The dust has settled on the PDC World Championship now which means the circuit is ready to get going again and it does so with the leading 16 players in the world rankings descending on Milton Keynes for The Masters.
All eyes will be on Rob Cross to see if he can follow up his win in the World Championship with another success here. He will have some big names snapping at his heels though not least the defending champion Michael van Gerwen.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – James Wade
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
There are only four sessions of play in this tournament. The last 16 is played on Friday evening and Saturday evening with the quarter finals on Sunday afternoon and the remainder of the event on Sunday evening. The first round and the quarter finals are over the best of 19 legs with the semi-finals and final the best of 21 legs. The first round draw has been done on world ranking order with number 1 vs number 16, 2 vs 15 and so on.
Top Half
As the world number one Mickael van Gerwen is in the top half of the draw this weekend and he looks to be the man to beat in it. His fellow seeded players are Daryl Gurney, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock. The lower ranked players in this half of the draw are Kim Huybrechts, James Wade, Gerwyn Price and Benito van de Pas so this is a competitive little section.
Bottom Half
This is where the world champion Rob Cross is housed but it is Peter Wright who is the top seed in the section. Mensur Suljovic and Dave Chisnall complete the higher ranked seeds but the lower ranked players are of real quality here especially Raymond Barneveld. Michael Smith is also a lower ranked player in this half of the draw while Ian White and Alan Norris complete the draw.
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Betting
This isn’t the easiest tournament to bet on from an outright point of view because the players have had the best part of a month of downtime so most of my punting this weekend will be match betting but I can’t ignore a cheeky little dabble on one outright. I think the best way of attacking the market is to focus on players in the Premier League as their practice regime may be a little more intense right now.
That gets rid of Alan Norris, Benito van de Pas, Ian White, Kim Huybrechts, Dave Chisnall and James Wade from proceedings. If we avoid MVGs half of the draw we are left with Peter Wright, Raymond Barneveld, Rob Cross, Mensur Suljovic and Michael Smith and it is the latter that I like at 66/1.
Smith has to go through Suljovic and Cross to make the semi-final but he can beat Suljovic over this distance and he will be doubly determined to take out Cross having agonisingly failed to do so at Alexandra Palace. From there he would only be a narrow outsider regardless of who is semi-final opponent is so the 66/1 on Smith is well worth taking especially with him likely to have been pounding the practice board ahead of Thursday’s Premier League opener.
Tips
Back M.Smith to win The Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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