Australian Damien "kpii" Chok has helped his team to a second-place finish in The International 2017, an esports tournament for the game Dota 2.

The International 2017, held in Seattle, Washington, offered the largest prize pool in esports history with $US24 million ($30 million) on offer to the 18 teams.

Despite finishing second, Chok's Chinese-based team, Newbee, won $US3,936,117.

The winning team, Dutch side Team Liquid, collected more than $US10 million.

Chok's team was one of the favourites to take out the tournament but was undone in the final by Team Liquid.

The teams competed in front of cheering fans inside the 17,000-seat KeyArena for the 10-day tournament with the games also being streamed online.

In Dota 2, players compete as part of a team of five in an arena-style game.

Each player controls a different character, known as a "hero". All heroes have their own special abilities. To win, a team must destroy its opponent's base, known as an "Ancient".

Each team's Ancient is on a different side of a map and players battle across the map to get to the opposing Ancient.

Players control their hero and use their special abilities to defeat their opponents while trying to collect bonuses that will give them an advantage.

The International 2017 is just one of many e-sports events offering large prize pools for talented gamers.

Football's governing body FIFA hosts the FIFA Interactive World Cup as one of its official tournaments with players from around the world playing against each other on EA Sports' FIFA video game.

Many large companies and sporting teams around the world are also beginning to invest in the sport.

This year, AFL team the Adelaide Crows bought an e-sports team as did US basketball team the Philadelphia 76ers.

The next major Dota 2 tournament will be held in Hamburg, Germany, in late October.