We are in the middle of a busy period of darts action and after the European Tour headed for Denmark last weekend it is back in Germany for the upcoming weekend when the European Darts Matchplay takes place in Hamburg.
Michael van Gerwen surprisingly failed to win a tournament last weekend so he will be out to make sure he prevails in this one as he bids to defend his title. He is an overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy on Sunday.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – James Wade
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
The Format
We all know the European Tour format by now but just in case anyone is new to the party the seeded players take on a qualifier in the last 32 over two sessions of action on Saturday with the winners then playing out the last 16 on Sunday afternoon. Those matches are all the best of 11 legs, as are the quarter finals on Sunday evening. The semi-finals, also on Sunday evening are the best of 13 legs with the champion being crowned in the same session over the best of 15 legs.
Top Half
As the number one seed Michael van Gerwen headlines the top half of the draw this week. His biggest challenge could come from Simon Whitlock who was beaten in the final in Denmark although Daryl Gurney could have something to say about that. Ian White won a floor event in midweek and he is seeded in this half of the draw, as are James Wilson, Darren Webster, Stephen Bunting and Joe Cullen.
Max Hopp and Martin Schindler will look to do some damage from the qualifiers in front of their home crowds while it is good to see Robert Thornton make it back to this stage of a tournament. Ryan Joyce, Luke Humphries, Justin Pipe Robert Marijanovic and Darius Labanauskas are the other qualifiers in this half.
Bottom Half
Michael Smith is the leading seed in the bottom half of the draw although people could be forgiven for thinking that the world champion Rob Cross is the main attraction in it. Another player likely to have a starring role in the bottom half is Mensur Suljovic who won in Denmark last weekend. Mervyn King won a tour event in midweek so he’s a seed in good form while Gerwyn Price, Kim Huybrechts, Jonny Clayton and Steve Beaton make up the seeded players
Jelle Klaasen is probably the headline qualifier to make it through in the bottom half of the draw and he has set up a tasty match against Michael Smith in the last 32. Andy Boulton, Jason Lowe, Maik Langendorf, Boris Koltsov, Paul Rowley, William O’Connor and Chris Dobey are the other players in this part of the draw.
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Betting
The bottom half of this draw looks wide open to me and that is the part of the market I’m going to attack. Mervyn King is in decent form having won a tour event in midweek and he could be the one to be on this weekend. He might need to come through against last week’s winner in Mensur Suljovic in the second round but he is playing well as we saw in that floor event. We also saw it last week when he took out Rob Cross in Denmark, which could come in handy this week as he could run into him in the quarter final once again.
With Peter Wright absent this weekend and Michael Smith in the middle of a sticky trot we could well see a big price finalist in the bottom half of the draw and with enough players in form to try and see off MVG the 70/1 on King this weekend looks good value to me.
Tips
Back M.King to win European Darts Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 71.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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