Another week of Icons of Darts action gets underway on Monday as six players get back on their home oches for some competitive practice and to offer up some further entertainment for those of us who continue to be locked down.
The increase in the format brought about a much better standard of darts last week so there is a lot to live up to for the six players who are starting off the week in the opening pool of action over the course of Monday.
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.
Saturday Recap
It was an incredibly dramatic day on Saturday, one which went down to the final leg before the group was decided. Mark Webster and Jason Askew had both won their opening four games and met in the last match of the day with the former coming out on top in a deciding leg to claim the group victory for the second Saturday in succession. That meant that Askew was a leg away from a clean sweep for the week. Boris Koltsov ended his week with three wins while there were two victories for Scott Mitchell. Andy Jenkins ended his current run in the Icons of Darts with one win while Keelan Kay finished off the week empty handed.
That all made for a frustrating day for us as we were on Askew to win the group at 2/1. That became 2/1 on Askew to beat Webster in that last match and when he broke in the opening leg and went 2-0 up it looked like we would be collecting once again but it wasn’t to be. In our other bet Scott Mitchell missed countless doubles to take the first leg against Webster against the throw and never really recovered. A bad day at the office for us.
Monday Line Up
Martin Adams has been something of a regular in these leagues and lit up the week with his 9 dart finish last week. He has been installed as the favourite to win this group and it is hard to argue against that. Boris Koltsov is slated to be his main danger but results wise he didn’t have the best of times of it last week so he will have something to find if he is going to win on Monday. We also have a debutant in the field in the form of the former world finalist Mark Dudbridge.
Jarred Cole is back for another bash at the Icons of Darts after he took what may well have been a much needed week off last week. He will be joined in the group by regular opponents Jose Justicia, who like Cole comes back after a week off, and Diogo Portela, who is another one who is returning to action after missing a week. He’ll want to put up a better showing than we have seen so far too.
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Outright Betting
You’ve got to think Martin Adams is going to take a lot of beating here but I don’t think he’s completely untouchable and I certainly can’t be touching him at a best price of 7/4 this early in the week. I accept he is the likely winner but he’s got the early shift on Monday so if he is good enough to win then so be it. I’m prepared to take him on and I think the price on Jarred Cole is a little too big at 8/1 I have to say.
I mentioned last week that the raising of the format would suit Jason Askew and it did and I think it can have the same effect on Cole who wasn’t really at the races over the seven leg distance. The nine leg format gives him time to build into his power scoring and there isn’t quite the intensity on every dart he has at double, especially if he gets his scoring going. Cole is an outsider to Adams but I’m not sure he should be four times the price. I’ll chance the youngster to come good in a format that suits him.
Match Betting
I’ll also back Jarred Cole in one of his matches on Monday where he could be overpriced at 4/5 to see off Mark Dudbridge. I like Dudbridge and have always been a big fan of his but nearly everyone who has come into these Modus leagues have needed at least a day and sometimes a whole week to get used to the setup and the different feel of everything. I don’t really see why the former PDC world finalist is going to be any different in that regard.
Clearly Dudbridge isn’t playing to anything like his best standard so even if he does take to the setup quickly there is no guarantee he will beat Cole, especially if we begin to see the best of Cole again as I believe we will. The longer this week goes on we might see Dudbridge become a real force in what is a pretty open pool if you take Adams out of it, but on his first day I fancy he could be there for the taking. Cole can do just that.
Tips
Back J.Cole to win Group 1 for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back J.Cole to beat M.Dudbridge for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back him here:
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