G1 Climax 29 Betting Diary

For the past ten days, I've published posts at 12PM BST where I've covered the Kambi oddsmakers G1 Climax 29 props and specials markets and thought I'd end the series with this post.

As soon as Kambi released match markets for some of the tournament matches, I thought I would keep a 'G1 Climax 29 Betting Diary' and update it after each night. The idea - at first - was to have it published/updated every day there was an event, but I decided not to do it that way in the end just in case other things in my life got in the way. I didn't want to start something and then miss a day and be behind, so thought the best thing to do was to do daily posts before each event and then add the results to this diary and publish it once the tournament was over so readers can look back a later point to see how the markets were settled.

By the way, I was right about knowing I'd miss a day. I fell behind on this project on SummerSlam Sunday, which was the final night of B Block. So, it wasn't THAT bad as I was able to catch up once the final was over the following day.

Before I close this intro, I'd like to thank the person/s at Kambi who published all of the markets that were available for the G1. You went above and beyond my expectations!

Thanks also to everyone who followed along throughout the tournament.

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Night 1 - Saturday July 6th (A Block)

This year's G1 Climax kicked off from Dallas on Saturday July 6th. Kambi had two match markets available.

In the first market, Kambi started off with Kota Ibushi as a 13/25 favourite to win against KENTA.

I felt that KENTA would win, so backed him at 13/10. By the following evening, Kambi had snipped my pick's odds to 5/4 while Ibushi was moved up to 11/20.

By July 2nd, Ibushi was seemingly backed as his price was moved back into 13/25 while KENTA was sent back to his previous price.

The market was taken down just as the show was beginning (11PM BST). I checked in ten minutes beforehand and Ibushi was still a 13/25 favourite over KENTA's 13/10.

As we now know, it was KENTA who scored the win over his opponent to earn his first two points of the tournament.

I didn't bet on him, but I felt that Kazuchika Okada would win the final match of the night against last year's G1 winner - Hiroshi Tanahashi.

The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion was the bookies' favourite as he was 11/20 to Tanahashi's 5/4. The market remained stationary for the entire time it was available to customers.

Those who may have backed Okada were the ones who made the right call as he closed the show with two points.

The other bouts on night one saw Lance Archer beat Will Ospreay, Bad Luck Fale defeat EVIL and SANADA overcame Zack Sabre Junior.

Night 2 - Saturday July 13th (B Block)

Kambi didn't have betting markets available for the first round of B Block matches.

The winners on the night were Juice Robinson (opened 12/1 to win B Block), Jon Moxley (11/4 to win B Block), Toru Yano (17/1 to win B Block), Tomohiro Ishii (15/2 to win B Block( and Hirooki Goto (20/1 to win B Block).

Night 3 - Sunday July 14th (A Block)

Kambi had two match markets for night three.

The first was for Kazuchika Okada versus Zack Sabre Jr.

The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion was a 4/9 favourite when the market was initially published. However - after Sabre's price was snipped from 6/4 into 13/10 by July 9th - Okada was moved to 13/25.

The favourite won the match. I backed ZSJ as I felt a win against Okada would set up a title challenge in London for August 31st.

Kambi's second market for night three was for the main event - Hiroshi Tanahashi versus KENTA.

Hiroshi Tanahashi was the bookies' favourite as he opened at 13/25 over KENTA's 13/10. The betting was evidently on the side of the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion as his price fell to 2/5 by July 2nd.

With Tanahashi's odds snipped in early July, KENTA was pushed out to 7/4 from 13/10 and remained that way right up to the morning of the show.

Anyone who backed the underdog would have had their bets settled with a win.

In other matches in the round - Lance Archer beat Bad Luck Fale, Will Ospreay scored a win over SANADA and EVIL scored an upset over Kota Ibushi.

Night 4 - Monday July 15th (B Block)

Speaking of upsets, Taichi defeated Tetsuya Naito in the main event of night four. This meant that Naito was still at zero after two rounds of action.

Kambi didn't have any markets for any of the matches in this round. The other results saw Shingo Takagi overcome Toru Yano, Juice Robinson beat Hirooki Goto, Jon Moxley got a win over Jeff Cobb and the penultimate match of the round saw Tomohiro Ishii get two points with a decision over Jay White.

Night 5 - Thursday July 18th (A Block)

It was back to betting on night five as Kambi had a market for the main event of A Block's third round. It saw Kota Ibushi win - as a favourite - against Will Ospreay.

The eventual winner had started as a 13/20 fave when the market was first published in June. All of the movement was in favour of Ibushi as he had descended to 2/13 with a couple of days before the event. He remained at this price right up until its close.

With Ibushi being backed, the bookmakers has Ospreay close at 7/2. This was up from his opening 11/10.

In other A Block matches - KENTA beat Lance Archer, EVIL won over SANADA, Kazuchika Okada beat Bad Luck Fale and Hiroshi Tanhashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr.

Night 6 - Friday July 19th (B Block)

Kambi had a match market available for the main event of the sixth night - Tomohiro Ishii .vs. Jon Moxley.

When it was first made available, the bookie's favourite was Moxley at 4/9. A decision for Ishii was priced 6/4.

As you can see below, the punters sided with Ishii throughout. I was one of them.

The bookies had it right, though. Moxley won to make him top B Block with six points.

Other results from the night saw Shingo Takagi beat Taichi, Jeff Cobb score his first G1 win with a decision over Juice Robinson, Toru Yano upset Jay White and Naito went over Hirooki Goto.

Night 7 - Saturday July 20th (A Block)

Kambi had a market available for the main event of night seven - Kazuchika Okada .vs. Will Ospreay.

In a post published on June 26th, I pointed out that Ospreay was my pick to win. The consensus appeared to go the other way as the odds for an Okada win fell from 3/4 into a closing 4/9 across the days that punters were able to bet on the match,

The match ended up with the favourite winning. 

Other winners on the night were Zack Sabre Jr, Tanahashi, KENTA and Ibushi.

Night 8 - Wednesday July 24th (B Block)

There were two match markets available for the eighth night of the tournament.

Jon Moxley, who was undefeated in B Block, faced Shingo Takagi in the third block match of the night. He closed as a 13/25 favourite over Takagi's 27/20.

From betting, there was a back-and-forth initially. The customers appear to have sided with Takagi at the start, then they landed on Moxley, then it was back to Takagi.

The remaining prices changes - that occurred on July 20th and 23rd - went the way of the eventual winner, Moxley.

The main event of the night saw Tetsuya Naito defeat Tomohiro Ishii to go to 4 points.

Just like with the market for Jon Moxley .vs. Shingo Takagi, the punters went back-and-forth with both men backed at certain points.

The winner closed as a 8/13 favourite. He had started off at 11/25 back in June.

In other matches on the night eight card - Juice Robinson beat Toru Yano, Taichi won against Hirooki Goto and Jay White picked up his first two points with a decision over Jeff Cobb.

Night 9 - Saturday July 27th (A Block)

Kambi had one match winner market available for the ninth night of action. It was for the main event which saw the two undefeated A Block competitors - Kazuchika Okada and KENTA - wrestle each other.

From the betting, it was clear the punters thought that KENTA could get the W. His price was reduced from 5/4 right down to 3/4 in the month the market was available for.

The match finished with Okada pinning KENTA to move to the top of the Block.

Other results from Night 9 saw Kota Ibushi beat Lance Archer, Will Ospreay had a decision over Bad Luck Fale, EVIL overcame Zack Sabre Jr. and Hiroshi Tanahashi won against SANADA.

Night 10 - Sunday July 28th (B Block)

Night ten's main event saw Jon Moxley continue his undefeated B Block run by overcoming Tetsuya Naito.

Kambi had betting markets available for the match.

The winner closed as a 2/1 underdog. He initially opened at 9/10 when the market came out on June 26th. From there, the selection drifted out as the consensus evidently thought that Naito would get the win.

In other B Block matches - Hirooki Goto won against Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii beat Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb went over Taichi and Jay White defeated Shingo Takagi.

Night 11 - Tuesday July 30th (A Block)

Night eleven had a main event which saw Hiroshi Tanahashi beat EVIL. Kambi didn't have a market available for this match. However, the bookies did offer wagering on the battle of two British wrestlers - Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr.

When the market was first published in June, Ospreay was a 3/4 favourite to Sabre's 19/20. The initial adjustment went the way of ZSJ as he was snipped to 4/5 while Ospreay went up to 9/10.

From there, however, the remaining adjustments were all in favour of Ospreay. By the time the market closed an hour before the tournament rounds began, the favourite had dropped to 1/4.

A win for ZSJ closed at 5/2. And that's what ended up being the correct play as there was an upset of sorts considering ZSJ's chance of winning the tournament were dead at this point. The result ended any hopes Ospreay had of winning this year's tourney as well.

As well as Tanahashi and ZSJ, other winners on the Night 11 card were Kota Ibushi over Bad Luck Fale, Kazuchika Okada over Lance Archer and SANADA over KENTA.

Night 12 - Thursday August 1st (B Block)

There were no match markets for the G1 Climax's twelfth night when Kambi first began to take bets in late June. However, with the tournament in full swing, the bookies created markets four days before the show. The first market was for the Toru Yano .vs. Jon Moxley meeting while the second was for Juice Robinson .vs. Tetsuya Naito.

The first match of the two saw Yano beat Moxley by shady means. In hindsight, the decision made sense considering Moxley was on an undefeated run and a loss to Yano would have made some intriguing tiebreaker scenarios as Jay White and Naito had lost to Yano in other matches of the tournament.

Yano had started off as an 11/4 underdog when the market was first installed. He was down to EVS within a day and was then moved to 17/20 a day following that. He remained at this price all the way up to the start of the event.

Naito needed a win against Juice Robinson to keep his tournament hopes alive. And he did that. As a closing 7/10 favourite.

Robinson had started off as a 13/25 favourite, but he was soon moved to 17/20 after Naito was cut from 13/10 to 17/20. From there, Naito was moved to 7/10 and Robinson was pushed to EVS by the afternoon of July 31st.

In other tournament matches - Jeff Cobb won against Shingo Takagi, Jay White picked up another two points; this time against Taichi and Hirooki Goto beat Tomohiro Ishii in the main event.

Night 13 - Saturday August 3rd (A Block)

There was one market available for the thirteenth night of the tournament and it was for the semi-main event with Hiroshi Tanahashi facing off with Kota Ibushi. Both wrestlers were on eight points, so they were technically battling to be the first to double digits.

When Kambi opened the market in June, Ibushi was an 8/13 favourite and - despite a moment in mid July when Tanahashi fell from 6/5 into 11/10 - the punters felt he was the rightful fave.

And they were correct - Ibushi beat Tanhashi to keep his tournament hopes alive.

The rest of the A Block matches on the night saw Bad Luck Fale upset KENTA, Zack Sabre Jr. beat Lance Archer, EVIL won against Will Ospreay and SANADA ended Kazuchika Okada's undefeated tournament run.

Night 14 - Sunday August 4th (B Block)

There were two match markets available for the fourteenth night of the tournament.

B Block's leader - Jon Moxley - wrestled Jay White in the penultimate match of the night.

When the market was first priced up, White was a 4/5 favourite to get the W over Moxley. As you can see in the table below, the punters began to wager on White in early July and - barring a moment in the latter part of July when Moxley was cut from 13/10 into EVS - it appears the gamblers felt that White indeed was going to pick up the two points.

The consensus was correct - White was victorious. The result kept his chances of still being in the running on the final round of block matches alive.

The round's main event saw Tetsuya Naito pick up another two points to keep his own chances of being in contention over Shingo Takagi, who had nothing to fight for in the tournament other than to play spoiler.

Kambi had Naito at 4/9 when the market was first priced up on June 26th. The odds for the eventual winner plummeted all the way down to 1/10 by the evening of August 2nd and remained at this priced right up to the start of the show less than a couple of days later.

The rest of the night fourteen card saw Tomohiro Ishii win against Toru Yano, Taichi beat Juice Robinson and Hirooki Goto overcome Jeff Cobb.

Night 15 - Wednesday August 7th (A Block)

Kambi had three match markets available for night fifteen.

The first market was for Will Ospreay's win over KENTA.

When the market was first installed, the bookies had KENTA as a 1/2 favourite over the eventual winner. The first adjustment made to the market was also the way of the favourite as he was moved to 2/5 while Ospreay rose to 7/4 from 7/5.

By August 4th, Ospreay was cut to EVS while KENTA was pushed to 7/10 .

The last sign of action came a couple of days before the match and it saw KENTA drop to 11/20 while Ospreay was moved up to 5/4.

The penultimate match of the night was between Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre, Jr.  The former was installed as a 1/3 favourite when the market was first published on July 28th. From there, he was cut into 11/50 by August 1st and was then slashed into 1/10 three days later.

As a result of the favouring of Ibushi, Sabre's price went from an opening 2/1 right up to 9/2 before the market was taken down on the day of the show.

The consensus were on the correct side as Ibushi won the bout.

The main event saw Kazuchika Okada take on EVIL. Kambi published a market for it a couple of days beforehand and had Okada a 13/25 favourite. His opponent was 13/10.

As you can see, the market remained stationary for the short time it was available. The bookmakers had the right favourite/outsider mix as Okada did end up winning the contest.

The two other matches in the round had SANADA beat Lance Archer and Bad Luck Fale score an upset over Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Night 16 - Thursday August 8th (B Block)

Kambi released two match markets for B Block's penultimate round a few days before they were contested.

The first market was for Hirooki Goto versus Jon Moxley.

This is another case where the market stayed at the same pricing it opened at. It had Goto an 11/25 favourite while Moxley was out at 8/5.

Goto won the bout, so he was the correct favourite.

Another favourite won in the second match market that was available to customers for night sixteen.

Jay White needed to win to continue his run up the block, so the bookies had him at 7/20. They placed his opponent - Juice Robinson - at 19/20.

In other tournament matches from the card, Toru Yano won against Taichi, Tetsuya Naito beat Jeff Cobb and - in the main event - Shingo Takagi defeated Tomohiro Ishii.

Night 17 - Saturday August 10th (A Block)

The main event of A Block's final night was a decider between Kazuchika Okada and Kota Ibushi. The oddsmakers had a market for the bout along with markets for two of the other contests in the round.

The first was for the third tournament match - KENTA .vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

When the market was first installed, Kambi had KENTA as a 4/5 favourite. His price began to fall after he started off the tournament notching with a few wins. On the reverse, ZSJ started off with a bunch of losses.

However, as the tournament progressed, ZSJ - when out of contention - began to play spoiler with a few wins here and there while KENTA started to drop matches.

The market closed with ZSJ a 3/5 fave over KENTA's 6/5.

And the late bettors turned out to be right as ZSJ won the bout to finish the block with eight points. KENTA also finished off with eight.

Will Ospreay .vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi opened with Tanahashi a 7/10 favourite while his opponent was EVS.

As you can see below, the first sign of action came the way of Ospreay. However - by the latter part of the tournament - Tanahashi's price was shortened.

Then, by the morning of the match, both wrestlers closed at the same pricing they opened in June.

The winner was Ospreay, so those who backed him early - and possibly on the day of the show - were the punters who made the correct call.

When Kambi published a market for the final A Block match, they had Kota Ibushi as a 4/5 favourite while the IWGP Heavyweight Champion was available at 9/10.

The first signs of betting sided with Okada as his price was snipped from 9/10 into 17/20 and then to 4/5 between July 2nd and 9th.

From there, the punters landed on Ibushi before siding, once again, with Okada. Then - in the latter stages of wagering - Ibushi's price declined right down to 11/20.

It should go without saying - considering he ended up winning the block and the entire tournament - that Ibushi was the correct betting favourite to win this match.

Other night seventeen matches saw Lance Archer beat EVIL and Bad Luck Fale defeat SANADA.

Night 18 - Sunday August 11th (B Block)

Going into night eighteen, there four people at the top of B Block with ten points. They were Jon Moxley, Hirooki Goto, Jay White and Tetsuya Naito. The latter two were competing against one another in the evening's main event.

In matches that had no betting markets available for them, Jeff Cobb beat Toru Yano and Taichi won against Tomohiro Ishii.

The first tournament match featuring a competitor on ten points was the one between Moxley and Juice Robinson.

Kambi's market for the match opened up on June 26th with both wrestlers at 17/20. Predicting ahead of the G1 - and knowing that Moxley had beaten Robinson for the IWGP United States Championship three weeks earlier - the initial adjustments sided with Juice Robinson avenging the loss by playing spoiler on the final night.

This prediction turned out true as Robinson did indeed play spoiler and end Moxley's chance of being the B Block leader at the end of the night.

As you can see below, it was only July 9th and the day before the match when Moxley's price was reduced. All other adjustments resulted in Robinson's price being lowered.

Robinson closed as a 1/6 favourite. The eventual losing selection was 3/1 before the market was taken down.

The fourth match of the tournament portion of the card had Hirooki Goto facing Shingo Takagi in an attempt to get to twelve points.

Kambi's market for the match was published on August 9th with Goto an 11/25 favourite. His opponent was 8/5.

Takagi was a dark horse for the upset. The punters evidently picked up on it as his price was cut to 17/20 within a few hours. He closed at 1/2.

The bettors made the right call. Goto did slip up. This result paved the way for the winner of the main event to take the block.

Kambi's market for the main event came out on June 26th with Jay White a 4/5 favourite over Tetsuya Naito who was 9/10.

Naito's price declined throughout July. In fact, there was only two occasions when Jay White's price was lowered. This was on July 28th, when he dipped from 6/4 into 11/10 and then on August 4th when his price slipped from 5/4 into EVS.

White stayed at EVS for six days before drifting out to 23/20 when Naito was backed from 7/10 into 8/13. 

Both wrestlers remained at those prices right up until the market closed the following morning.

As we all know now, White turned out to be the winning selection as he went on to beat Naito, take the round and meet Kota Ibushi the following day.

Night 19 - Monday August 12th (The Final)

On the eve of the final, Kambi priced up a match winner market. The favourite was Kota Ibushi at 13/20. A win for his opponent - Jay White - was offered at 11/10.

The market was available throughout Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning as WWE SummerSlam 2019 was in progress. However, it was taken off the board by the time I checked in twenty minutes before the event started.

Ibushi beat White to become this year's G1 Climax winner.

It was a long few weeks keeping track of the markets, but I thought this post would

Thanks to everyone who followed along with my daily posts and also thank you to the bookmakers at Kambi for creating some excellent markets for the tournament.