The European Tour makes its long awaited return this week when the German Darts Championship, the second tournament of the year, takes place in Hildesheim out in Germany. With a reduced European Tour schedule due to Covid, each event carries plenty of significance as far as qualification for the European Championship is concerned.
Daryl Gurney is the defending champion this week after a crazy week of results in this tournament last year but he faces off against a top level field in order to keep the title. Whoever does win this week will book their spot in the European Championship.
Recent Winners
2019 – Daryl Gurney
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Peter Wright
2016 – Alan Norris
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Gary Anderson
2013 – Dave Chisnall
2012 – Phil Taylor
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
Although he isn’t the defending champion this weekend, Michael van Gerwen is the number one seed and as a result he is in the top half of the draw. He will be expected to come through here but he hasn’t been in top form for a while so there is no guarantee of that. The other seeds in the top half looking to take advantage of any slip up from the world number one are Jermaine Wattimena, Mensur Suljovic, James Wade, Peter Wright, Jonny Clayton, Dave Chisnall and Nathan Aspinall so this is a good half of the draw with some top players in it.
Eight unseeded players will have benefitted from a match on the big stage already and they will be looking to make a name for themselves over the week. Those players are Steve Lennon, the veteran Mervyn King, Jeff Smith, the rising star of German darts Nico Kurz, Chris Dobey, Premier League star Michael Smith who amazingly doesn’t have a seeded number next to his name, as well as home players Lukas Wenig and Dragutin Horvat.
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Bottom Half
These seedings are done on the European Tour Order of Merit from last year which means that the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw is Ian White. That means this bottom half is wide open and the other seeds in it will all be eyeing up a deep run. They are Adrian Lewis, the defending champion Daryl Gurney, Glen Durrant, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Krzysztof Ratajski and Joe Cullen so while it is an open half it is likely to be a very competitive one too.
The unseeded players are no mugs in this half either. They are the leading German players Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens, former world finalist Danny Noppert, past world champion Scott Waites, the very much in form Devon Petersen, William O’Connor, Richard North and Adam Hunt who looks to have found some form in the PDC Home Tour and has continued it here. This bottom half is a little bit of a tournament within a tournament.
Betting
Although the bottom half is the competitive one I do think the 25/1 on Krzysztof Ratajski winning the tournament is a little too big. The Polish star is in pretty decent form at the minute. He made the final of the last of the Autumn Series events and also made a quarter final along the way that week and was a leg away from a clean sweep in his Home Tour II group on Thursday. He looked in decent nick in the World Series Finals too until he ran into Michael Smith who he has a bit of an issue against having a poor record against him.
There isn’t much of a nice draw in this bottom half but if one exists then Ratajski might well have it. He should come past Richard North in the last 32 and then Joe Cullen is a worst case scenario in the last 16. It gets tougher from there on in but you’d expect that and even then the draw could well open up. The main thing is Ratajski is playing well, he’s won one of these before and knows how to get it done. At 25/1 he’s my bet here.
Tips
Back K.Ratajski to win German Darts Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
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