The European Tour continues at apace and after the thrills and spills of the second event of the season last weekend the third one comes thick and fast this weekend. Once again the elite in the game head to Germany, this time for the German Darts Open.
This is the first time this tournament has been held so we will determine the inaugural champion over the course of the weekend with Michael van Gerwen looking for a second title in as many weeks.
The Format
We got through all the qualifying rounds on Friday leaving us with 32 men battling it out over the weekend. The last 32 takes place across two sessions on Saturday before the last 16 on Sunday afternoon. The tournament concludes with the quarter finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday evening. As ever all matches are the best of 11 legs.
Top Half
Last week’s champion Michael van Gerwen is in the top half this week. He is joined in it by fellow seeds Simon Whitlock, Ian White, Kim Huybrechts, Steve West, Michael Smith, Joe Cullen and Benito van de Pas.
There are a few very dangerous qualifiers in this half of the draw too not least Mervyn King and Darren Webster. Ronny Huybrechts, Adam Hunt, Warrick Scheffer, Rob Cross, Paul Nicholson and Vincent van der Voort make up the rest of the men in the top half.
Bottom Half
Peter Wright is the biggest seed in the bottom half of the draw. He will be looking to make up for a quarter final exit last weekend. Opposing him from a seeding point of view are Cristo Reyes, Alan Norris, Gerwyn Price, Dave Chisnall, Jelle Klaasen, Mensur Suljovic and Stephen Bunting.
There are some tasty qualifiers in this half of the draw too with Christian Kist and Dimitri van den Bergh potentially very dangerous. Bernd Roith, Mark Walsh, Nathan Aspinall, James Richardson, Krzysztof Ratajski and the talented teen Nico Blum complete the line up.
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Betting
I’m going with a couple of outrights this weekend. Naturally they are both in the bottom half away from Michael van Gerwen. Dave Chisnall had a brilliant night in the Premier League on Thursday night and he looks to have an ideal draw to build on that this weekend. An injured Jelle Klaasen, out of touch Mensur Suljovic and off colour Stephen Bunting represent a nice quarter and I expect Chisnall to progress to at least the semi-final. It is anyone’s event from there so Chisnall is my main bet.
I can’t resist a cheeky punt on Alan Norris to come through his quarter at an inflated price of 66/1. He is too good to be those odds in any tournament these days let alone one in which van Gerwen is in the other half of the draw. When Norris is on it he can power score with the best of them as shown by a tournament win and three other semi-finals in 2017 already. He’s too big to ignore.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall to win German Darts Open (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 13.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back A.Norris to win German Darts Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
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