The European Tour season ends this weekend when the leading 32 players in the Order of Merit from the 13 qualifying events head to Dortmund for the European Championship over what should be four intense days of competition.
Michael van Gerwen ran off with the title 12 months ago and he will be looking to defend the title as the number one seed and with some big players not here this week he is odds on to keep hold of the crown.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2013 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Simon Whitlock
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Phil Taylor
2008 – Phil Taylor
The Format
This is a leg play tournament with the first round on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon being over the best of 11 legs. The second round is then played on Friday evening and Saturday evening over the best of 19 legs to set up a busy Sunday. Sunday afternoon is quarter final session which is the first to 10 legs with the semi-finals and the final all being the first to 11 in the evening play on Sunday.
Top Half
Michael van Gerwen goes in search of a fifth successive crown as the top seed and in turn from the top half of the draw. The other top eight seeded players in his half of the draw are Simon Whitlock who has a good record in Germany, Ian White and Joe Cullen who have both had encouraging seasons on the European Tour.
There are a number of stars seeded outside the top eight though so van Gerwen is not going to have an easy ride. Peter Wright is seeded nine so could be a quarter final opponent for the Dutchman while Michael Smith seeded 12 could face him in the semi-final. Rob Cross is another who could face MVG before the final while Dutch pair Jelle Klaasen and Danny Noppert are rounding into form nicely.
Bottom Half
It is Mensur Suljovic who is the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw. He is the second seed this weekend and is a real danger for the entire draw. Max Hopp, James Wade and Gerwyn Price make up the other men who are seeded in the top eight from the European Tour order of merit so this is very much the weaker of the two halves.
That is the case even with the likes of Daryl Gurney, Jonny Clayton, Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall and Kyle Anderson among the lower ranked seeds in the bottom half of the draw while Stephen Bunting and Darren Webster will look to do some damage as they head through the weekend.
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Betting
I think with the record of Michael van Gerwen in this tournament and the other top players in that top half we should be looking at the bottom portion of the draw for a couple of bets and two men catch my eye. Daryl Gurney hasn’t had the best of 2018s but he should have taken heart from his run to the semi-final in Dublin and that should have fired himself up nicely for a strong tilt this week. At his best he can outscore anyone and he has shown in events like Vegas and the Premier League that he isn’t out of place at this level. We won’t get Gurney at 25/1 to win a tournament missing the likes of Gary Anderson and Raymond Barneveld too often so I’m not going to miss out on the chance here.
James Wilson put up a decent run in the World Grand Prix too and he has made the quarter final of a Players Championship event since then to further confirm his decent form. He made the final of a European Tour event in Germany just last month and also has a semi-final appearance on the floor in that time too so he arrives here playing very well and if anything happens to Mensur Suljovic, Wilson’s quarter would suddenly become wide open. Wilson has a run to the quarter finals that sees him facing Jonny Clayton and then the winner of Max Hopp against Willie O’Connor. You can’t ask for much more than that these days and at 80/1 I’ll pay to see if he can take advantage.
Tips
Back D.Gurney to win European Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Unibet (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Wilson to win European Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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