The first European Tour event of 2019 takes place this weekend when the greats of the darts stage head to Leverkusen for the European Darts Open, the first of the events which make up the qualifying pool for the European Championship later in the year.
Michael van Gerwen edged out Peter Wright to claim the title in this tournament last year and he is the favourite to defend the title. He doesn’t look as infallible as he once did though which will give the rest of the field plenty of encouragement.
Recent Winners
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Peter Wright
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Robert Thornton
2014 – Peter Wright
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Raymond Barneveld
The Format
We are using the same format as last season for these tournaments which means that the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
As world champion, defending champion and world number one, Michael van Gerwen is the number one seed this weekend. James Wade is the man seeded to be his biggest danger this weekend. There are six other seeds who are here to show their worth in this half of the draw though. They are Jermaine Wattimena, Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, Mensur Suljovic, Joe Cullen and Dave Chisnall so this half is loaded with quality.
The qualifiers in this half of the draw are none too shabby either with Mervyn King and Glen Durrant setting a very high standard among them. Krzysztof Ratajski and Vincent van der Voort are capable on the big stage too. Wesley Plaisier, Scott Taylor, Matthew Dennant and Ted Evetts make up what looks like a very tough top half.
Bottom Half
This part of the draw is headed by the former world champion Rob Cross in terms of world rankings. The man fighting for the leadership in the Premier League will be expecting a good weekend but fellow Premier League ace Peter Wright, a man with an exceptional record in this event having made the last three finals here, is seeded to be his biggest danger. It is actually Ian White who is the highest seed in this half with Darren Webster, Jonny Clayton, Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock and Daryl Gurney making up a good looking half.
Much like with the top half, the qualifiers in this part of the draw are of a decent standard too. Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jeffrey de Zwaan will be making their Premier League bows next week and will want good runs ahead of that. Kim Huybrechts has also made it into this section with Ross Smith, Adam Hunt, Steve Beaton, Pavel Jirkal and Justin Pipe making up what could be a wide open bottom half of the draw.
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Betting
This looks like a very tough weekend to pick a winner because the draw is so well balanced but I’m going to throw some coins at a couple in the bottom half. As the season goes along I might well balance my bets out but right now I don’t really want to be getting in the way of Michael van Gerwen before I’ve got cash guaranteed.
For me, the obvious value in the bottom half of the draw comes with Adrian Lewis. He romped to a win in a Players Championship event last weekend and it has subsequently transpired that he has dumped Keith Deller. I’m not sure the win and that is a coincidence so I’m expecting big things from ‘Jackpot’ for the remainder of 2019. He’s a class act and was lobbing averages of 110 last weekend. If he has that form with him here, he can come through what is a competitive draw.
Jonny Clayton looks overpriced at 66/1. He ran into Lewis in the quarter final of that tournament last week but had looked a million dollars up until then. That was already his second quarter final of the year and with Raymond Barneveld losing on Friday night and Rob Cross potentially with the Premier League more on his mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if his quarter opens up. Just in case it does I’ll get my cash on at 66s.
Tips
Back A.Lewis to win European Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betfred (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Clayton to win European Darts Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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