Glen Durrant Defends BDO World Championships Title

Glen Durrant Defends BDO World Championships Title

BDO Championship

Last Sunday, Glen Durrant successfully defended his BDO world title after he capitalised on Mark McGeeney’s double miss as he was throwing for his own victory. The match couldn’t have been tighter, but McGeeney’s missed two darts for the title allowing Durrant to step up and land his tourney winning shot at double three, giving him a 7-6 victory at Lakeside.

The first eight sets went down to the throw with Durrant, 47, not taking the lead in the match until the ninth. The defending champion went on to lead 6-4 before McGeeney fought back to level at 6-6. Even then, Durrant misfired a host of shots at double before eventually landing the brilliant 149 checkout he required to move to within a leg of the title. Missing his first three darts, Durrant finally took out the double three following McGeeney’s collapse.

Durrant now becomes only the ninth player to have won more than one BDO world title joining Eric Bristow (five), Raymond van Barneveld (four), John Lowe and Martin Adams (three), and Ted Hankey, Phil Taylor, Scott Waites and Jocky Wilson (two).

Duzza can also be expected to add to his tally in the BDO after reluctantly calling time on his long-expected switch to the PDC. Admitting the “dream” move is over, Durrant said: “I’m unfortunately BDO for life. That’s probably hugely disrespectful to everybody but I did have a dream to do a Rob Cross. At my age, I’m not waiting another year so I’m going to try and win this title again and stick down that route.”

This will not be a career path shared by 31-year-old Jamie Hughes, who has confirmed that he will be moving over to the PDC, attempting to qualify by winning a PDC Tour Card at the Q-School.

Speaking of the PDC, the 2018 Masters is the next major darting event, opening up the 2018 schedule. Getting underway in Milton Keynes on January 27, events will be broadcast on ITV Sport. Qualifiers and match schedule is listed below.

2018 Masters Qualifiers

1. Michael van Gerwen
2. Peter Wright
3. Rob Cross
4. Gary Anderson
5. Daryl Gurney
6. Mensur Suljovic
7. Dave Chisnall
8. Simon Whitlock
9. James Wade
10. Raymond van Barneveld
11. Michael Smith
12. Gerwyn Price
13. Benito van de Pas
14. Ian White
15. Alan Norris
16. Kim Huybrechts

Draw Bracket

(1) Michael van Gerwen v (16) Kim Huybrechts
(8) Simon Whitlock v (9) James Wade
(5) Daryl Gurney v (12) Gerwyn Price
(4) Gary Anderson v (13) Benito van de Pas
(2) Peter Wright v (15) Alan Norris
(7) Dave Chisnall v (10) Raymond van Barneveld
(6) Mensur Suljovic v (11) Michael Smith
(3) Rob Cross v (14) Ian Whit

Schedule of Play

Friday January 26

  • Dave Chisnall v Raymond van Barneveld
  • Mensur Suljovic v Michael Smith
  • Rob Cross v Ian White
  • Peter Wright v Alan Norris

Saturday January 27

  • Simon Whitlock v James Wade
  • Daryl Gurney v Gerwyn Price
  • Gary Anderson v Benito van de Pas
  • Michael van Gerwen v Kim Huybrechts

Sunday January 28

  • Peter Wright/Alan Norris v Dave Chisnall/Raymond van Barneveld
  • Mensur Suljovic/Michael Smith v Rob Cross/Ian White
  • Daryl Gurney/Gerwyn Price v Gary Anderson/Benito van de Pas
  • Michael van Gerwen/Kim Huybrechts v Simon Whitlock/James Wade

Semi-Finals

Finals begin at 7 PM on January 28

Final

Follows the Semi-Finals

Read More
BDO Lakeside World Professional Championships

BDO Lakeside World Professional Championships

BDO Lakeside World Professional Championships

Over at the Lakeside Country Club, and very much in the shadow of the PDC, there is the annual and completely separate World Professional Championships, hosted by the BDO (British Darts Organisation). It may not be the glitzy, glamour show of the PDC and the Ally Pally, but for many Lakeside’s biggest event represents the true spirit of darts with top talents to match.

On that note, it would, of course, be remiss of a Darts betting site to ignore this darting spectacular, so let’s take a look at the runners and riders of next year’s ‘other’ World Darts Championships.

40th World Professional Championships

Those looking to watch the event will find the tournament live on Channel 4, who took over coverage from the BBC last year. This year’s WPC will be held between the 6th of January 6 to the 14th. In that time, the BDO’s top 54 professionals will be challenging for the much-coveted trophy.

This is the 40th run of the championships, having first been staged in 1978. The BDO teamed up with the Lakeside Country Club in 1986 and have hosted the event thereafter while taking over as the main title sponsor in 2004.

Durrant defends his title

Tournament favourite and last year’s champ, Glen ‘Duzza’ Durrant is 5/4 with Betway to win the tournament outright. This in a year where he has also banked the World Darts Trophy in Utrecht, Holland, plus narrowly losing to the PDC’s Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright in the Quarter Finals of the recent Grand Slam, a tourney that incorporates players from both codes.

Long rumoured noises of a switch to the PDC have not yet materialised despite the PDC recently abandoning entry fees for Players Championship events, UK Open Qualifiers and European Tour events. Durrant himself has admitted that any likely deflection depends “on how it goes this year at Lakeside”.

Favourite though he rightly is, he isn’t number 1 on the block right now, that honour falls to Mark McGeeney which makes Betway’s 20/1 an intriguing proposition.

A look at other top favorites

The second favorite is another on the PDC radar, Danny Noppert, who is available at 8/1 and I think might prove to be a wise punt. Given Michael van Gerwen’s likely dominance over at the Ally Pally, a Dutch double is definitely worth a shot.

As an aside, the odds of a Dutch double recently took a boost with the sorry news that Peter Wright was rushed to hospital with suspected gallstones last Thursday and is now a doubt for the World Championship. According to a Tweet from the player’s wife, Jo, Betway’s 10/1 third favourite is now back at home but won’t be taking part in any competitions until he is well enough. We wish him all the best of course.

Back at the BDO, Scott Mitchell is at 10’s, while Cameron Menzies and Jamie Hughes are each 14/1. For 22/1, Scott Waites can be picked up, a few points lighter than the 25/1 offered on Dean Reynolds, followed by the old favourite Martin Adams and a 33/1 price tag.

As for the format, at less than a week long, the event is considerably shorter than the PDC’s winter offering and doesn’t start until after the PDC Championships have finished on New Year’s Day.

BDO Players World Championships draw

Last Wednesday, the draw for the BDO Players World Championship Draw was announced. As expected, there are some very interesting matches for bettors. Number one seed and reigning champion Glen Durrant will begin his campaign with a match against the winner of a preliminary round game between Gary Robson and Pengiran Mohamed, who is the first player ever from Brunei to compete here.

Jersey Open champion, Scott Waites, also a two-time Lakeside champ, has been intriguingly paired with fifth seed Ross Montgomery, the British Open and Wolverhampton Open title holder. The other ex-champion, Scott Mitchell meets Lithuanian chucker Darius Labanauskas.

Another exciting encounter should be the match-up between second seed Mark McGeeney and BDO legend and three-time Lakeside title winner Martin Adams. In this match, McGeeney is the inform player, but Adams — who is a seasoned pro — would be a popular winner in the likely case of a victory.

Preliminary Round

Pengiran Mohamed v Gary Robson
Umit Uygunsozlu v Chris Harris
Justin Thompson v Chris Gilliland
Dennis Nilsson v Jeffrey Sparidaans
Joe Chaney v Danny Noppert
Chris Landman v Derk Telnekes
Craig Caldwell v Daniel Day
David Cameron v Michael Unterbuchner

First Round

Darryl Fitton (16) v Thompson/Gilliland
Glen Durrant (1) v Mohamed/Robson
Jim Williams (9) v Nilsson/Sparidaans
Cameron Menzies (8) v Conan Whitehead
Dean Reynolds (12) v Uygunsozlu/Harris
Ross Montgomery (5) v Scott Waites
Andy Baetens (13) v Scott Baker
Scott Mitchell (4) v Darius Labanauskas
James Hurrell (15) v Chaney/Noppert
Mark McGeeney (2) v Martin Adams
Willem Mandigers (10) v Nick Kenny
Wesley Harms (7) v Wayne Warren
Richard Veenstra (11) v Kyle McKinstry
Geert de Vos (6) v Landman/Telnekes
Martin Phillips (14) v Caldwell/Day
Jamie Hughes (3) v Cameron/Unterbuchner

Read More

A Double Dutch World Championship Is Our Top Darts Betting Tip

BDO World Championship

 

Need your darts betting fix? Don’t we all; we established last week it’s a jam-packed 2017, though, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long!

As we wait for the PDC Darts Masters at the end of next week, there is the small matter of the BDO World Championships to finish off. The second round drew to close at Lakeside on Thursday and is, at last, a tournament that Michael Van Gerwen cannot win.

BDO World Championship of Darts betting tips

Scott ‘Scotty Too Hotty’ Waites launched his BDO world title defence on Tuesday and duly oversaw Dennis Harbour without any problems at all, running out the 3-1 winner. Waites, the reigning and two-time Lakeside king, remains 10/1 at with Betway to reclaim his crown.

Up until this point, he has had a disappointing season winning only the European Classic since his championship twelve months ago, but he and his following know that Lakeside traditionally brings out the best in him.

The top seed by some distance, however, is Glen Durrant; you’ll find him evens at both Bet365 and Betway after his second-round win against Paul Hogan. A defiant Durrant rallied hard to claim his place in the quarter-finals after coming back from three sets down to defeat Hogan 4-3.

Second-favourite and third seed, Dutchman Danny ‘Noppie’ Noppert, can make it a World Championship double for the Netherlands by following Michael Van Gerwen and lifting the best trophy in his code. At 4/1 across the board, it is worth a punt and is the best darts betting tip on offer this week.

Noppert, winner of five titles this year including the Scottish and German Opens, made his hotly-anticipated Lakeside debut where he hogged all the glory against David Cameron (no, not that one) in the opening tie of Tuesday’s afternoon session. It is surely only a matter of time before he steps up to the PDC Tour.

Great darts betting odds at Bet365

For those a little further down the field, Jamie Hughes, who played in Wednesday’s evening session, represents the best of the betting with the 9/1 on offer at Bet365, the best price available on the Englishman.

The Netherlands’ Geert de Vos saw off the challenge of Scott Mitchell with a 4-2 win, and the other Dutchman in the betting now finds himself at 10/1, again at Bet365.

Elsewhere, crowd favourite and three-time champion Martin Adams is 13/1 at Bet365 to emerge victorious in Sunday’s final. ‘Wolfie’ took a step closer to that final Wednesday afternoon when he played against Jeff Smith and saw off the challenge with relative ease, finishing at 4-1 to move into Friday’s Quarter Finals.

Read More