The first round of the Players Championship Finals sees the 64 men in action over one of two sessions in Minehead on Friday with half of the games on the Main Stage and the others out on Stage Two.
We have an afternoon session and an evening session which we will preview is separate articles. Generally the star names are being saved for the evening but there is plenty of competitive action to look at in the first part of the day.
Main Stage
The action in the big tent begins with two competent players meeting when Dimitri Van den Bergh goes up against Stephen Bunting. The improving Jose de Sousa then makes a rare appearance on a big stage when he goes up against James Richardson. Glen Durrant launches his first tilt at this title with a meeting against fellow BDO graduate Scott Baker before we get to the halfway mark of proceedings with Max Hopp facing Jelle Klaasen.
Competitive matches keep on coming in the second part of the afternoon as Chris Dobey meets Cristo Reyes, who has a bit to prove after a disappointing 2019. Jeffrey de Zwaan then meets Simon Whitlock before Michael Smith begins his quest for that elusive TV title. He meets Martin Schindler and the last game of the afternoon sees Ian White going up against the ever popular Devon Petersen to round off the action.
Stage Two
The afternoon action on the second stage begins with Harry Ward taking on Darius Labanauskas before two experienced campaigners battle it out when Justin Pipe meets Mervyn King in a good looking battle. Brendan Dolan will then take on a Ross Smith who has been making a name for himself in recent weeks before the opening half of the schedule in this room concludes when John Henderson meets the capable Ross Joyce.
Four matches round off the afternoon and once again there are some household names among them. Keegan Brown, who qualified ranked 32 meets the 33 ranked Andy Boulton before Steve Beaton meets Ricky Evans. Danny Noppert has been in good touch on the big stage recently and he will meet Ryan Searle before Dave Chisnall concludes the afternoon when he takes on the man who has the lowest average of all the qualifiers for this tournament this season in Matthew Edgar.
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Betting
Two bets catch my eye in the afternoon session on Friday and they both come on Stage Two, which you can see on the PDC Facebook page and the bookmaker live streams. The first of them sees Brendan Dolan going up against Ross Smith. Dolan has been in good form in recent times. He has won two tournaments on the floor in the last three months and performed well enough in the Grand Slam last week even though he didn’t come through the group. I’ve said for a couple of weeks that Smith is being overrated on that win over Michael van Gerwen a couple of weeks ago. There is nothing I’ve seen since that win that suggests to me it was anything but a freak display rather than the norm. When you throw in the slow pace of Dolan which is hard to play against, I think he’s a good thing here.
Ricky Evans is another player who has been in good touch in recent times. He made his first televised quarter final a couple of weeks ago at the European Championship and has made two finals on the tour this season. He sits 32 in the world so although he has qualified for the World Championship with a win here he will do his chances of being seeded for the tournament the world of good. Evans faces Steve Beaton in this first round and that is a match I think he can win. Beaton has only gone past the last 16 of any tournament twice since May and he plays in most of them so that highlights his form isn’t great. The last time he was on our screens he was losing to Nathan Aspinall in Vienna and averaged less than 90. Evans is looking more comfortable on the big stage and can continue that form with a win here.
Tips
WON – Back B.Dolan to beat R.Smith for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
Back him here:
WON – Back R.Evans to beat S.Beaton for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
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