There is one tournament before the PDC World Championship takes place and it begins on Friday when the Players Championship Finals begins in Minehead. This tournament is the traditional appetiser for the big one and has seen many different winners and finalists in the past and all eyes will be on Butlins to see who goes all the way this weekend.
Recent Winners
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Gary Anderson
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Kevin Painter
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – Paul Nicholson
2009 – Phil Taylor
*Note there were two renewals of the event in 2011.
The Format
The tournament has increase this year. Usually we are used to just 32 players going to the final venue but this year the field size has doubled and we have 64 players heading to Minehead. Once thing that hasn’t changed is the Players Championship Order of Merit is used for this tournament so the seedings are different to normal events.
Two stages are in use for the opening two days. The entire last 64 is played over two sessions on Friday with the last 32 and the last 16 on both stages on Saturday’s two sessions. The tournament heads into the main arena for Sunday’s conclusion with the quarter finals in the afternoon and the semis and final in the evening.
The first two rounds are the best of 11 legs with the last 16 and the quarter finals up to the best of 19 and as with the other ITV events the semis and final will be played out over the best of 21 legs.
Top Quarter
It almost goes without that Michael van Gerwen is the number one seed and heads this quarter. He will be looking to defend his title and keep up his quite remarkable run of form. Mensur Suljovic is the main seed to danger him with Joe Cullen and Josh Payne the other top 16 seeds.
The lower seeds include Adrian Lewis and it will be interesting if he and van Gerwen meet in the quarter final. Vincent van der Voort, Ronny Huybrechts and Cristo Reyes complete the seeds while of those outside the top 32 in the order of merit Raymond Barneveld and Robert Thornton are in this section so this looks very competitive.
Second Quarter
The top seed in this quarter is the fourth seed and that is Simon Whitlock this weekend. Gerwyn Price is the fifth seed so he is in this section too and the other players from the top 16 of the order of merit here are Steve West and Chris Dobey so there is a chance for someone to come through here.
Other seeded players in this quarter include Christian Kist, Justin Pipe, Darren Webster and Alan Norris and they are joined by some competent others not least Michael Smith who qualified as the 45th player in the rankings. This looks the most open and weakest quarter of the lot.
Third Quarter
This one could well be labelled as the most competitive of the lot. The second seed and indeed the leading player ranking wise in this quarter is Benito van de Pas. He will be joined by Peter Wright, Stephen Bunting and Kim Huybrechts as far as the top 16 in the rankings go.
They’re not the only star players on show in this quarter though. James Wade, Gary Anderson, Daryl Gurney, Mervyn King and Ronnie Baxter are all housed in this part of the draw so whoever comes through this bit will have earned their spot in the semi-finals.
Bottom Quarter
Ian White comes into the tournament third in the rankings with Dave Chisnall also in the top 10. They are joined by James Wilson and Steve Beaton from the top 16 while those just below that status include Robbie Green, Jelle Klaasen and Mark Webster.
Against them in the opening round are players like Terry Jenkins, Keegan Brown and Kevin Painter so this looks like another competitive section which will see plenty of drama.
Betting
Those who have been on board for the last few weeks will know I’m in no rush to be taking on van Gerwen at the present time so both of my outrights this week will come from the other half of the draw and given the potential for shocks this tournament has I’ll try a couple at bigger prices.
Kim Huybrechts was a finalist in this tournament in 2012 so that will give him a bit of confidence and belief and I’m sure sitting out the Grand Slam will have hurt him and fired him up to deliver the goods both here and in London next month. Huybrechts has a tough quarter there is no getting away from that but he’s in the easier half of that quarter so his run to the quarter final isn’t too bad. At 60/1 he’s worth taking to have a decent weekend.
Jelle Klaasen made the semi-final of the UK Open here earlier in the year so he is another who will have positive memories on arrival for this tournament. He has shown throughout the year that he can come through and trouble the best and he looks to be in a perfect quarter to do that. No match is easy at this level but he could have harder matches in the best of 11 format and when the bigger tests arrive he should be in a nice rhythm so I can see him going well this weekend.
Tips
Back J.Klaasen to win Players Championship Finals (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
Back K.Huybrechts to win Players Championship Finals (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 61.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
