The biggest show in darts gets underway at the Alexandra Palace on Thursday as the PDC World Darts Championship begins with four first round matches. As is now the tradition the defending champion is involved in the opening night of the tournament which means we get an early sighting in the event of Gary Anderson.
He is the main course of the evening but the support cast isn’t too bad so we should be set for a thrilling beginning of the event. All the matches at this stage are the best of five sets.
Jamie Caven vs Kevin Painter
40 Age 49
30 PDC Ranking 46
Last 16 WC Best Final
Last 16 Last Year Last 32
7 Head to Head 4
The tournament begins with a battle of two fading forces I think it is fair to say. With that in mind this is a big competition for both men. The one bright spot for them both is that they are only defending £12,000 in this event and they are already guaranteed £10,000 of that so whoever wins this will put £5,000 on their ranking.
It is easy to gauge the form of these two because they play in every tournament. Jamie Caven hasn’t been past the last 32 of any tournament since the middle of May which is ridiculous for someone with his talent. Painter has had three last 16s in that time but nothing else to shout about.
I’m going to give Kevin Painter the benefit of the doubt though. He seems to lose a lot of close matches which can happen these days so his form may well be better than his results suggest. It certainly looked that way when he matched Dave Chisnall for long periods in Minehead a couple of weeks ago.
Painter knows how to get himself up for this tournament and I think he is the better player of the two despite their head to head although even then Painter has won three of the last four. The Artist was given a back door entry into this tournament when Kyle Anderson had to withdraw and I think he can take advantage of that with a win here.
Jamie Lewis vs Mick McGowan
25 Age 49
31 PDC Ranking 72
Last 64 WC Best Last 32
Last 64 Last Year Last 64
0 Head to Head 0
The second match of the night could be the most evenly matches one of the evening as Jamie Lewis, slowly creeping up the rankings hosts the notoriously inconsistent but experienced Mick McGowan.
This will be Lewis’ fourth visit to the People’s Palace and he is still searching for his first win which is never a good thing. He hasn’t done much on TV in the past either so he could be a little vulnerable here. McGowan has threatened to do well on TV recently but keeps losing after a good performance.
I can’t really call this one. Lewis should win but having not won here before I’m in no rush to pile into him but McGowan could be brilliant or awful so I’ll sit this one out.
Gary Anderson vs Mark Frost
45 Age 45
2 PDC Ranking 76
Winner WC Best Tournament Debut
Winner Last Year DNQ
0 Head to Head 0
Gary Anderson begins his quest for three in a row against the man with the best nickname in sport. ‘Frosty the Throwman’ makes his debut in the tournament here and it is what you could describe as a baptism of fire for him but he has nothing to lose.
All eyes will be on Anderson to see how he plays. We know he has been using glasses on the stage in recent tournaments and it will be interesting to see if he is more comfortable with them now. He should win this but he’ll want to play well to send out a bit of a message to the others in the tournament.
We’ve seen champions taken the distance in the first round in the past but I don’t expect that to be the case here although even Anderson has been scared by lower ranked opposition in the past. I think he’ll win here but at the prices I’ll let him win.
Michael Smith vs Ricky Evans
26 Age 26
11 PDC Ranking 49
QF WC Best Last 32
QF Last Year Last 32
6 Head to Head 0
Two of the best young players in the game meet in the final match of the night and this should be a great watch. Both are rapid fast throwers who pepper the 60. We’ve seen Evans play some outrageous darts on this stage but Smith has been at home here too.
Much has been and will be made of the form of Michael Smith going into this tournament and that is fair enough as there is no escaping it but I do think the set play format can suit him. Playing someone he has such dominance over should help too but I don’t think the previous record will bother Ricky Evans.
He is a straightforward bloke who just goes up and throws darts and when he is on it he can hit anything which makes him very dangerous to whoever he plays so this is a match I’m looking forward to.
In terms of a bet I like the 180s here. At 8.5 the line isn’t that high because you would think there is a fair bit of mileage in this one. Smith is a big 180 hitter and when Evans gets the first dart right it doesn’t take long for the next two to follow it in. I think we’ll get nine or more 180s here.
Tips
WON – Back K.Painter to beat J.Caven for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Smith vs R.Evans – Over 8.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back it here:
Boylesports are offering money back on selected markets if your player loses to a bullseye finish! Click the banner below to take advantage of this offer!!
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
