After three phases of group stage action the PDC Home Tour II comes to a close on Tuesday when one final group takes place as the seven remaining players in the competition play from their own homes to be crowned the winner of the tournament.
Nathan Aspinall won the opening Home Tour but he was ranked too high to be involved in this one so we are guaranteed a different winner over the course of what should be an extremely competitive day of darts given the players on show.
The Format
Each day seven players will be in action on their home oches in a group stage format looking to progress. In every group in the tournament the seven players will each play each other once. In the first round the top three players in each group and the five best fourth-placed players go through to the second stage. Five groups are played out in the second phase with the top four in each making it through to the third stage along with the best fifth-placed player. The final stage begins with three more groups with the top two in each and the best third-placed player qualifying for the Championship Group where the champion is crowned. Each match throughout is the best of nine legs and the tournament will be streamed live on PDCTV or the consoles on the bookmaker websites.
Phase 3 Group 3 Recap
It was a perfect day for Jonny Clayton last Wednesday as he not only sealed his place in the final group but he won every match he played in along the way. That was good enough to see off Luke Humphries by two points at the top but to be fair to the former World Youth champion he was still good enough to qualify for this Championship group. Kim Huybrechts was the player to finish third on Wednesday but his six points wasn’t enough to qualify through the back door. He, Gabriel Clemens, Jermaine Wattimena, Kirk Shepherd and Bradley Brooks all exited the competition.
It was a winning day for us on Wednesday to keep a good run of profitable days going. We only went with one bet but it is all beginning to add up in this competition. That bet was on Jonny Clayton to see off Gabriel Clemens and the Welshman did just that on his way to completely dominating the group. Clayton had the throw and got a relatively early break which he held on to and came through 5-2 for our winner.
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Championship Group Line Up
The Favourites
Four men stand out in the final group with the highest ranked player among them being the Polish star who will be representing his country at the World Cup next month in Krzysztof Ratajski who is the favourite to win the competition from here. Three times in the early group stages he has been a leg away from winning all four matches so he probably is the one to beat. Jonny Clayton is the next highest ranked player and having made the final group of Home Tour I and not winning the title he’ll be looking to make up for that here. Luke Humphries is a very dangerous player and he’ll fancy his chances while Damon Heta won a tour event last month and shouldn’t be dismissed lightly.
The Outsiders
The other three players in the group have all done very well to make it to this stage of proceedings but you would have to say they will need to be at their very best if they are to walk off with the title. The first of those is Ron Meulenkamp who was the man who came through as the best third placed finisher in the previous round. Kai Fan Leung has shown some improved form in this competition and he’ll be looking to go to the World Cup with this title under his belt while Ross Smith has the chance to make a name for himself.
Group Betting
I haven’t been one for betting on the groups much in the tournament but we really have to have a look at the final group. I should start by suggesting that Krzysztof Ratajski is very much the player to beat over the course of the day but he had a shocker in Germany at the weekend and that bright just bring some of the others back into the game. The man I would ordinarily have taken him on with is Jonny Clayton but if we have this group between Ratajski, Luke Humphries, Damon Heta and Clayton, the Welshman doesn’t have the throw against any of the other three and that feels very significant.
Of those four, Heta actually has the throw against the other three and that could also be significant. He is the most recent tour event winner of this seven and that should all count for something. He wasn’t necessarily at his best in the previous group but Australians generally know how to win and winning is all that matters here. We know that all these players are playing well so the throw could be a real advantage. At 5/1 I’ll go with the Australian.
Match Betting
Jonny Clayton would have been my bet for the group win if his wasn’t inconvenienced at not having the throw against his three main rivals but I’m going to take him to win with a bit in hand in one of the matches he does have that advantage in and that comes against Ross Smith where Clayton is nicely odds against to cover a 1.5 leg handicap. That means he’ll need to break the throw but I don’t think that is without a chance.
These two men have met three times on the tour and Clayton has won all three and he has won them all by at least a couple of legs as well which is all we’re looking for him to do here. He won all six matches in his previous group so he’ll go into this one full of confidence. Smith is a competent player but he lacks that gear that Clayton has. Clayton is a top level player and if he is to have any chance in this group he has to win his matches with the throw and bump up the leg difference too. He can do that here.
Tips
Back D.Heta to win Championship Group for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back J.Clayton (-1.5 legs) to beat R.Smith for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
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