It is the second night of the PDC Home Tour on Saturday night and having seen the world champion Peter Wright on show on Friday evening, it is the turn of the Grand Slam holder Gerwyn Price to come to the party.
Once again four men will battle it out in a round robin group in their own homes for our entertainment. Those watching the event on Friday will have seen a technological mess so hopefully that has been sorted for this group.
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.
Friday Recap
Heading into the night the expectations were that Peter Wright would cruise through what looked like a very favourable draw, but sport doesn’t always work out like that and as it turned out the world champion’s performance was little better than the stream on show and he could only finish second in the table. It was Jamie Lewis who picked up the group win and progresses to the next round at the expense of Wright, Niels Zonneveld and Peter Jacques.
It wasn’t the greatest night for us betting wise with our match bet on Zonneveld coming up dry, not helped by Jacques taking out a 155 to break the throw at 3-2 which was a right kick in the nether regions. There are another 31 groups though so there is plenty of time for the luck to level itself out a little and get back in the black.
Group 2 Line Up
The star attraction over the course of Saturday night is without a doubt the world number three Gerwyn Price. After the demise of Peter Wright on Friday evening, Price is now the highest ranked player left in the tournament. He is no bigger than 8/13 to come out of this group. Wright’s exit is a swift reminder that you need to be careful taking short prices in this event, although the word on the street is Price has been practicing hard amid getting his setup spot on for this evening.
Luke Woodhouse is the next player in the field in terms of the rankings. He shot to prominence in the World Championship last year and keeps on popping up from time to time. He is a solid thrower who doesn’t do a whole lot wrong but might lack the gears of some of the other players in the world. He is a 6/1 poke to come through the group and if consistency wins the day, he shouldn’t be too far away.
Ted Evetts became infamous for being the first man to lose to a woman on the World Championship stage in December so he will be out to make a name for himself for the right reasons here. It might be that the 6/1 shot has an advantage on the field here as he competed in one of the home darts test events that the PDC did, where he overcame the talented Luke Humphries on what was a fair evening for the youngster.
Speaking of youngsters, the field is completed by the Austrian ace Rowby-John Rodriguez, who might actually be the most talented of the quartet here. Whether that talent transforms to his best form in practice like settings remains to be seen but there is certainly reason to be interested in him at 7/1. If there is an issue it comes in a lack of scoring power and I’m reluctant to get involved in anyone who can’t score in this event.
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Outright Betting
Gerwyn Price is a worthy favourite for this group and my suspicions are that he is going to be better prepared than Peter Wright was, and in turn will deliver a better performance, however I need to see it to believe it and I’m certainly in no rush to take him to win this group at 8/13, although it should be said that he has the throw in two of his three matches. That didn’t prove to be all that significant on Friday but it could do here.
If I was to get involved in the group I would probably chance my arm on the outing that Ted Evetts has already had meaning something. I’m also keen to have the youngsters on side as they are more likely to have hit the practice board during this downtime than the more established professionals who probably don’t mind a few weeks off, especially those involved deep in events like the UK Open and the Premier League. Ultimately though I can’t take Price on so I’ll wait for better nights for a group bet.
Match Betting
I am going to pay to see if that potential advantage that Ted Evetts may have pays off in his opening match against Luke Woodhouse though. Woodhouse is favourite as the higher ranked player and the one having the throw and indeed he made the quarter final of the last Players Championship event, when amazingly he won all four matches in a deciding leg which is quite a feat. That isn’t this though and we saw all four players on Friday night need a match to find their form.
We’ve seen in the Modus events this week that those who played last week or in the first night of the week have an advantage over those coming in cold, and I think there is something in that. There isn’t a huge amount between Evetts and Woodhouse anyway to be fair so the 5/4 on Evetts to come through with the comfort of that night behind him looks worth taking to me.
Tips
Back T.Evetts to beat L.Woodhouse for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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