The countdown to the start of the PDC World Darts Championship is well and truly underway now but before the tournament begins there is time for us to go through the quarter betting to seek out the value in each section of the draw.
With at least 16 men in every quarter each section is like a tournament in itself and with that in mind the betting markets offer plenty of value. The beauty of betting on the quarters is we can get a winner before the New Year without needing to go anywhere near the final. We’ll go through the top quarter of the draw here.
The Draw
Michael van Gerwen v Ross Snook/Kim Viljanen
Cristo Reyes v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Stephen Bunting v Darren Webster
Simon Whitlock v Boris Koltsov/Dragutin Horvat
Mensur Suljovic v Ron Meulenkamp
Mark Webster v Joe Murnan
Robert Thornton v Zoran Lerchbacher/Simon Stevenson
Daryl Gurney v Jermaine Wattimena
Seeds
Michael van Gerwen is the main seed in this section and he is no bigger than 1/6 to come through the quarter but he never made it to the quarter final last year yet alone win the quarter so that is a warning sign. Mensur Suljovic, Robert Thornton and Stephen Bunting are the other seeds among the top 16.
Simon Whitlock is a tournament winner in 2016 and he is in this section while Mark Webster is a former semi-finalist in this tournament and has a world title to his name having won at Lakeside a few years ago. Daryl Gurney and Cristo Reyes are solid players.
Qualifiers
There are strong sets of qualifiers in this tournament but we’ve seen recently what Darren Webster has to offer. He has recently beaten Phil Taylor 5-0 at the Grand Slam and we all saw him give van Gerwen an almighty scare in the Players Championship Finals last four. Dimitri van den Bergh and Joe Murnan can be useful on their day.
Betting
Michael van Gerwen should win this quarter and win it fairly easily but whoever he faces in the last 16 he is going to have a tricky encounter so odds of 1/6 don’t interest me. Instead I’m going to take a tiny punt on someone else as van Gerwen has cramped the market so much every other price is heavily inflated.
Usually I try and avoid the massive favourite for as long as possible in the hope someone has got rid of him before then but this time I think hitting van Gerwen early is the better option as in theory the longer the format the surer thing he should become.
With that in mind I’m going to take a chance of Simon Whitlock at 20/1. In years gone by Whitlock has been 20/1 to win this tournament let alone a quarter and while he may not be the player that burst onto the PDC scene he is back in top form having won two tournaments and thrown two nine darters on the tour in the last three months.
Whitlock has a win over van Gerwen in 2016 and should have beaten him at the European Championship. I fully expect the Dutchman to win this quarter but there is enough to suggest Whitlock isn’t a forlorn hope and at the prices I’ll have a dabble to see if the unlikely happens.
Tips
Back S.Whitlock to win 1st Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
