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September20September 20, 2018

Mighty Mike Favourite For Champions League of Darts

The world’s eight best players head to Brighton this weekend for the third ever Champions League of Darts. This year’s tourney is a new event for Brighton, having replaced Cardiff which hosted the previous two events in 2016 and 2017.
And it was in the Welsh capital a year ago that Mensur Suljovic broke his PDC title duck as he defied pre-tournament odds of 40/1 to take down the tournament, his first ever major televised title. One year earlier, the inaugural event in 2016 out to be one of the final tournament wins of Phil Taylor’s illustrious career.

This year, the Champions League — the only PDC event to be shown on the BBC — brings the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and World Champion Rob Cross together as they all attempt to lift the trophy for the first time at the Brighton Centre.

Arrows will be in the air from 13:15 this Saturday with the event drawing to a close on Sunday night. The top seven players in the world are all guaranteed to play, as is the defending champion, Mensur Suljovic, who already had a guaranteed place courtesy of being ranked in the top seven, allowing a spot to open up for the world number eight Dave Chisnall.

The groups were drawn as following:

Group A

Michael van Gerwen
Gary Anderson
Daryl Gurney
Dave Chisnall

Group B

Peter Wright
Rob Cross
Mensur Suljovic
Simon Whitlock.

The winners — and losers for that matter — of the afternoon session meet in the evening session. The remaining group stage fixtures are played on Sunday afternoon with the semi-finals and final in the Sunday evening.

Champions League Of Darts betting tips

As ever, Michael van Gerwen is the favourite but this talent-filled round-robin event should provide plenty of upsets. That said, Mighty Mike’s short price of 5/6 at Betway is no surprise given that the Dutchman performs well in this type of shoot-out event and has enjoyed another bumper season. In fact, the most surprising thing about MVG in this event is that he is still yet to win it. Does this make him even more dangerous this year? Possibly.

In contrast, world number two Peter Wright — 15/8 to top Group B — has had a torrid season, which is why Betway have let his price for the overall win drift out to 15/2. That is still an attractive offer, considering Snakebite is reckoned to be the second best player in the world. 10/11 is the price for any member of the field to win that isn’t named Michael van Gerwen.

Personally, my own money will be going on Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson given we have seen fleeting moments of his brilliant best this season. Anderson has been drawn in the same group as MVG and the two are priced at 5/2 and 4/11 to win their groups, respectively. But, if like me, you are looking to back Anderson for an outright victory then 4/1 are the magic numbers you are looking for.

Reigning champion Mensur Suljovic has been priced at a tasty looking 10/1 for a repeat victory, while those that predict Rob Cross to make another surprise win will be pleased to see Betway value him at 11/2. Bringing up the field are Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall, both 33/1, and Simon Whitlock, who is ranked as a 50/1 shot.

September13September 13, 2018

Ian ‘Diamond’ White Claims First European Tour Title Win; 2019 PDC Schedule Released

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

Darts fans were treated to a surprise winner last week when Ian White won his first ever PDC European Tour title at the MECC in Maastricht. In doing so, he beat another surprise package, world number 56 Ricky Evans, by winning 8-5 in the Dutch Darts Championship final.

The 48-year-old from Stoke, ranked 13th in the world, had already recorded a superb triumph over Peter Wright in the last four and went on to average a mere 89 in the final. Despite the low average, it proved to be enough as he made the most of Evans’ 13 missed doubles from 18 shots. Amazingly, White’s win was also recorded six years to the day since he reached his first European Tour final in 2012. In that match, he lost in the final of the German Darts Masters 6-3 to Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis, but this time he was determined to get the win.

A recap of the MECC

Playing in his 63rd European Tour event, White began his road to the final with a 102.26 average in a 6-4 victory over Arron Monk before reaching the quarter-finals, courtesy of an outstanding 6-2 victory over Mervyn King. He then moved on to get his revenge over the two-time World Champion and fellow potter Adrian Lewis in the quarter-finals before successfully getting the better of Snakebite in the semis.

28-year-old Ricky ‘Rapid’ Evans’ brilliant run to his first PDC ranking final — his first in nearly five years — saw him record impressive victories over Jan Dekker, Steve West, William O’Connor, Joe Cullen and Ritchie Edhouse, before his meet-up with ‘Diamond’ White in the final. He also established himself as a firm crowd favourite thanks to his ‘Baby Shark’-inspired walk-on music.

Once there, both players made a strong start with White scoring first thanks to a 14-dart hold of throw. Evans responded in kind by duly hitting back with a 13-darter. From there, he grew stronger, recording the first break of the match to go 2-1 up, only for White to hit straight back with an 11-darter to level the score.

The game continued with serve for the next few legs until White’s 14-darter cracked his rival and opened up a two-leg advantage for the first time. Evans then took out a double 16 with his last dart to break throw and keep the game alive. It wasn’t to last long, however, as White immediately broke back before holding throw to move within a leg of victory, which came two legs later after he pinned tops for the title. For White, that meant that he has now won 10 PDC titles in total.

Elsewhere, William O’Connor inflicted world number one Michael van Gerwen’s first Last 32 exit in Europe in almost three years when he somehow beat the world number one 6-1.

2019 PDC schedule announced

The 2019 PDC calendar has now been published and it includes over 200 days of darts. Highlights include an expanded Darts Premier League, which now stretches to 17 nights and includes doubleheader in Rotterdam.

This year’s UK Open format has been tweaked to include 128 Tour Card Holders, 16 Challenge Tour Order of Merit Qualifiers plus 16 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers. The Rileys Qualifiers were the same route taken by current World Champion Rob Cross when he turned professional before stunning the world last January.

Prague will join the list of European Tour hosts alongside established destinations in Germany, the Netherlands, Gibraltar and Austria. Following a successful inaugural event in Copenhagen, the European Tour will be returning to Denmark for the second time. Amsterdam will also be hosting a PDC televised event for the first time.

Next year’s World Cup of Darts will take place in Hamburg, while Blackpool’s World Matchplay retains its traditional date in late July. In the autumn of 2019, the Darts Champions League and the European Championship will follow the World Grand Prix.

The Grand Slam of Darts will then be held in Wolverhampton before the Players Championship Finals in Minehead in November. Finally, the World Darts Championship will close the season out over the Christmas holidays, although no starting date has yet been announced.

January

1 (London) World Championship Final

February

1 – 3 (Milton Keynes) The Masters
7 (Newcastle) Premier League Darts Matchday 1
14 (Glasgow) Premier League Darts Matchday 2
21 (Dublin) Premier League Darts Matchday 3
28 (Exeter) Premier League Darts Matchday 4

March

1 – 3 (Minehead) UK Open
7 (Leeds) Premier League Darts Matchday 5
14 (Nottingham) Premier League Darts Matchday 6
21 (Berlin, Germany) Premier League Darts Matchday 7
22 – 24 (Leverkusen, Germany) European Tour 1
27 (Rotterdam, Netherlands) Premier League Darts Matchday 8
28 (Rotterdam, Netherlands) Premier League Darts Matchday 9
29 – 31 (Hildesheim, Germany) European Tour 2

April

4 (Belfast) Premier League Darts Matchday 10
11 (Liverpool) Premier League Darts Matchday 11
18 (Cardiff) Premier League Darts Matchday 12
20 – 22 (Munich, Germany) European Tour 3
25 (Birmingham ) Premier League Darts Matchday 13
26 – 28 (Saarbrücken, Germany) European Tour 4

May

2 (Manchester) Premier League Darts Matchday 14
3 – 5 (Graz, Austria) European Tour 5
9 (Sheffield) Premier League Darts Matchday 15
10 – 12 (Sindelfingen, Germany) European Tour 6
16 (Aberdeen) Premier League Darts Matchday 16
23 (London) Premier League Darts Play-Offs
24 – 26 (TBC, Netherlands) European Tour 7

June

6 – 9 (Hamburg, Germany) World Cup
14 – 16 (Copenhagen, Denmark) European Tour 8
28 – 30 (Prague, Czech Republic) European Tour 9

July

20 – 28 (Blackpool) World Matchplay

August

3 (Hildesheim, Germany ) Players Championship 21
4 (Hildesheim, Germany) Players Championship 22
30 – Sep 1 (Vienna, Austria) European Tour 10

September

6 – 8 (Mannheim, Germany) European Tour 11
13 – 15 (Riesa, Germany) European Tour 12
27 – 29 (Gibraltar) European Tour 13

October

6 – 12 (Dublin) World Grand Prix
19 – 20 (VENUE TBC) Champions League
24 – 27 (Göttingen, Germany) European Championship

November

1 – 3 (Amsterdam, Netherlands) World Series Finals
49 – 17 (Wolverhampton) Grand Slam of Darts
22 – 24 (Minehead) Players Championship Finals

December

TBC (London) World Championship

September6September 6, 2018

Michael van Gerwen Wins 17th Title Of The Season

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

Michael van Gerwen beat James ‘Lethal Biscuit’ Wilson 8-6 at the German Darts Championship final in Hildesheim over the weekend to claim his seventh victory of the European Tour and his 17th title of the season so far.

Van Gerwen, who hit a 103.56 tournament average across the weekend, raced to a 3-0 lead in the final before the Yorkshireman notched up a tidy 44 to land his first leg.

MVG no match for Wilson

After MVG’s strong start, Wilson then wired the double 16 that would have rewarded him with a break of throw. Instead, the mistake allowed a clinical Mighty Mike to step up to land duel checkouts of 118 and 154 and open up a daunting 5-1 lead. Wilson wasn’t about to roll over and he soon dragged his way back into the match by claiming the next two legs on the spin to find himself at a more respectable 3-5 deficit. The fightback wasn’t to last however, as MVG soon impressed his dominance on the game once more to move within a leg of the title at 7-3.

True to form, Wilson refused to go down without a fight and amazingly reeled off three successive legs to give world number one a serious fright. Not that it showed on Van Gerwen, however. He merely shrugged it off and finally put an end to Wilson’s resistance with an 11-dart leg to lift the German Darts Championship for a second time.

Wilson’s strong performance against MVG was even more remarkable given that his Dutch opponent had only dropped one leg in his previous four matches combined after thrashing Cristo Reyes and Martin Schindler each 6-0 and Joe Cullen 7-0 in the semi finals. Only Dave Chisnall managed to claim a single leg against Mighty Mike in their quarter final match, in which he too was shot down 6-1.

Wilson’s route to the final saw him overcome hard fought ties against Jermaine Wattimena, Jonny Clayton, Robert Thornton and Ron Meulenkamp 6-2. He then overcame the odds to drop Mensur Suljovic 7-4 to set up his first ever European Final in what was a very strong performance for the 46-year-old who last year played under the nickname “The Jamie Dodger.”

Dutch Darts Championship Betting Tips

Coming up this weekend — September 7 to September 9 — we have the Dutch Darts Championships at the MECC in Maastricht. Suitably for Holland, one of their own is the standout favourite. Michael van Gerwen can be picked up for a best price of 8/13. It’s hard to see where his main challenger will come from, especially considering he will be on his own turf with his own army of fans in full support.

The second favourite is Peter Wright at a much more attractive 5/1, although he has had a messy 2018 and any faith in him has been severely tested this year. Enjoying a much better year is Mensur Suljovic, who can be backed at 12’s. Considerging that Betway’s each-way terms for this event pay out at 1/3 of the odds for the first two places, it’s probably worthwhile looking into backing the runner-up, for which Mensur stands a great chance.

Elsewhere, James Wade can be picked up at 22/1, before Adrian Lewis’ 25/1 and Daryl Gurney’s 28’s. Other potential long shots include Dave Chisnall at 28/1, Gerwyn Price and Simon Whitlock, who are both at 66/1 with online bookmakers Betway.