The second biggest ranking event on the darts calendar gets underway on Saturday night when the stars of the game head to Blackpool for the regular summer extravaganza – the World Matchplay – at the famous Winter Gardens.
The 2018 running of this tournament was one of the best we’ve seen with Gary Anderson landing the title in an epic final against Mensur Suljovic. He will be looking to retain his title over the nine days but a seriously good field is up against him.
Recent Winners
2018 – Gary Anderson
2017 – Phil Taylor
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Phil Taylor
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Phil Taylor
The Format
This tournament is straight leg play over long distances. The first round is the best of 19 legs which increases to the best of 21 legs for the second round. The quarter finals go up to the best of 31 legs with the two semi-finals over the best of 33. The champion will be crowned in the final over the best of 35 legs.
If each match is level with one leg to play the match must be won by two clear legs. If it goes six legs beyond the scheduled distance that leg will be a sudden death decider (25th leg in the first round, 27th in the second round etc etc). The tournament is a straight knockout with the draw having already been pre-determined.
Top Quarter
Michael van Gerwen might not be the defending champion but he is the number one seed and as a result he headlines the field in the top quarter. His form has been a little patchy in recent times so the other men in this section could easily see him as vulnerable. Adrian Lewis is one of those and his return to form in a Players Championship in midweek could not have been better timed. The other two seeds in this section are format champion James Wade and the beaten finalist of 12 months ago in Mensur Suljovic.
If the seeded players think they are going to have it all their own way they need to think again because there are four decent qualifiers in this section. The big name among them is the current BDO world champion Glen Durrant while the former winner of that title Steve Beaton is here too. Jeffrey de Zwaan caused shockwaves around this tournament last year when he beat Michael van Gerwen on his way to the semi-final and he’s out for more from here while Jermaine Wattimena is the final player.
Second Quarter
This is the section of the draw where the defending champion Gary Anderson is situated. I would imagine many of the seeds in this draw would have seen him as the most vulnerable of the leading players. The three seeds who got the reward of being drawn in this quarter are the UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall, World Championship finalist Michael Smith and one of the form horses of the year so far in the regular tour events in Dave Chisnall.
The unseeded players are no mugs in this part of the draw either. Jamie Hughes has already won a European Tour event under the pressure of having to win it to make it into this tournament. Danny Noppert is also in this section of the draw while Mervyn King will hope to be a tough customer for Aspinall and the rest. The German star Max Hopp completes the list of names in this second quarter of the event.
Third Quarter
The former world champion Rob Cross is the leading seed in this section of the draw. He is under pressure for a big week here because a huge chunk of money comes off his ranking at the end of the year and he needs to make up some of that here. On the face of it his draw doesn’t look too bad with the other three seeds in this section being Darren Webster, Gerwyn Price and Ian White, although the latter has dominated the European Tour events this season so shouldn’t be ruled out.
We have some decent qualifiers in this section as well with Chris Dobey one of the leading lights among them. He has graced some big stages already this year. Krzysztof Ratajski has been a great player for a while and he’ll look to showcase that here while former world champion Stephen Bunting is running into some nice form. Joe Cullen made the final of a pro tour event in midweek and makes up the numbers here.
Bottom Quarter
It is the recent German Masters winner Peter Wright who is the leading player in the bottom half of the draw and he will be expected to reach at least the semi-final from here. Daryl Gurney will be the main man out to stop him from doing that but there are two other seeds looking to make it through. Simon Whitlock doesn’t have a bad record here and he’ll be looking to enhance that here while Jonny Clayton can beat anyone on his day too.
If anything you would have to say the qualifiers in this quarter are the weakest set of the four sections. Ricky Evans might disagree with that, as he is entitled to as he is in it but when he is probably the best of them, given his inexperience on the truly big stages we know it is a weak list. Keegan Brown, John Henderson and Vincent van der Voort are the other three players in this section of the draw.
Outright Betting
It is hard to ignore the form of Peter Wright going into this tournament. The 2017 finalist won in Germany last week and followed that up with a couple of wins in the Players Championship events in midweek where he was putting in some ridiculous averages. He is clearly the form man at the minute and has landed himself in much the weakest quarter of the lot. If he sticks with the darts he has been using this week then he should go very deep in this tournament and we could be looking back on the event afterwards and thinking the 12/1 on him is the massive price it looks.
I’ll also have a small punt on Chris Dobey. If he can see off Rob Cross in the opening match then there is no reason why he can’t go deep in this tournament because his draw is going to open right up. We saw at the World Championship that Dobey doesn’t fear anyone and this format might suit him better than that one. He has shown good stuff this year and looks to be ready for the next level. At a three figure price he is good value to get there this week.
Quarter Betting
For once it could be worth taking on MVG in the first quarter and while Suljovic is respected after his run here last year, he doesn’t look in anything like that kind of form this year. Glen Durrant is an interesting proposition but this tournament might just be too soon for him on the PDC stage which leaves us with the former champion James Wade who loves it at Blackpool. He has made the final of the event three times this decade and is in the sort of form that should have him a challenger this year. We know he can beat van Gerwen so 7/1 on him in this quarter looks a touch on the big side.
In the second quarter we are almost inclined to get involved in a bet with Gary Anderson looking as vulnerable as he does and while the likes of Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall and Dave Chisnall are all in form it could be worth taking a chance on Jamie Hughes. You want to be on a player who can produce their best under pressure in this tournament and Hughes showed he can do that when he won the last European Tour event which was his last chance to get into this one. He has been banging in ton plus averages for fun this year and he’ll make his mark on the TV stage at some point soon. I’ll pay to see if it is this week. In addition to that it makes sense to have a small bet on Chris Dobey in the third quarter as if he does beat Cross in the first round more than half the job will be done.
Tips
Back P.Wright to win World Matchplay (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 13.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back C.Dobey to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back C.Dobey to win World Matchplay (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back J.Wade to win 1st Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 9.00 with Betfred
Back them here:
Back J.Hughes to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
