With a prize pool of $250,000 on offer, the IEM Dallas is the latest major event on the Counter Strike: Global Offensive calendar and on Saturday the event reaches the semi-final stage.

The S-Tier event is taking place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas and began with 16 teams spread across two groups. 

The event's group stage was played in a double-elimination format and the top three sides from each section progressed to the playoffs. 

The playoffs began with two quarter-finals and on Saturday will move to two semi-finals with Heroic up against MOUZ and ENCE taking on FaZe Clan. 

The winners will advance to the IEM Dallas Grand Final and battle it out for $100,000 and a spot at the IEM Cologne later this season.

Heroic can again show their class against MOUZ

One of the most consistent teams on the CS:GO circuit in 2023, Heroic are strongly fancied to overcome MOUZ in the first semi-final at this year's IEM Dallas. 

The Danes have recently moved up to second in the HLTV world rankings and have been there or thereabouts in most major events this season, finishing second at February's IEM Katowice, runners-up at the IEM Rio in April and placing in the 3rd-4th positions at the inaugural BLAST Paris Major last month. 

Heroic are now considered one of the most dangerous opponents in the world of CS:GO and they demonstrated their quality in the group stage of the IEM Dallas, crushing big guns G2 Esports 2-0 in the upper-bracket final. 

They also saw off MOUZ 2-0 themselves in the upper-bracket semi-finals of Group A and it was a pretty routine win as Heroic prevailed 16-6 on Mirage and 16-10 on Overpass. 

Currently 18th in the HLTV world rankings, MOUZ have done well to reach this stage of the IEM Dallas, beating the likes of FURIA, OG and Astralis on their way to the semi-finals. 

But Heroic are a step-up from all of those teams and are worth backing at +110 to repeat the 2-0 win they recorded over MOUZ in the group stage.

ENCE have proved they can upset the odds

The other semi-final at this year's IEM Dallas looks less one-sided with FaZe Clan favourites at -175 to beat ENCE, who are +125 to come out on top. 

But while ENCE are eight places worse off than their opponents in the HLTV world CS:GO rankings, this could be a closer encounter than those odds suggest. 

ENCE have been slowly but surely finding their feet on the CS:GO circuit this year, having finished in the 3rd-4th positions in season 17 of the ESL Pro League back in March, while they reached the Legends Stage of the recent BLAST Paris Major. 

And they managed to win Group B at the IEM Dallas, easing past Complexity Gaming 16-7 in their opener before beating FaZe Clan 2-0 in the upper-bracket semi-finals. 

They then went on to beat Astralis in the Group A final and the fact that ENCE have already beaten FaZe Clan in the tournament should stand them in good stead for when the teams meet in the playoffs. 

FaZe had to settle for the third qualifying spot in Group A and only edged past G2 Esports 2-1 in the playoff quarter-finals so it is fair to say they do not look at their imperious best right now. 

With that in mind, punters should not rush to back them at odds-on and at +125, ENCE could be a cracking bet to win and book their spot in the IEM Dallas Grand Final on Sunday. 

Alternatively, for those who do not want to be as bold with their selections, a bet on over 2.5 maps could be worth a selection at -120 with a competitive semi-final contest expected between these two teams in Texas.

bet365 News Team

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