We reach the end of the first quarter in the group stage of the PDC Home Tour on Friday evening, when Group 8 of the competition is played out as once again four men will battle it out in their own homes for the overall victory on the night.
We’ve seen some really good round robin action so far, and the longer the week has gone on the better the standard has been. The PDC look to be getting to grips with the streaming side of things too so there is much to look forward to on Friday evening.
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.
Thursday Recap
It was a group with a European falvour on Thursday night, with only one of the four combatants based in England. Gabriel Clemens from Germany was the favourite to win the group but it was the experience of a home event that served Jelle Klaasen well out in Holland. Klaasen saw off both men and even though he lost his final match to Ryan Meikle, he had done enough by that point to get over the line for the night.
That was music to our ears as our only bet on the night was for Klaasen to win the group at what now looks an even juicier 2/1 than it did at the time we struck the bet. That takes us to a fifth straight night of profit in the Home Tour, which hopefully is a run we can continue on Friday and beyond that with another 24 nights of group action to come after Friday.
Group 8 Line Up
We have seen a few players in the top 16 already this week and we’ll see another to begin the second week of the competition. That comes in the form of Jonny Clayton, who given how far clear he is of the rest in this section, must surely fancy his chances of success in the competition. He is a 5/4 favourite to come through but he is a renowned terrible counter so it wouldn’t surprise me if he has a few issues along the way here.
Richard North is the second highest ranked player in this group but he arrives in this tournament having had a very indifferent run on the pro tour. He has only won three matches in the eight Players Championship events this season and finished the last campaign with just five victories in the final 18 Players Championship competitions. To say his form is terrible would be an understatement but he has qualified for most of the major events in the past so a game is there. His 5/1 odds look fair on that evidence.
David Pallett is the third ranked player in the group. In the 62 events he has played since he regained his PDC Tour card last January, he has only cashed in 12 of them so his form is not there either. At his best he is a semi-finalist in the UK Open, although we need to quantify that by remembering that was the year there was no crowd because of the snow. Even a cheque of £17,500 wasn’t enough for him to regain his Tour card so his form has been poor for going on for four years now. Pallett is a naturally heavy scorer though and if he can hit his doubles he could make his 4/1 price look daft.
Adam Hunt is the lowest ranked player in the field but is the second favourite to come through the draw on Friday evening. He only regained his Tour card at Q-School in January but has cashed in five of the eight Players Championship events. This is a man who was a relentless winner on the Development Tour and Challenge Tour but the fact he had to go back to Q-School to get his card highlights some weaknesses. Like most young players he can score and if he finishes too he could top this group at around 11/4.
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Outright Betting
This is potentially the most wide open group of the eight we have had in the tournament so far. I’m not convinced Jonny Clayton is a good favourite. Not only is he a poor counter but he misses a barrel load of doubles and with the exception of Dave Chisnall, we haven’t really seen a big name be up for this at any stage. My gut feeling is that the Welshman has to be taken on here, but the question is who with.
On form grounds Adam Hunt is probably the one but I just wonder if this setup will suit David Pallett. He played behind closed doors in the UK Open to good effect in 2018 and is very talented. He can score for fun when he gets going and you would think this environment should allow him to pin the doubles better. I think I favour him over Hunt and Richard North at a fair enough 4/1 price.
Match Betting
David Pallett is also the focus of my attention in the match betting on the evening too. I’ve highlighted that he is a decent scorer and I think his 180 hitting can go alongside that of Jonny Clayton and between the pair of them I fancy that they can pin more than 3.5 180s when they meet in the final match of the evening, one which could be a group decider if both have won their matches prior to it.
We’ve seen Clayton really come to the scoring party this year and he could very well cover this total on his own if he gets going from the outset. I expect Pallett to score well too. There is a fair chance there could be plenty of missed doubles in this one which sees us get a couple of extra legs than we might expect. That could be crucial to bringing in the four 180s we need, although I’m comfortable we’ll get it however it is played out.
Tips
Back D.Pallett to win Group 8 for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back D.Pallett vs J.Clayton – Over 3.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
Back it here:
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