Street Fighter V is a fighting video game which was created and published by Capcom and Dimps and is the latest release of the legendary Street Fighter video game franchise. The game is extremely popular with both PC and console players as it enables cross-platform play between the PlayStation 4 and Windows.
In terms of game play Street Fighter V is your classic fighting video game in which two opposing fighters fight it out to win the match-up. Players can choose one of 16 characters at start and 4 of these are new additions. These include legendary names such as Guile, Ken, Ryu, Zangief, and Vega, as well as new characters such as F.A.N.G., Kaura, Necalli and Rashid. The game also features characters which have to be purchased using real world money or the so called Fight Money which are earned through playing the game. They include characters such as Abigail, Ed, Kolin, and Menat. Each character has a special kind of attacking ability which differentiates him or her from other characters.
The game has achieved a cult status for its player versus player mode. This is because Street Fighter was one of the first franchises to successfully show a one on one fight in the context of a video game. In terms of graphics and layout, the game has stuck to its roots, but has still managed to make itself relevant to younger audiences.
Street Fighter V is loved and adored by all gamers who love a good old fashioned beat'em up game in which players go all out until the end and until the other character drops down dead. However, Street Fighter as a franchise has always been quite interesting for the sports punter as well. This is because it offers a unique experience of watching a thrilling fight which is very interesting in itself, but which is also made even more exhilarating by having a bet placed on one of the players.
When betting on Street Fighter V, punters have the option of choosing one of the following five different types of markets: match winners’ market, handicap market, outright winners market, and specials market.
One of the most popular betting markets as you might expect is the match winners’ one. In this market the punter chooses which of the two players is going to come out of the match victorious. Let's look at an example from the tournament Red Bull Kumite 2016, in which Tokido was playing against Infiltration in the Winners Grand Final. These are probably the two best Street Fighter V players in the world right now and the odds for each of them were similar as well as they both had odds of around 1.90 to win the match. When the match started it was obvious that it was going to be very close and it turned out to be just like that with Infiltration having to work very hard for his victory in a match which was played in a best out of five format. Infiltration's victory of 3-1 was one of the most popular eSports events of 2016 and punters who backed him were also quite happy with how the match panned out.
The match winners’ market on Street Fighter V is available at all bookmakers as it is the least complicated one and most bookmakers offer odds for it. A similar market to the match winners’ market is the handicap market. In this market one of the players is given a starting advantage with which he leads in the match-up even before the first round has started. This starting advantage is usually expressed as +1.5 or +2.5, depending on the format of the match and the player which gets the advantage sees his odds drop significantly.
The next market which is available for punters is the outright winners or futures market. In this market punters can bet on who is going to be the winner of a specific tournament, which region of the world the winner will be from, which stage a certain player will progress to and so on.
The final betting market available for Street Fighter V punters is the specials market. In this market betting enthusiasts can bet on what the Correct Score of a match will be, a specific round winner, the time needed for a match to be completed (Over/Under) and other interesting bets.
The point of betting is to have fun, but also to win some money in the process. To do this a punter must adhere to several strategies which will help him in the pursuit of financial gain when it comes to betting on Street Fighter V. Some of the more important strategies that a punter must master is to always check statistical data of how a player is performing against his peers, how he has played in a particular tournament, whether he has a favourite tournament and how long has he been on the Street Fighter fighting scene.
Knowing how a player has played against an opponent in the past is often crucial when trying to determine how likely a player is to come out of a match as a winner. For example, Infiltration has often come out on top when he has faced Tokido and backing him to win when they meet again is a safer bet than to back Tokido, who is a very good player, but always seems to come second best when he is faced with the prospect of playing against arguably the best Street Fighter player in the world right now.
Another useful strategy to employ if you want to be profitable in your betting endeavour is to check if a player has a favourite tournament. This is important because oftentimes players get emotionally attached to a specific venue or crowd, and they feel much more comfortable to perform in there. If, on the other hand, a crowd has been hostile to the player in the past, he might ‘freeze’ when the going gets tough in a particular match.
In addition to these two strategies, it is also important to check the previous matches of a player, especially in a given tournament. If a player is on a long winning run, then he is very likely to keep this run going when he faces a player who has been on a losing run or who has had mixed fortunes in the previous matches.
Finally, it is very important to look for veteran Street Fighter players when you are deciding who to back in a match. This is sometimes a big factor because players who have grown up playing all of the Street Fighter releases don’t just play Street Fighter, they live and breathe the game.
The biggest Street Fighter V tournament is the Evolution Championship Series which was formerly known as Battle by the Bay. The Evolution Championship Series (also known as EVO) is an eSports event which is held every year and focuses only on fighting games. From 2005, the event has been held at different locations and arenas across Las Vegas.
EVO is played out as an open tournament and players from around the world, and especially from Japan, take part every year. The tournament is in a double elimination format and recent participants include famous names such as Infiltration (Seon-Woo Lee) and Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi.
The first EVO was organized as a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament. Since then there has been a constant increase in the number of participants and the record was reached in 2016 when an incredible number of 5 thousand contestants took part and showed off their skills. A good indicator of just how popular the games are is the fact that the finals of the Street Fighter V tournament are televised live on ESPN.
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