A $33 million esports tournament is now underway, and the prize pool could keep growing. Here's everything you need to know about 'The International'

The International includes qualified teams from six regions:

North America: Evil Geniuses, Newbee

South America: Infamous

Europe: Team OG, Alliance, Team Liquid, Chaos eSports Club, Ninjas in Pajamas

China: Vici Gaming, Keen Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, PSG.LGD

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Virtus.Pro, Natus Vincere (Na'Vi)

Southeast Asia: Fnatic, TNC Predator, Mineski

Each of the five players on a Dota 2 team has a specific role, similar to a basketball team. For example, a "carry" player will spend the early part of a game building their strength so they can dominate the late stages of a match, while support players make sure the carry stays safe and puts pressure on the opponents early on.

Teams typically handpick players for a specific role, and the team captain selects characters for all five players at the start of each match.

This year's defending champs, Team OG, completed their roster together just two months before The International began. Their sponsor, Red Bull, put together a feature-length film called "Against the Odds" documenting the team's amazing run to the championship.

The International will separate the 18 teams into two groups. Each team in Group A and Group B will play the other teams in their groups twice, and each win will earn them a seeding point for the main event.

The two teams with the least points will be eliminated when the group stage ends. The remaining 16 teams will be placed into the Main Event tournament bracket based on their seeding points.

The eight teams with the best records will end up in the Upper Bracket, where all matches are best-of-three. The other eight teams with worse records will be placed in the Lower Bracket, where they face elimination.

Teams in the first round of the lower bracket will play a single elimination match, while matches in the later rounds will be best of 3. Teams that lose in the Upper Bracket will fall to the Lower Bracket, where they will face elimination.

In the end, the final team in the Lower Bracket will play the final team in the Upper Bracket in a best-of-five match for the $15 million first-place prize.

You can see all of the rules for match play on the official "Dota 2" website.

Up until 2018, The International was held in Seattle each year, near Valve's corporate headquarters. The tournament branched out last year and moved to Vancouver, Canada, for the tournament, welcoming nearly 20,000 spectators to the Rogers Arena.

This year, The International will shift to an entirely new continent, with the main event being held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. China has a massive "Dota 2" community and the arena has room to host 18,000 spectators for the five-day event.

While The International will be streaming live on multiple Twitch channels, players can get a more hands-on experience by watching the live feed from their own computer. If you login to "Dota 2," you can choose between multiple commentary teams in different languages, move the camera around yourself, and even check out live stats in the game client.

People who bought a battle pass and contributed to The International prize pool can also earn extra rewards by predicting match results.

The International will kick off with four matches starting at 9 a.m. on August 15 in Shanghai. There's a 12-hour time difference between Shanghai and North America's East Coast, and quite a few matches will take place overnight for players in the Western hemisphere.

Since multiple matches will be taking place at the same time, you can follow several streams in multiple languages on Twitch.TV.

You can check the official "Dota 2" website for the full schedule of matches; times appear to be based on the US East Coast time, or GMT -5, but they might change automatically based on your location.