Summer is the absolute best time for esports, if you can keep that damned sun glare off your screen long enough to enjoy the games. If you re not out chasing balls in the park, or virtual animals on your mobile device, then you have made the correct choice as there s a plethora of competitive gaming at the highest level all weekend.Dota, StarCraft, Hearthstone and even Street Fighter V (especially Street Fighter V) have some huge tournaments, so you may want to adjust your curtains accordingly. Here s the best pro gaming to watch this weekend.

EVO Chamionship SeriesProbably the biggest event this weekend is a fighting game tournament. Well, more like nine fighting game tournaments at the Mecca of fighting game tournaments. EVO returns to Las Vegas this weekend for some truly monstrously sized pools of Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat XL. More than 5,000 SFV entrants will be fighting their way to a top 8 showdown in the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday, in the game s first EVO appearance. Catch that top 8 on the CapcomFighters Twitch from 7pm Sunday PDT / 3am Monday BST.DreamHack Valencia StarCraft IIMost of Europe s finest Terran, Protoss, and Zerg players are locked in an all out brawl until Saturday evening at DreamHack s Valencia Open. Those still in with a chance include France s surprise WCS contender David Lilbow Moschetto, and Norway s Jens Snute Asgaard. There s 1,000 WCS circuit points for top place which is nothing to sniff at in the new tournament format as well as $16,000, with a total of $29,000 on the podium. You can watch all the matches on the DreamHack SC2 Twitch and the Grand Finals begin Saturday from 7:30pm BST / 11:30am PDT.DreamHack Valencia Hearthstone Grand PrixAlso in Valencia this weekend are Europe s hottest Hearthstone players at the Grand Prix. Orange and Pavel obviously are in attendance, along with newer star BoarControl and cadre of other Brits including GreenSheep, Cipher, and Ness. Amazingly only one (Cipher) has survived through to the top 16, and there are a few new faces to spot among the others. You can see all of the remaining matches until Saturday s finals on the DreamHack Hearthstone stream, and the round-of-8, semis and grand finals begin at 12:15pm BST / 4:15am PDT.The Summit 5Dota s bi-annual LAN in a house tournament returns this week to put many of the best teams on the international circuit into one house with all the production values you could ask for. This year, defending champs of December s Summit Evil Geniuses are nowhere to be seen, though Manila Major winners OG will be fending off several others as the hot favourites. The real draw is the out-of-game activities, including special roaming camera reporter for The Summit 5, Barry the dog. Come for the high-class Dota, stay for the memes. All broadcast on BeyondTheSummit s Twitch channel, with Loser s Round 2 matches beginning Saturday form 10am PDT / 6pm BST, and the grand finals on Sunday 1:30pm PDT / 9:30pm BST (after the loser s final at 10am/6pm).

On Wednesday Valve announced it would begin sending requests to cease operations to gambling websites that use Steam s trading system. Using the OpenID API and making the same web calls as Steam users to run a gambling business is not allowed by our API nor our user agreements, wrote Valve s Erik Johnson.

The announcement was a surprise. Although scrutiny of CS:GO gambling peaked as it was revealed that two of the world s most popular gaming YouTubers had created a CS:GO skin gambling website and quietly promoted it to their audiences, some of these services have existed for three years. Other than a match fixing scandal in 2015 this was the first time that Valve has addressed them.

Valve s announcement implied that Steam users should retrieve item skins from gambling websites, and some members of the community began to wonder: would Valve s action trigger a crash of CS:GO s skin market? Some Steam users own hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of CS:GO skins. How would their fortunes, and the inventory value of CS:GO s other 10 million active players, be affected by this announcement?

Not much. Although there isn t an index number that reflects the value of the CS:GO item market as a whole, sales data for individual weapons tend to show an initial reaction to the news, followed by normalization.

Valve s announcement went out via email just before 1 PM Pacific on June 13. I sampled a set of 20 arbitrary, higher-volume skins on the market, and found that they fell an average of 13.7% that evening. A Minimum Wear AWP BOOM skin, for example, dropped from $21.75 to $18.56 12 hours after the announcement.

The drop in price seems reactionary, a reflection of some sellers fear that the market would implode. Although the correction was very uniform across the items I sampled, most items have not continued to drop in value, and many have risen back to their pre-announcement price. More adjustments can probably be expected as gambling websites close or alter how they operate, but my belief is that these items will retain most of their value as long as CS:GO remains one of the most-played and most-spectated games in the world.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a game about teamplay, individual skill and economy management. If you know when to use pistols you ll be at a great advantage when it comes to economy and planning for future rounds. If you also know how to use them you can do some serious damage to your opponent s game plan. Win the pistol round and you set yourselves up for a great half. If on the other hand you lose the pistol round, there are ways to limit the damage done to your economy. Needless to say you should practice pistols and pay attention to their strengths and weaknesses.

 The pistol round

The Glock-18, USP-s and P2000 have one thing in common: they don t penetrate armor. However they do a lot of damage against enemies without armor, especially head armor. On the pistol round you only have $800, which isn t enough to get a helmet. Because of this fact the three pistols mentioned above work really well in pistol rounds. A lot of the time it s better to invest in armor than to upgrade to another pistol. There are exceptions, however, and I will get to them soon.

Another option is to buy a few grenades as long as you have a plan. It s also worth mentioning that one player on the CT-side could invest in a defuse kit. Nothing is more frustrating than killing the other team on an attempted retake only to find yourself in a situation where you don t have time enough to defuse the bomb.

 The Glock-18

The Glock-18 isn t as accurate as the USP-s or the P2000, but it holds 20 bullets and has very little spread.

This means it s a really good pistol to run and gun with. What you want to do when you play the Glock-18 on pistol rounds is to get as close to your opponents as possible and aim for their heads. They are likely to be wearing body armor and the Glock-18 has the worst armor penetration of all the pistols in the game. It s often wise to have one or two players buy flashbangs and a smoke just to make it easier for you to get closer to the defending players. Just don t use Glock-18 on eco rounds unless you really need to in order to afford a full buy later on.

 The USP-s and P2000

These two pistols are insanely accurate over great distances compared to the terrorist counterpart. As a result, you want to do the exact opposite of what the terrorists want. Your job is to make sure you can keep the fight at long distances. As long as you can do that, all you have to do is to tap slowly and aim for their heads.

 The P250

The P250 is a great pistol that s very accurate at medium range. It also has a lot better armor penetration than the Glock-18, USP-s and P2000, which makes it ideal for the second round if you lose the pistol round. The exception is if you re on the terrorist side and got the plant but lost the round. In this case you shouldn t buy anything at all, and go for a full buy on the third round instead.

In particular, buy the P250 if you re going to defend or attack an area where you think you can get close enough to steal an SMG with a fast headshot.

 The Tec-9 and CZ75-Auto

These can be some of the most powerful pistols in the game if used correctly. The Tec-9 is one of the exceptions for pistol rounds that I mentioned earlier. One player can buy armor and have a teammate drop him a Tec-9. That gives the terrorists an almost impossible force of nature to lead the charge.

It s also a great weapon to buy on force buys if you re planning on running a fast strategy. It s super powerful and fires rounds really fast. It isn t that accurate, however, which means you need to get close. Much like the Glock-18 it doesn t have that much spread, so it s ideal to run and gun with.

The CZ75-Auto can one-shot people at close range even if they have head armor. It s one of the most powerful weapons in the game, but it s incredibly hard to control. It holds 12 bullets per magazine and it shoots really fast. This means that you have to lurk around corners and catch people off guard. You ll most likely only get one chance, so make the most of it. If you manage to kill an enemy with either an AWP or an assault rifle you ve done significant damage to the other team s economy and it was a good investment to buy the CZ75-Auto.

 Five-Seven

The Five-Seven can be equipped instead of the CZ75-Auto in the loadout menu for the counter-terrorist side. It holds 20 bullets and can kill armored players with a single shot to the head. It s low spread and high armor penetration makes it great to spam bullets with at close range. If you re a bit farther away from your target you should go for slower taps instead. At only $500 the Five-Seven is a great alternative to the P250 in the second round if you are feeling confident that you can take out at least one enemy.

 The Desert Eagle

One of the game s most iconic weapons. Over the years the Desert Eagle has given us a lot of highlight videos to enjoy and envy. I m looking at you, Happy.

The Desert Eagle costs $700, making it the most expensive pistol in the game. It s really accurate at medium range and fairly accurate at long range as well and famous for its incredible one-shot potential. You can buy the Desert Eagle if you re a great aimer and you know you can afford a full buy on the following round or if your team decides to force buy. It is a real hand cannon, so don t underestimate its power. Master it and your opponents will have reasons to fear you even if you can t afford the bigger toys.

Find all of our other Counter-Strike: Global Offensive guides here:

Inferno Counter-Terrorist guideInferno Terrorist guideCache Counter-Terrorist guideCache Terrorist guideOverpass Counter-Terrorist guideOverpass Terrorist guideCobblestone Counter-Terrorist guideCobblestone Terrorist guideTrain Counter-Terrorist guideTrain Terrorist guideMirage Counter-Terrorist guideMirage Terrorist guideDust2 Counter-Terrorist guideDust2 Terrorist guideSupport role guideEntry fragger role guideLurker role guideAWPer role guideTeam leader guideSMGs guideSniper rifles guideAssault rifles guide