on various game objectives. When all enemy players are killed, the field is empty for 8 seconds and this can be a huge advantage for an experienced team when trying to gain control of the map and achieve objectives.
Halo is hugely popular with gamers and is also one of the most frequently visited games by punters. It has all the qualities of a first-person shooter game and, in addition, it offers a lot of room for strategic gameplay which is always a nice starting platform for bets. The game also offers a variety of betting markets to chose from and this is really nice for all experienced punters who don't like to restrict themselves to just one betting market or betting offer.
There are four major types of betting markets available for Halo: the match winner’s market, the handicap market, the outright winner market, and the specials markets. The match winner’s market is the most straightforward of these four and it can be easily explained by looking at an example from the 2017 Halo Championship and the match between Infused and Supremacy.
Infused were considered as big favourites ahead of the match and as a result were given odds of around 1.50. Supremacy, on the other hand, were regarded as underdogs and had odds of around 2.50. Put in simple terms, this meant that if you backed Infinity you were placing a less risky bet than if you backed Supremacy. However, backing the favourite also meant that you were bound to have smaller winnings than if you backed the underdog, in this case Supremacy. In the end, the match finished with a 4:0 victory for Infinity, which once again reaffirmed the notion that backing a favourite is always the smarter option.
The handicap betting market is similar to the match winner’s market. The only difference between the two markets is the slight advantage which one of the teams is given in the handicap market. This starting advantage is usually expressed as +1.5 or +2.5. After this starting advantage has been applied, the odds compiler makes the necessary changes to the odds and teams which previously had higher odds, but are now given a starting advantage, start to see their odds drop.
In addition to these two markets, another market which is quite popular with punters is the outright winner’s one. In it, punters can bet on which team will be victorious at the end of a tournament, which team will reach the final or which region the winner will be from.
We conclude the list of Halo bet types with the specials markets. These markets are oftentimes reliant purely on luck and sometimes they don’t require that the betting enthusiast possesses much knowledge of the game. Some of the markets of this type are: a specific map winner, Correct Score, Total Number of Kills and many others.
Once you have familiarized yourself with all of the Halo betting markets, it is important to shift your focus to understanding how successful Halo betting works and how to have a winning bet for most of the time. There are several things that you should do before you decide to back a team with a wager and these include doing the necessary pre-match research, looking at each of the teams’ form coming into the match and checking their previous encounters.
One of the first things you should do when thinking of wagering on a Halo match is to look at each of the teams’ rosters. Oftentimes there are changes inside the teams and a new player comes in right before a match has started. This can be hugely detrimental to the cohesion in a team and it is very important that you spot these changes as they are often the difference between a winning and a losing bet.
In addition to roster changes, it is also recommended that you analyze the form of each of the teams coming into the match. If one of the teams has been on a winning run, while the other has been on a losing run then there is no doubt which team you should be backing. In-form teams are always a better option for your wager as their confidence is much higher than a team which has been on a losing run.
Finally, you should also have a look at the previous encounters between each of the teams, as Halo is often a game in which psychology plays a big part. If a team has often come on top when facing their opponents, they already have a big starting psychological advantage which is almost always very difficult to overturn.
The Halo World Championship is the biggest Halo eSports event these days. It takes place in the middle of March features 16 Halo teams which fight it out for their fair share of the mouth watering $2.5 million prize pool. This prize pot makes the championship the biggest ever in console eSports history.
The creation of the Halo World Championship was actually a direct response to the popularity of the Call of Duty series in the eSports world. With this championship, 343 industries’ parent company, Microsoft, sent a message to Activision that they are still a big player in the eSports market, especially when it comes to consoles.
After the 2015 Halo World Championship came to a close, Microsoft announced the start of the Halo Pro League. The huge prize pot and the attractive names which regularly take part in these Microsoft organized competitions are a guarantee for all spectators, fans and punters that the tournaments are going to provide all the thrills which high quality Halo championships are supposed to offer.
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