The third session of the PDC World Championship takes place at Alexandra Palace on Friday evening and it is the night the former champion Gary Anderson makes his bow in the event as he looks to navigate his way into the third round.
We have a mixture of first and second round matches on show on the four match card with Anderson the clear highlight. Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert is another eye catching name on the bill.
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Danny Noppert vs Royden Lam
It is indeed Noppert who opens up the show when he takes on Royden Lam over the best of five sets for a place in the second round where Max Hopp will be waiting for the winner later on in the tournament.
Noppert is actually making his debut on this stage but he has played in a number of big arenas around the world both in his short time on the PDC and more often in the BDO. Royden Lam has been a regular here in the past but he hasn’t offered too much when he has been here. I’m expecting the Dutchman to win this a shade cosily but the odds are reflective of that and given that it is his debut here I don’t really want to chase a short price.
Simon Stevenson vs Ted Evetts
One of the closer first round matches is the second match of the night when Simon Stevenson goes up against Ted Evetts for a place in the next stage of the tournament where Adrian Lewis is looking to get stuck into the winner.
Both these men have had good outings at the lower levels this season. Stevenson has performed well on the pro tour and earned enough cash to get into this tournament but Evetts has been winning tournaments on the Challenge Tour and it could be that his winning momentum, albeit at a lower level, makes him a worthy favourite.
Evetts has been here before which could be another thing that gives him an advantage in this match but he won’t have been a favourite to win on TV too often and I’ll be interested to see if that has any impact. This could go 3-2 either way so the odds probably look about right so I’ll sit this one out.
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Chris Dobey vs Boris Koltsov
The last of the first round matches on Friday night sees Chris Dobey taking on the Russian qualifier who is no stranger to this stage in Boris Koltsov for the right to go up against Steve Beaton in the second round of the event.
Koltsov has played in a number of PDC events from this tournament a few times to the World Cup and he has qualified for a fair amount of European Tour events too but I always feel when a player from Europe emerges and hasn’t ready burst into the limelight he probably isn’t quite to the standard required.
Dobey certainly is good enough and he showed that again recently when he made it through to the quarter finals of the Players Championship Finals last month. That came hot on the heels of making a tour event final so Dobey is in good form and he’s used enough to the big stage to come through this with something in hand.
Gary Anderson vs Paul Nicholson/Kevin Burness
The final match of a busy second day of the tournament is the second round encounter between Gary Anderson and the winner of the Paul Nicholson against Kevin Burness match from earlier in the day, with a place in the third round at stake.
Anderson has had a wonderful year and it would be something of a huge shock were either of the players he could face to beat him. Given that we don’t know who he will play and what sort of form any of the trio are in the sensible thing would be to leave this one alone and I’m perfectly happy to do just that.
Tips
WON – Back C.Dobey (-1.5 sets) to beat B.Koltsov for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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