We move into the second day of the third week of action in the Icons of Darts event on Tuesday as again five men battle it out from their own homes in a bid for league points all with the aim of keeping us entertained through lockdown.
It is fair to say the standard wasn’t as good as some that we’ve seen in recent times on Monday but there can be no criticism of the drama on show with no fewer than half of the matches in the session going to a deciding leg. Hopefully we get that drama with a bit more quality on Tuesday.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday five men will battle it out in a round robin group with the overall champion being determined on Saturday May 2. Matches will see the players compete over the best of 9 legs with each of them at home in front of a webcam throwing at their own individual dartboards. Scores can be found on Dart Connect and the tournament will be streamed on the bookmaker live streaming consoles and for free on Dartslive.tv
Confirmation of this afternoon’s @reddragondarts #IconsofDarts Live League table ??? pic.twitter.com/F3Xn5uXfUI
— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) April 20, 2020
Monday Recap
There were more than 7.5 legs in eight of the 10 matches on show across the course of the day and Paul Nicholson took his fair share of them as it was he who won every match he played to come away with another group success. It was tight in behind him with Andy Jenkins, Diogo Portela and Adam Huckvale all picking up two wins and James Hubbard debuting in the competition with a solitary success.
As far as betting goes it was probably the most frustrating day we’ve had in this event so far as both match bets lost in a deciding leg, the first of them after Adam Huckvale missed 10 darts at a double to win the match against Diogo Portela, who as I suspected was there for the taking. He was there for the taking for James Hubbard too but a 180 in the decider got Portela home. Very frustrating.
Tuesday Line Up
It is the turn of Adam Huckvale to have the day off on Tuesday and he departs to allow Arron Monk to come into his place for the first time this week. Monk will be looking to build on a creditable first week and come away with the title over the course of the next five days. If that is to happen he is going to have to get the better of Monday winner Paul Nicholson, Andy Jenkins and two men he is yet to face in Diogo Portela and James Hubbard.
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Outright Betting
This feels a tougher group to call than the one on Monday did and given that I wasn’t really close on that occasion then I probably shouldn’t really get involved here. Nicholson is the favourite for the group and given the darts he played on Monday that is perfectly justified but even though he won all four matches there was a little bit of fortune there so I’m not sure I’d want to be on him at a tight price.
Arron Monk comes in as the second favourite but he was a little up and down towards the end of last week. I actually thought the best player on show on Monday was Andy Jenkins but that didn’t count for much as he went down in a couple of 5-4s early on, one of which he should have won. I don’t fancy the other two as much although I still think there is good darts in James Hubbard. If they come out here so be it but I’m keeping my powder dry in the outright market on Tuesday.
Match Betting
I thought Diogo Portela was being overrated heading into the week and while he came out of Monday with a couple of wins there was nothing convincing about either of them and that showed in the averages where he failed to register anything over 85 in his four matches. This might not be the highest standard of the home events that we are seeing but that isn’t going to get it done too often in regular circumstances.
I’m happy to take the Brazilian on again on Tuesday so the question really is in which match and how to do it. I’ll take Arron Monk as the man to take him on. Monk has scored excellently throughout his days in these leagues and a few days off should have him nicely refreshed. Monk averaged over 90 in all four of his matches on Saturday and that is pretty much the benchmark he is performing at. Unless he suddenly missed a bunch load of doubles from nowhere I would expect Monk to win this no worse than 5-3.
Tips
WON – Back A.Monk (-1.5 legs) to beat D.Portela for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back him here:
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