The second day of action in the Icons of Darts this week sees the second pool of players starting out on their journey as they compete for the first of three group titles on Tuesday, ahead of returning on Thursday and Saturday.
We saw some competitive action from the first pool of players on Monday but when you look down the list of players on show on Tuesday, we should expect to see a real high quality on a day that could see any of the six men take the group down.
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
Well done to @Scottymarsh1 ?? pic.twitter.com/A6RtkWw7bz
— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) July 27, 2020
Monday Recap
When you looked the cast list for Monday it didn’t look the greatest but we actually saw a group that technically went down to the last match, although to be fair the only reason for that was a power cut for Scott Marsh! That didn’t stop Marsh winning the group though with his four wins being enough for top spot. Keelan Kay and Jose Justicia were the two men who chased him home with three wins each although when leg difference was applied they were a distance behind Marsh. There were a pair of wins for Diogo Portela and John Brown with Fallon Sherrock coming out with one win.
We went into the day with just the one bet which was on Marsh to win the group and when he had won three of his first four matches, and all by decent margins, he had already done enough to secure top spot by the time he played Fallon Sherrock in his final match. His 5-1 win in that match just added the icing on an already nicely baked cake to start the week off in style for us.
Tuesday Line Up
This line up on Tuesday is incredibly good. It is led by Martin Adams, a man who was on fire a month or so ago and will be looking to pick up his form after the enforced break for the World Matchplay. Keane Barry went into the break in excellent form himself and he is back to showcase his outstanding talent on Tuesday. The other leading contender in this pool of players is the Russian ace Boris Koltsov, a man who can beat anyone on his day.
We have a second world champion in the field on Tuesday and that is Scott Mitchell, a player who just two weeks ago was competing in the PDC Summer Series. He will want to show his form here as will Mike Warburton, a man who has picked up a few group wins along his Icons of Darts life. The other player in the field is Stephen Burton. He hasn’t landed a daily title yet but he was improving all the time before the Matchplay came around.
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Outright Betting
I think you can make a genuine case for all six players in this field. Admittedly the case of some is not as strong as that of others but it can still be made. With that in mind, I’m going to sit the outright betting alone. It has been the best part of a couple of weeks since we’ve seen any of these players, and longer than that in the case of some, so it is probably worth checking out their form before we get too jiggy with our money.
I always think it is important to form an opinion going into these things though and it is my suspicion that Keane Barry will be the one to beat as the week goes on, but he might just need a day to get up to speed again. Martin Adams has been around the block and should know how to go well fresh by now while Scott Mitchell might have an advantage in that he was involved in top competition not too long ago. As I said you can make a case for most of these so I’ll watch rather than bet the outright market.
Match Betting
I’ll make up for the absence of a group bet with a couple of match bets, the first of which comes on Scott Mitchell to beat Boris Koltsov. Mitchell wasn’t just mixing it in elite company at the Summer Series a couple of weeks ago, he was beating some of it too with wins over Simon Whitlock, Andy Hamilton and Robert Thornton among others. The Whitlock win has had the form nicely franked too. He wasn’t just beating those players but he was averaging 100+ against many and well into the 90s in most of the matches he lost that week. The confidence he should have taken from that should have been huge and I expect him to show that here. Koltsov is a class act but he has more than the odd tendency to miss some doubles at crucial times and with Mitchell likely to be in buoyant mood here I don’t think the Russian will get away with that. Mitchell is too big at 5/4 here.
The other bet I like is for Stephen Burton to beat Mike Warburton in the match after the above bet. I was in two minds about taking this one after Burton lost from 4-0 up the last time I was on him to beat Warburton, but I liked what I was seeing from him prior to the Matchplay break. I’ve noticed a few times previously that when Warburton has had a break it takes him a day or so to get back up to speed and it is 24 days since he was last involved in the Icons of Darts. Burton may well be getting Warburton at a good time so if he hits his doubles this time he can reward us at even money.
Tips
Back S.Mitchell to beat B.Koltsov for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Burton to beat M.Warburton for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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