The opening session of the UK Open darts tournament from Butlins in Minehead on Friday sees the first and the second rounds being played ahead of the big guns coming into the tournament in the evening session.
All the matches in this afternoon session will be over the best of 11 legs with the pub qualifiers mixing it with the professionals who didn’t qualify well enough to make it through to the third round.
First Round
There are some decent names in the first round this year. On the main board the highlights are Antonio Alcinas against James Richardson and Paul Hogan vs Keegan Brown. Jamie Caven is also on show there.
Dean Reynolds, Alex Roy and Wayne Jones are in action on the second board while on the outside boards crowds at the venue will be able to see the likes of Alan Tabern, James Wilson, Brian Dawson, Ronnie Baxter and Steve Maish.
Second Round
Not all of the matches in this round have been confirmed yet but we do know some of them with one in particular on the main board that is very juicy. It sees the former Lakeside champions Mark Webster and Stephen Bunting colliding. Daryl Gurney is also on show on the main stage in this round.
Elsewhere in the second round we will see the likes of Kirk Shepherd, David Pallett, Terry Jenkins, Andrew Gilding and Devon Petersen among others to conclude a busy afternoon.
Betting
This is a hectic tournament so it is important to pick and choose your betting opportunities and for me there are two that I like over the course of both rounds in this first session of play.
In the first round I’m surprised that Ryan Meikle is an outsider against Vincent Kamphuis. Kamphuis has been around a little while now but he hasn’t ever achieved too much. Meikle is a young player and we regularly see how good the youngsters who come through the development tour are. Meikle has won an event on that tour this year already and that winning momentum can serve him well here.
In the second round I fancy Stephen Bunting to get the better of Mark Webster. Bunting needs a good weekend because he defends semi-final money from two years ago so it is imperative he comes through this one. Things like that can really focus the mind too. Neither man has gone too well so far this year hence why they are both playing in this round of the tournament but Bunting just has that extra bit of class that can guide him through.
Tips
WON – Back R.Meikle to beat V.Kamphuis for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with BetVictor
Back S.Bunting to beat M.Webster for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
Back them here:
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