Another Saturday evening has arrived and with it comes Group 16 of the PDC Home Tour, which forms the sporting entertainment as we continue to meander through this period of lockdown. As ever we have four men battling it out to win the group.
Largely the competition has been in the UK and Europe but we go further afield here in what should be a decent night of darts, that with a couple of the characters involved should provide no shortage of fun and banter.
The Format
Each night four players will battle it out in a round robin format with the group winner progressing to the next stage of the tournament. All six matches in each group will be the best of nine legs with two points awarded for a win. If players finish level on points then leg difference will decide the outcome. If that cannot separate players then the head to head will settle the group winner. Were three players to be tied on points and leg difference the player with the highest overall average goes through. The entire tournament is being streamed live on PDC.tv, the Sky Sports App and various bookmaker sites.
Friday Recap
The form book is beginning to sort itself out in this tournament as the rankings were once again followed on Friday night when Darren Webster picked up three wins to finish on top of the group. There was a chance he could lose out in the final match of the night but he saw off a spirited effort from Andy Hamilton to seal the group win. Hamilton himself picked up one win on the night, as did Scott Baker and Bradley Brooks.
The win that Scott Baker got was the one we wanted him to get as it came in his first match against Andy Hamilton, where for the second night in a row we profited from someone having the throw in the deciding leg. He saw off Hamilton to provide us with an even money winner and all of a sudden we have a bit of a run of form to build on for the groups to come.
Group 16 Line Up
As with Friday night, we are devoid of top 16 players on show here and that means the highest ranked player in the group is ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans. Evans is something of an enigma. He can either be brilliant or terrible and I suspect even he doesn’t know which one we are going to get until he toes the oche. If his first dart is good he can be unbeatable. If it isn’t he’ll be all over the place. His tour form this year is nothing to write home about but he’s the highest ranked player in the group so should be respected on that.
The underrated German player Christian Bunse is the second highest ranked player on show. He currently sits at 80 in the world which highlights the opportunity open to Evans. Although averaging less than 90 overall on the pro tour this year, Bunse has twice made the last 16 of Players Championship events and saw off Michael van Gerwen in one of those tournaments. It has been a bit of a mixed bag in and around that though. Nevertheless he should be respected at 5/1.
Jeff Smith is technically a newcomer to the PDC given that he won his Tour card at Q-School earlier in the year although he has played in the World Cup and the World Series events previously to that. We probably know him more from his exploits in the BDO, where he was the runner up to Scott Waites in the World Championship in 2016. He might be new to the PDC but he has already made the final of a Players Championship event and with his finishing prowess he’s a huge danger in this group.
Martin Atkins is the final player on show in the group. It should be pointed out that this is not the man who used to be ranked high up in the BDO. He is the lowest ranked player in the group and an overall Players Championship average of under 87 this season suggests he should be the outsider of the quartet which he is. We’ve seen some of the lowest ranked players come through the draw already in this competition though but it would take a huge improvement on his floor form for Atkins to do likewise.
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Outright Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets outright and the man I want to be on here is Jeff Smith. I think he is a quality player and thankfully he’s on the side of the world where it will be a good time to play darts. Smith has improved his scoring over the last 12 months or so and has always been one of the best finishers in the game. If everything goes to plan this group could well be decided on the match between Smith and Ricky Evans but Evans is erratic enough that he could slip up somewhere so it might be that in the final game of the night Smith only needs a few legs rather than to beat Evans. If that is the case we’re better off being on Smith to win the group at 2/1 than him to beat Evans at 5/4.
I’m not expecting a huge amount of 180s in this group and although the 14.5 180s on the night line is a little skinny I do think it is with good reason. Evans can be prolific when his first dart goes in the right place but the other three aren’t so much. Between them in eight Players Championship events this season they have just 47 180s and half of those are Smith’s who made the final of one event. Masses of 180s haven’t been a feature of this tournament. In fact plenty of players have failed to locate the 60 for half the night and if that happens here we’ll get nowhere near this line. Whatever happens I don’t think we will get more than 14.5 180s in a group where standout scorers are at a premium.
Match Betting
While I like a couple in the group betting there isn’t a whole lot I like in the match betting I have to say. I’ve had success in recent nights taking players with the throw in even looking matches with odds that don’t reflect that, but this group looks a little more straightforward than those ones and as such we don’t have anything of that type to get stuck into. The only one that would fit that criteria is the final match between Smith and Evans but as I’ve intimated above, there is a chance Smith wouldn’t need to win that to win the group so I’m going nowhere near that.
When I don’t like anything on the match or handicap front I look at the 180s to see if there is anything we can find a bet in, but with three indifferent scorers and the main scorer inconsistent there isn’t a huge amount that leaps off the page there either. Two bets is more than enough betting interest for me in this group so I’m happy to leave the match stuff alone.
Tips
WON – Back J.Smith to win Group 16 for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Coral
Back Under 14.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back them here:
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