We move into the second half of the group stage of the PDC Home Tour on Sunday night as once again four men battle it out in their homes for some entertainment for us in our homes while we wait for the lockdown to end.
We’ve had some high profile groups over the course of this event so far and some that have been of a lesser profile and with only one player in the top 100 on show on Sunday, it is fair to say this group falls into the latter section but will hopefully provide some decent action regardless of that.
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.
Saturday Recap
It was a decent night of darts on Saturday evening with some good action, including a couple of 10 dart legs, some deciding leg finishes, high checkouts and a very competitive group, which in the end was won by Jeff Smith who produced a wonderful 147 finish in the final leg of the night to see off Ricky Evans and wrap up the group. That denied Martin Atkins an unlikely win. He did his chances no good when after winning his first two matches he lost his third to Christian Bunse, who still finished bottom of the pile. Evans finished third.
Jeff Smith winning the group was good news for us as we took the Canadian to come out in top spot and he duly obliged at 2/1. We did not manage to get both winners on the night though as there were more 180s than we bargained for as from nowhere in his second match Martin Atkins couldn’t miss the 60 for three legs. Nevertheless it was another profitable night for us to move forward with.
Group 17 Line Up
John Henderson is the highest ranked player on show on Sunday night and he is a 13/8 poke to come out on top. Henderson is a class act. We’ve seen that at many major tournaments and the last two Premier Leagues where he has made a huge impression with his walk on. Clearly he won’t be doing that here but he’s been in better form in 2020 than his tournament results have suggested and it generally takes a good player to beat him. He’s the one to beat here.
Brisbane Masters winner Damon Heta is the second man in the field and he can be backed around the 2/1 mark for glory. He has his PDC Tour card now having picked it up at Q-School earlier in the year and while that is a positive, playing in the middle of the night out in Perth can only be described as a negative. To be fair his ranking is clearly a false one. He’ll be in the top 50 at least after a normal two year tour but I can’t be taking anyone in his part of the world in this.
Polish player Krzysztof Kciuk is actually the lowest ranked player in this group but he is the third favourite for it. Like Heta, Kciuk won his Tour card earlier in the year but he hasn’t done much with it. He hasn’t won a single match in the seven Players Championship events he has played so it would need a huge leap of faith on our part, and a significant improvement on that form on his part, to back him even at 9/2.
Gary Blades is another man enjoying the fruits of the PDC labour for the first year of two that a Tour card brings and he has been in fair form in the early part of the year. He has scored nicely but his Players Championship combined average of 85.33 suggests that the end of legs has been letting him down. If being at home relaxes him enough to sort that out he could be dangerous in the way we saw Martin Atkins be on Saturday night. There is that question mark though so the 6/1 odds are probably justified.
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Outright Betting
I’ve not been a favourite backer much throughout this competition but this is a night where I think the rankings will hold up and John Henderson will come out on top. I respect Damon Heta and think he’s a good player but whether he is a good player at 2.30am and beyond is another thing entirely. We’ve seen so far that you shouldn’t disrespect the lower ranked players in their own homes but we’ve also seen that when the important times come along their finishing can go missing.
When Henderson is at his best he is very good and capable of beating anyone in the game, but what makes him so good on the Tour is he doesn’t lose many matches he shouldn’t do. He is very adept at beating those he is expected to beat and generally it takes a good one to beat him. That is what I think can happen here. Henderson has scoring power that matches most and when he counts he is less likely to be found wanting as some of the others are. I think the 13/8 on Hendo topping this group is perfectly fair.
Match Betting
We are kind of in the same boat in terms of the match betting that we were in on Saturday in that much of my success in the match betting in this tournament has come in taking players with the throw at either fair odds or bigger odds than they should be in a level match. I didn’t take them on Saturday but both Martin Atkins and Jeff Smith won as outsiders in deciding legs purely because they had the advantage of throw – both checked out with their opponent on capable finishes.
The only ‘home’ player on Sunday night that is not an odds on favourite is Gary Blades in the final match of the night against John Henderson. My issue with backing him is if he goes into that match with anything on it the chances are he’s had a good night and might only need a few legs to win the group and if he’s having a bad night he is unlikely to beat Hendo anyway. The prices in the other matches all look fair and right to me so I’ll just have the bet on Henderson to win the group to keep me interested betting wise on Sunday.
Tips
Back J.Henderson to win Group 17 for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Betfred
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