The final group in the first round of the PDC Home Tour II takes place on Thursday when seven players get their last chance to make it into the second stage of the event which is providing competitive practice for much of the tour from their own homes.
There are a guaranteed three places left in the next stage on Thursday while the best fourth placed players will be confirmed too with some players getting a second chance while others look to take their one and only opportunity.
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.
Group 9 Recap
We had a feeling it would be a day where the favourites didn’t go in and that was very much how it played out with Nick Kenny completely dominating the group. He won all six of his matches to finish four points clear of Chris Dobey who qualified in second place and outsider Barrie Bates who came through to finish third. Ricky Evans was fourth on six points but his leg difference doesn’t look good enough for him to progress. Callan Rydz and Conan Whitehead both won a couple of matches on the day while Krzysztof Kcuik could only muster a single victory.
It was a very good day for us in the betting department as we backed Kenny to win the group and at no stage really was it ever in much doubt. He hit the ground running then got better as the day went on to give us a nice 9/1 winner. The profit was eaten into by a really poor performance from Ricky Evans. He didn’t just fail to cover the handicap against Barrie Bates but actually lost the match which was a big surprise.
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Group 10 Line Up
The Favourites
The big star at present in this final first round group is the ‘Polish Eagle’ Krzysztof Ratajski and he’ll be looking to fare a lot better than his countryman did on Wednesday. Ratajski is very short in the betting for this group but it is not hard to see why given the quality he has and the form he has shown over a lengthy period of time. Stephen Bunting is considered the second favourite to win the group. This is the second time he will be in action this week after making a mess of his first chance. Kim Huybrechts gets his first and only go at making it through to the next round and he could be a dark horse.
The Outsiders
Steve Beaton heads the list of outsiders in this group at 9/1 but in all the Home Tour events he has played in he has never truly convinced me that he is worried about playing his best darts or progressing so I wouldn’t want to be on that. The other three members of the group are all big prices as lowly ranked players. They are Matthew Edgar, Carl Wilkinson and John Michael, each of whom are getting a second go at making it through to the next stage.
Group Betting
I don’t think it is possible to oppose Krzysztof Ratajski in this group if I’m honest. While so much can happen at home and in their own environments I just think he is a cut above at the minute, especially if Stephen Bunting misses doubles like he did earlier in the week. There is a chance that if we see the best of Kim Huybrechts he might challenge the Poland number one but he would need to show extreme consistency to do that. I do think this group is between those three.
You’re not going to get too rich backing Ratajski at even money across the day but the 8/1 that he wins all his matches offers up a way of making scalping some cash from his efforts. Importantly for that, he has the throw against main danger Stephen Bunting and although he doesn’t have it against Huybrechts he does have a 6-0 win against him in their own previous battle. Ratajski starts against Carl Wilkinson which should be a nice starter to get his form going and if he does he could follow Nick Kenny and complete a clean sweep.
Match Betting
I’ll go with one in the match betting department which comes pretty late in the day when Kim Huybrechts has the throw against Steve Beaton but is still 4/5 to beat him. I would imagine this one would be priced similarly to this even if we didn’t know who was going to have the throw so the fact we do know it and can still get this price doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, even allowing for the decline in form of Huybrechts.
Having that throw might be important because the last five meetings between these two have gone to a final leg and of course if this one does then the Belgian will have a significant advantage. Given that Huybrechts has dropped off the top level scene I reckon this is a more important day for him than it is for the veteran who is probably just doing his PDC duty by appearing in this given that other likely candidates to be involved in this are on their way to Germany this weekend. This one is for Huybrechts to lose in my eyes and at 4/5 I’ll take him to avoid doing that.
Tips
Back K.Ratajski to win all 6 matches for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with 888sport
WON – Back K.Huybrechts to beat S.Beaton for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with 888sport
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