The PDC Home Tour play-offs continue on Thursday night when Group 3 is played out. By the end of the evening a third player will have qualified for the semi-final groups later in the competition as the sport continues to thrive during lockdown.
We’ve seen plenty of world champions in action so far in the play-offs and we have another one toeing his home oche on Thursday evening, looking to join Jelle Klaasen and Mike de Decker in the next stage.
The Format
The 32 group winners from the first round of groups have been redrawn into eight groups for the second stage of the event. Each winner moves into one of two semi-final groups with the top two from those two groups progressing to form the Championship group which will take place on June 5 where the overall winner will be crowned. Each match from here on in is the best of 11 legs rather than the best of 9 of the first round. Two points are 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.
Wednesday Recap
For the second night in a row the final match of the session was a bad one for a world champion which allowed an outsider to come through and secure top spot. On Tuesday it was Jelle Klaasen who picked up a big win to take the group and on Wednesday it was a heavy defeat for Stephen Bunting in his match against Alan Tabern which allowed Mike de Decker to claim top spot. His two wins saw him edge out Bunting on leg difference. That was Tabern’s only win while Glen Durrant also picked up one win.
It was a proper annoying night for us from a betting point of view. We only had the one bet which was for over 9.5 legs in the match between Stephen Bunting and Glen Durrant. It was annoying enough to see Bunting win 6-3 but it was even more of a pain in the backside that Durrant missed five darts at double to level at 4-4 or move 5-4 behind. That was very much one which got away from us.
Play-Offs Group 3 Line Up
The former world champions keep on coming on Thursday and in Group 3 it is the two-time winner of that title Gary Anderson who is the headline act on show. There were doubts over how much practice he would have done ahead of his first group but there was no need to be concerned. He only dropped four legs all night, averaged around 92 and showed all of his natural talent. There is more to come and if it comes out here he will be very difficult to stop over the course of the night.
Luke Humphries needed two goes at things to show that this format and setup is for him. Eventually he did so and the fact he took care of one naturally talented player in Michael Smith will give him the belief to go on and do that again. Humphries averaged 101.83 the night he won his group and if he is in that form again here he is going to be very tough to beat. He is a heavy scorer so if his finishing is on song there is a case for saying he is the one to beat.
Jamie Lewis is the third highest ranked player in the field. He has had to wait an age for his return to the tournament as he qualified on the opening night of the event, seeing off Peter Wright among others in the process. The statistics will tell you he didn’t average 90 across the night and only hit two 180s but the whole thing was a bit of a mess way back then. There should be a natural improvement to come under an operation that is slicker and Lewis will have had time to adjust to the situation. He is a danger.
The last man in the group is also a Welshman in the form of Nick Kenny. He also qualified quite early in the piece, winning Group 5 which ironically was the first group that Humphries played in so there is a form line between the two there. Kenny averaged less than 85 overall for the evening so the fact that was good enough for three wins was a surprise in itself. It goes without saying that he is going to need a much better overall standard here, but if there is one thing we have seen as time has gone by in this tournament, it is that improvement has come naturally from everyone now they are used to it.
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Outright Betting
Luke Humphries could well be the man to beat here. Obviously on paper he isn’t, that is clearly Gary Anderson, but I would expect Humphries to have been pounding the board a lot more and that could be the difference. In an ideal world Humphries would have the throw against Anderson but that isn’t the case. That is a negative but we are getting 5/2 on him as a result. There should be improvement in all four players but Humphries was well clear of the rest in the groups they won.
Humphries won his last meeting with Gary Anderson which was in the Premier League and he has a winning record over Jamie Lewis which bodes well. I’m prepared to allow him that loss to Nick Kenny earlier in the competition but based what we saw from him the last time he was in action he is the man to beat in my eyes. At 5/2 I’ll take the chance he overcomes Anderson and if he does that most of the job will be done.
Match Betting
I’ll go with one bet on the match betting front as well which comes in the penultimate game of the night where Luke Humphries takes on Nick Kenny. I remember when these two met earlier in the competition I took over 3.5 180s in a best of nine match. Kenny won 5-3 and there were six 180s in that game and I’m certainly not expecting too much in terms of a drying up in the scoring, so the over 4.5 180s really appeals here.
Since that night we’ve seen Humphries go on and dominate the likes of Michael Smith with a barrage of big scores and the extended length is only going to help him get into a rhythm. This will be the second straight match that Humphries plays so he should be in a real groove. This bet isn’t all about Humphries though. Kenny can max out with most in the game, as he showed as four of those six in the first battle between the two were his. The over looks good here.
Tips
Back L.Humphries to win Play-Offs Group 3 for a 2/10 stake at 3.50 with Sky Bet
WON – Back L.Humphries vs N.Kenny – Over 4.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfred
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