Players begin to return for a second go in the PDC Home Tour on Tuesday evening as the competition continues with Group 26, with four players once again battling it out to progress to a possible next stage of the event.
With no sport allowed until at least June 1 in the UK, there is a good chance we’ll get a proper conclusion to the tournament so each remaining group from here on in should be extremely competitive, especially with everyone knowing what to expect.
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.
Monday Recap
It might not have been the most star studded field we have seen in this tournament on Monday but there is no doubt we were treated to the best standard so far. There were four averages of more than 105 on the night in a sumptuous evening of darts of the very highest quality. It was a night that Jose de Sousa absolutely dominated, dropping one leg in the best single performance any of the groups of this tournament has seen. He won all three matches and topped the group from Keegan Brown who picked up a couple of wins. Reece Robinson had a win to his name while for all his good darts, Robert Thornton had nothing to show for his nights work.
We were quiet on the betting front for this group, taking just the one bet, and despite going a break of throw down at 2-1, Reece Robinson found a brilliant burst of scoring and finishing to win the next four legs to see off Robert Thornton 5-2 and give us a winner from our only bet. That takes our overall profit for this tournament to 21.38pts, a record we can hopefully build on over the remainder of the first phase.
Group 26 Line Up
The top ranked player in this group is Conan Whitehead, and when you think he is ranked at 75 in the world, it shows a lack of top quality in the group. It is hard what to make of Whitehead and his first performance in the event because the departure of Keegan Brown from his group, when Whitehead was in control of it at the time. The one thing we do know is that Whitehead is a power scorer and if his doubles are on song these three need to watch out a little.
Mike de Decker was also in that group which ended up getting won by Max Hopp. He had actually beaten Hopp and was looking in a good position but it became a mess. In terms of this group it is important to note that de Decker and Whitehead played twice on the night and they shared a win each. De Decker has been in good touch on the tour this season and a couple of his averages first time round were 89 and above. If he is at that level here it could be enough.
Martin Atkins almost got over the line in his first group but having won his opening two matches a defeat in his final game proved costly and he went down to Jeff Smith on leg difference. His averages that night were 90.57, 89.53 and 94.40 and if he has that sort of level with him here then he is going to be dangerous, but I suspect these players getting a second chance have had a call up at short notice, so whether he will be in that form when his tour record this season is moderate at best, remains to be seen.
The final player on show in the group is Steve Brown, who I actually thought was pretty competitive on his first showing, but nobody was stopping Nathan Aspinall that night. Brown scored well and if anyone is going to be familiar and comfortable with webcam darts it will be Brown because the JDC of which he is a significant part of, is getting heavily involved in the digital and virtual side of the game at the minute. He has every chance of outperforming his odds if he has the same level he had with him that he did the first time round.
Special Offer
BET ON THE PDC HOME TOUR AT BOYLESPORTS AND GET DOUBLE WINNINGS AS A FREE BET IF THE FINAL CHECKOUT OF THE MATCH IS 100 OR MORE! ALL MARKETS. ALL CUSTOMERS! CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO BET. 18+ T&Cs APPLY. GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY.
Outright Betting
My gut feeling is that the 6/1 on Steve Brown winning this group is overpriced. We have four men here who without being disrespectful are not used to winning things so when the big moments come this could get pretty tight but my concern is that I don’t see anyone winning three matches so we are probably looking at leg difference as a deciding factor, and Brown could run into some power scoring and lose more heavily than we can afford him to. He doesn’t have the throw against either of the more fancied opponents in the group which doesn’t help either.
Conan Whitehead looked really good on the first night that he played. I’ve no doubt that the farce it transcended into did nothing to help him or Mike de Decker so we should expect good showings from both of those. If this group is decided by their match then it is important to note that it is Whitehead who has the throw in that so maybe there is an angle n taking him at 9/4. This just feels more competitive than that and even Martin Atkins can’t be dismissed lightly. I might eventually talk myself into a bet on Brown but for now I’ll sit it out.
Match Betting
I’ll take a couple in the match betting stakes though and I’m happy to put my money where my mouth is with regards to Steve Brown. It is in his match with Martin Atkins where I am going to take him as well. If you have followed me throughout this tournament you will know I’m a big fan of backing the player with the throw in these tight looking clashes and we have profited nicely from doing so for much of the competition. Brown has the throw against Atkins and yet he is still 5/6 to win in what looks a pretty even contest. I think Brown is the better player of the two. Don’t worry about the rankings not suggesting that as Brown is in the first year back on tour. He can see off Atkins in this one.
Conan Whitehead and Mike de Decker have already played twice in this tournament. There were three 180s in their first encounter when Whitehead hit all three and de Decker hit four 140s and a 135. In their second match in just six legs they combined for seven 180s so there is more than enough evidence from those two matches to suggest that we will see four or more 180s here. This is the second match of the night for both men so they should be nicely warmed up and they are two men known for their scoring. I like the idea of the over landing here.
Tips
WON – Back S.Brown to beat M.Atkins for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back C.Whitehead vs M.de Decker – Over 3.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
