The world champion Peter Wright kicked off the first stage of the PDC Home Tour and on Monday evening he will also headline the final group of the opening round as the last place in the next part of the tournament is determined.
As with the previous 31 evenings, four men will battle it out from their own homes or practice areas to give us some lockdown entertainment, but also to book their spot in one of the second round groups later in the month.
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.
Sunday Recap
Gerwyn Price was given a second chance to make it through to the next stage of the competition but once again he ran into a monster performance from someone. On this occasion it was Joe Cullen who delivered some insane darts against him, and everyone else, to come through with three wins from three and an average on the night of around the 106 mark. It was actually Keegan Brown who came second in the group courtesy of two wins. Price picked up one win while Bradley Brooks was right out of his depth.
It was a decent night for us on the betting front to go a little way to making up for the shambles of Saturday evening. We went with the one bet which landed pretty safely as Joe Cullen stormed to a 5-2 victory over Keegan Brown in a match where he absolutely battered the treble 20 and finished about as well as I’ve ever seen. That made for a nice profit on the night.
Group 32 Line Up
He headlined the first group of the tournament and he is back for more in the final group of the first round as the world champion Peter Wright is the top ranked player on show on Monday evening. His first group was so long ago you could be forgiven for forgetting what happened but after a narrow win in his opening match he gradually got worse and finished second to Jamie Lewis. His overall average on the night was just 84.83 and given that we’ve seen the standard rise accordingly since players returned for a second dig in this event, it goes without saying Wright has to improve on that.
Krzysztof Ratajski is the second highest ranked player in this group and he represents a serious danger to Peter Wright because away from the big stages he has shown himself to be exceptionally good. The world number 18 wasn’t at his best last weekend in his first group, although Jamie Hughes was very good it has to be said. Ratajski only managed an overall average on the night of 89.24 and that is unlikely to get the job done. We know he’s better than that but if he is going to justify 5/2 quotes he will need to be.
Justin Pipe endeared himself to many not just with the way he played in his opening group but the entertainment and banter he provided. He was no match for Glen Durrant on the night but he certainly put in a good showing in his other two matches and fully merits a second tilt at a place in the next round. He comfortably saw off Maik Kuivenhoven and Vincent van der Meer but was unable to get the better of Durrant. He is the only man in this group who averaged more than 90 in his first group which could be significant.
Adam Hunt is the final man on show in the group. He won two of this three matches first time round but couldn’t get the better of Jonny Clayton, who was too good for everyone. In fairness the other two men were below par on the night so it is hard to know what to make of Hunt, other than he was clinical enough when he needed to be. You would think he will need to find more to come out of this group but the same can be said for all of them. It is the one who does so who is most likely to qualify so Hunt might not be without a chance at around the 12/1 mark.
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Outright Betting
This is one of the harder groups I have seen to bet on. The logical analysis is that Peter Wright will come through but he was terrible in his opening group. In saying that, Dimitri Van den Bergh was playing from his house the other night so he is going to have had some decent practice under his belt which is a positive. My suspicion is that this won’t be as straightforward as he is the best player in the group so he’ll win it.
I’m not getting too involved in this group. I just feel there is an upset waiting to happen in it and at the prices I’ll take a chance on Justin Pipe to be the man to come through. I didn’t think he was at all bad in his first attempt but nobody was stopping Glen Durrant that night. If Wright is good enough to win the group then so be it but there might be more to come from Pipe and although Ratajski is a threat as well but the 6/1 on Pipe will do me.
Match Betting
Those who have followed us in for the first 31 groups of this tournament will know I tend to look for players with the throw who are a more than fair price in a 50:50 contest and then look to take advantage of that. There isn’t one of those in this group though sadly so match betting on the group isn’t easy at all. One or two prices tempt me later in the night but if we’ve learnt anything in this event so far it is to steer clear of matches which could be dead rubbers by then.
The one I was considering even though he doesn’t have the throw in the match is Pipe to beat Adam Hunt. I think Hunt is the weak link in the group but I am likely to need Pipe to win that contest if he is going to go on and win the group so there is no real point in taking both bets. Nothing else over the course of the night interests me much so I will finish off the first round with a small group bet and be done with it.
Tips
Back J.Pipe to win Group 32 for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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