G1 Climax 31 Betting: Night 18

B Block concludes the round robin part of the G1 Climax today. By the close of the show, we'll know who - out of Kazuchika Okada and Jeff Cobb - will meet Kota Ibushi in tomorrow's final.

In today's post, I'll look at the markets for today's matches as well as tie up some loose ends by looking at prop markets that have either been settled ahead of today or will be following the conclusion of today's event.

Kambi has published match winner markets for the G1 matches on today's card. However, there is a difference between the first four and the one for the main event.

The Kazuchika Okada versus Jeff Cobb market is simply the 'B Block Winner' market that has been available since September 6th albeit with the final two eligible selections left. It differs from the regular match winner markets because - if a draw were to occur in the main event - Jeff Cobb will be declared the block winner as he is entering today's event two points clear of Okada. Should a draw occur in a regular match winner market, wagers on either side will obviously be voided.

On the subject of the B Block Winner market. Here is a final look at the main table. When I cover the main event below, I'll focus only on how the odds for Okada and Cobb changed as the tournament progressed.

Click on image to expand

With there only being two people still able to win the block on the final night, a prop market - which asked customers whether there would be over 3.5 wrestlers still in play on the last day - has been settled with 'No' as the winning selection.

It opened as a 7/5 underdog. It fell into 13/10 on September 25th and was then down to 27/25 by October 5th. The last time I saw it was twelve days ago. 

A couple of remaining prop bets will be settled following today's results.

YOSHI-HASHI (4 points) .vs. Chase Owens (4 points)

YOSHI-HASHI beat Chase Owens in the opening tournament match of the night. He'll go to 6 points.

Going by the betting, the punters appear to have been on the correct wrestler because  the eventual winner went from 5/4 into EVS sometime before 10:30AM BST yesterday morning. His price was reduced to 17/20 this morning.

Owens had started out as the match favourite at 11/20, but was out to 17/20 before the market closed.

Hirooki Goto (4 points) .vs. Tama Tonga (6 points)

Hirooki Goto beat Tama Tonga as a 4/6 favourite in the second tournament match of the night. 

The market opened on Monday , but didn't change over those two days.

Hiroshi Tanahashi (8 points) .vs. Taichi (4 points)
Taichi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi in a really good match which played on the Taichi injury that he has been selling for the past few rounds.

The eventual winner started out as a 13/10 underdog while Tanahashi was 13/25. A few hours after the market was published, Taichi's price had lowered into EVS. It fell once more this morning when Kambi dropped Taichi into 17/20 and pushed Tanahashi up to 17/20 so both men entered the match as betting equals.

SANADA (8 points) .vs. EVIL (12 points)

EVIL won against SANADA in the penultimate match of the night.

As you'll see by the betting, both men opened at 17/20 each. However, earlier today, Kambi cut the odds for SANADA as he was lowered into 4/5.

EVIL won as a closing 9/10 underdog.

Kazuchika Okada (14 points) .vs. Jeff Cobb (16 points)

As noted above, there was no official match winner market for the main event. Customers could gamble on Kazuchika Okada or Jeff Cobb as the final two selections in the 'Tournament Winner' market that had been available since early September.

I have created a table showing the odds for the two main eventers from when the market started right up to today. 

The odds for both men that appear in grey are from days when there were other selections available in the market. The prices in light purple are from the period when they were the only two men who could still take the block.

Again - Cobb could win the block by drawing with Okada. That's why this table differs from the other head-to-head tables I've created for the tournament matches.

Okada ended up winning the match and taking the block with the tiebreaker. As you'll see, he closed as a 1/3 favourite over Cobb's 2/1.

Jeff Cobb's loss means that a proposition market, which asked whether anyone would go undefeated in all of the block matches, will now be settled with 'No' as the winner.

It had short odds going for it starting as a 1/10 favourite. It was down to 1/14 when it was last made available earlier this month. However, there was a time in the mid-to-late September when it had descended to 1/16.

With the need for a tiebreaker, a prop market - which asked if two or more people will have the highest number of points in the block - will settle with 'Yes' as the winning selection.

The winning selection started out as a 7/10 favourite over the EVS that was offered for those who thought the block would be clearly won. 

'Yes' was lowered into 4/6 by October 2nd, but returned to its opening price three days later.

There was a tournament proposition market which will also be settled now that A and B Blocks have been completed (if it hasn't been settled already). 

In it, customers were asked whether there would be a three-way tie in either of the blocks. The eventual winner closed as a 4/6 favourite after starting level - at 17/20 each - with 'Yes'.

'No' will also be a winning selection in a B Block prop market which asked whether or not any of the matches would have a time limit draw.

Coincidentally, it closed at the same prices that were available in the tournament winner market with the winning selection doing so as a closing 1/3 favourite. When the market opening last month, customers would have found the option at 13/20.

There are other tournament proposition and specials markets that we will know the result of even before this year's winner is crowned. I'll leave those until tomorrow's G1 blog post.

View Kambi's Pro Wrestling Market