The final European Tour event of the season takes place in Gottingen this weekend when the European Darts Trophy is played out in what should be one of the best events of the year so far. This is the final qualifying tournament for the European Championship at the end of the month so every pound matters.
Michael van Gerwen goes into the weekend looking for a hat trick of titles but there are plenty of big names who are out to stop him while many others are looking for a big weekend to get the rewards of making the European Championship.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael Smith
2014 – Michael Smith
2013 – Wes Newton
The Format
With this being the final European Tour event of the year the format should be known well by now but it is pretty simple. Saturday sees the last 32 being played out across two sessions with the last 16 taking place on Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening starts with the quarter finals. All three rounds are over the best of 11 legs with the semi-finals and final over 13 and 15 legs respectively later on Sunday evening.
Top Half
Michael van Gerwen is the top seed as you would expect this week and he is in the top half of the draw too. He will be expected to come through and claim a third successive title but some tasty seeds are out to stop him, not least Daryl Gurney and Michael Smith. Dave Chisnall is a top half seed too while Gerwyn Price, Ian White, Joe Cullen and Stephen Bunting have all had big runs in stage events this year.
There are some decent qualifiers in this half of the draw it must be said. Vincent van der Voort is probably the biggest of them but Steve Beaton and John Henderson are campaign of big runs. The top half is completed by Ryan Joyce, Marko Kantele, Luke Humphries, Matthew Edgar and Mickey Mansell for whom it is a big weekend.
Bottom Half
Peter Wright is the main seed in the bottom half of the draw and he will be out to make up for losing in the final of the World Grand Prix last weekend. World champion Rob Cross was a first round casualty in Dublin and he’ll be out to do better here. Mervyn King, Jonny Clayton, James Wade, Simon Whitlock, Darren Webster and Max Hopp complete the seeds in what has to be said looks a weaker part of the draw.
Jelle Klaasen is the highest ranked player of the qualifiers in the bottom half but he isn’t exactly cooking on gas himself. That could open the door to the likes of Jeffrey de Zwaan and Ricky Evans who have shown some good form in recent times. Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens, Richard North, Toni Alcinas and Krzysztof Ratajski complete the draw.
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Betting
I think the bottom half of the draw is there to be attacked this weekend and I’ll do so with a couple of 80/1 shots. Simon Whitlock is far from my favourite player in the world but he has a wonderful record in Germany for some reason and has already made the final of a couple of these tournaments this season. He looks to be in the quarter of the draw that could open up the easiest and if we take out his Champions League effort where he was up against three top names at the top of their game, his recent form hasn’t been too bad. I don’t think it will take a lot to go deep this weekend so I’ll back the Australian to do it.
I’m convinced there is a stage win in Darren Webster before too long. He looked awesome in the first round of the World Grand Prix but then he ran into Michael van Gerwen which was unfortunate. He won’t face the Green Machine until the final here though and should he get that far the each way money will already have been banked. Webster is scoring well these days, he fears nobody and at 80/1 should give us a decent run for our money.
Tips
Back S.Whitlock to win European Darts Trophy (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back D.Webster to win European Darts Trophy (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back them here:
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