We are nearing the end of another week of action in the Icons of Darts event and on Friday the first pool of players will compete for the final time as they continue to fill the darting void in light of the current restrictions on sport worldwide.
We’ve seen two brilliant groups from these players in the first two days they have been in action, and given the quality in the pool it is unlikely that there will be a reduction in the standard, or indeed the competitiveness, that we have seen.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday six players will battle it out for a daily title. There are two pools of players, one which plays on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the other which toe the oche on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each day the six players will play each other once over the best of nine legs with two points for a win. The daily winner is the player with the most points. If players are level on points it is determined on leg difference and then the record between the two. The entire event can be watched on various bookmaker websites, dartshop.tv or the Modus YouTube channel.
Confirmation of today’s final league table ✅ @reddragondarts #IconsofDarts
@scottydogdart edges top spot ?? pic.twitter.com/b4a10wpCPf
— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) August 6, 2020
Thursday Recap
We actually got one of the tightest groups we have ever had in the Icons of Darts on Thursday when four players were separated at the top of the table on leg difference alone after the all posted three wins. When the calculators were put away it was Scott Mitchell who came away with the title. His leg difference was +7 with Mark Webster ending with a +1 difference. Tuesday winner Andy Jenkins was third with -1 leg difference and Boris Koltsov completed the group but with a really poor leg difference. There was a couple of wins for Keelan Kay and just the one for Mike Warburton.
It was another winning day for us betting wise. Once again we kept our bets to a relative minimum with just the one punt for us but we were not disappointed with it. Scott Mitchell might have won the group but he didn’t win the match we opposed him in and not only did he lose to Andy Jenkins but the 5-3 score was enough for Jenkins to cover the handicap which added a nice tally to what has been a profitable week already.
Friday Line Up
This is one of the most anticipated days in the four month history of the Icons of Darts. Keane Barry showcased all of his talents on Wednesday when this pool were last in action and he will be out to back that up here but the cast against him will be itching to bring him down a peg or two. Monday winner Martin Adams will be the first of those but we shouldn’t forget David Evans who has been a regular group winner in this event. He will not want to end his week empty handed.
Scott Marsh has had a busy week and this will be the fourth time he will have graced our streams. He won groups last week but hasn’t quite had the same impression on this pool. He has one last chance to prove his worth. To be fair when the pools for this week were announced, Diogo Portela and Jose Justicia looked a little out of their depth and that is exactly how it has proven to be so far. They get one last chance to show they can compete in this company.
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Outright Betting
I’ve mentioned a couple of times this week that I am finding it hard to get involved in the group betting because of the way the fixtures have fallen. There is a part of me that is tempted to forget that and back Keane Barry tome out on top because he showed the quality and class that he has won Wednesday and we saw the last time he was in good form in this event that he was capable of maintaining it for longer than one day.
The price isn’t a huge amount to write home about and when you weigh it up with the risk that he has the two toughest tests in the opening couple of matches on the day, the value probably isn’t there. The other thing that puts me off is that in Martin Adams and David Evans there are two top class operators in opposition to him. I expect the winner to come from one of those three and it might be that we know who it will be quite early should anyone come out of their trilogy with two wins but at this stage that would be guessing which isn’t really me.
Match Betting
I will side with Keane Barry in the match betting though because I like the 4/5 on him to cover a 1.5 leg handicap against Shaun Marsh. Even when Barry wasn’t in great form earlier in the week he still had the beating of Marsh, overcoming him by a 5-2 score. He then followed that up with a 5-1 win over the Englishman on Wednesday and on both occasions the youngster has a near 0pt advantage on the average so Marsh clearly has a lot to find.
I fear the worst for Marsh here I have to admit. As I mentioned above, generally when Barry finds some form he maintains it for a while so there is every reason to think that he’ll be close to the standard of Wednesday here. It remains to be seen whether Marsh can get close to it but the evidence suggests it is doubtful. Marsh needs Barry to be way off his game to come close here but I just don’t see that so I’ll take Barry to win no worse than 5-3.
Tips
WON – Back K.Barry (-1.5 legs) to beat S.Marsh for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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