We have reached the first weekend of 2018 which means the darting attention descends on the Lakeside Country Club in Surrey for the BDO World Darts Championship which gets underway on Saturday afternoon.
The best the BDO has to offer will head to the famous venue looking to win the biggest tournament in that code, one steeped in history and tradition with some of the best names ever to grace the game on its roll of honour.
Recent Winners
2017 – Glen Durrant
2016 – Scott Waites
2015 – Scott Mitchell
2014 – Stephen Bunting
2013 – Scott Waites
2012 – Christian Kist
2011 – Martin Adams
2010 – Martin Adams
2009 – Ted Hankey
2008 – Mark Webster
The Format
As with the PDC equivalent this tournament is played over the sets format. The preliminary round and first round are the best of five sets with the second round going up to the best of seven. The quarter finals are over the best of nine sets with two best of 11 sets semi-finals. The champion will then be decided over the best of 13 sets on the second Sunday of the tournament.
Top Half
This is where the defending champion Glen Durrant is housed as the number one seed. He is clearly the standout player in the BDO and is a massive runner if he wants to win this. I’m sure he does but if he loses before the semi-final he can move to the PDC which I’m sure he won’t be too downbeat over. The other seeds in this half are Darryl Fitton, Cameron Menzies, Jim Williams, former champion Scott Mitchell, Ross Montgomery, Dean Reynolds and Andy Baetens.
There are parts of this draw that is brutal and a reason for that is the quality of the qualifiers. Gary Robson, Darius Labanauskas, Scott Waites and Conan Whitehead lead the way in this half of the draw.
Bottom Half
Mark McGeeney goes into the tournament as the number two seed and he’ll be looking to justify his lofty position in the seedings but there are a number of top places also seeded in this half of the draw. There are only seven seeds with James Hurrell having pulled out of the event. Wesley Harms, Willem Mandigers, Jamie Hughes, Martin Phillips, Geert de Vos and Richard Veenstra make up the seeds here.
As with the top half the qualifiers in this section of the draw are top class. They include the three times champion Martin Adams who has a belter of a first round match against Mark McGeeney. The 2017 runner up and recent Finders Masters winner Danny Noppert is a qualifier this year too with the likes of Derk Telnekes and Kyle McKinstry looking to progress as unseeded players.
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Betting
I’ll go with one in each half this week in the hope that Glen Durrant does go early so that he can explore options away from the BDO. If that does happen, and it could very easily do with Darryl Fitton more than capable on day, then the Finders Masters runner up Jim Williams could be the man to take advantage.
Williams beat Durrant in that tournament so he has wins over him in him and he is one of the better players in this code. He’s had a couple of goes at Lakeside now whereby he should be comfortable with the surroundings and the pressure and expectation that comes with it. If the draw does open up do not be surprised if the Welshman takes advantage at a decent price given his recent form.
I can never resist a Dutch outsider in this tournament and Derk Telnekes fits the profile this year. He won the Belgium Open earlier in the season where he beat Kenny Neyens in the final. We saw Neyens compete with credit in the PDC World Championship. Telnekes has also made the semi-final of the German Open, England Open and Czech Open where Danny Noppert and Ross Montgomery were among his victims. In the Czech Open he lost in a decider to Scott Mitchell in the semi which is no shame. In 2016 he tried his hand on the PDC Development Tour where he saw off Martin Schindler and pushed Max Hopp to a decider. These are all good results and if he can bring his best to the Lakeside he could surprise the field in the same way Jelle Klaasen and Christian Kist did before him.
Tips
Back J.Williams to win BDO World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back D.Telnekes to win BDO World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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