The PDC season gets underway this weekend when the leading 16 players in the world rankings head to Milton Keynes for The Masters, a quick fire knockout event where the best in the game can showcase their talents once again.
Michael van Gerwen has owned this event in recent times and that was the case again last year. He comes here looking to win the tournament for the sixth year in a row but some seriously good players will be looking to stop him.
Recent Winners
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – James Wade
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
This event is a straight knockout right from the start and the format is a decent one which makes the event so good. The first round is played across Friday and Saturday night over the best of 19 legs with the quarter finals over the same distance on Sunday afternoon. The tournament then concludes with the semi-finals and the final over the best of 21 legs in a juicy Sunday evening session to determine the new champion.
Top Half
Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion and the world number one and as such he is the top seed in this top half this weekend. This isn’t an easy draw for him though it has to be said with the other top eight seeds being the former world champion Rob Cross, who will feel he has a point to prove after a disappointing World Championship, with Michael Smith in the same situation. Nathan Aspinall is the other member of the top eight in here.
The four players outside the top eight are obviously all decent but three of them are of the highest class. They are led by former winner and beaten finalist last year in James Wade while twice world champion Adrian Lewis is in this half has well. Mensur Suljovic will look to bounce back from his loss to Fallon Sherrock at the World Championship from here while Jonny Clayton will be aiming not to be making up the numbers here.
Bottom Half
It is no less juicier in the bottom half either. The field in this part of the draw is led by the world champion Peter Wright, who will walk out for the first time with that tag on Saturday night. Grand Slam winner Gerwyn Price will be out to deny him a place in a second final within a month while the other two players in the top eight in this half of the draw are Daryl Gurney and Gary Anderson so there really is no letting up in the quality here.
The lesser ranked players are anything but mugs either. Dave Chisnall is probably the pick of them and he can go deep in any tournament he wants to while Ian White will be looking to back up a strong 2019 on the European circuit with a good run here. Simon Whitlock and Joe Cullen both have the opportunity to get their year off to a good start with a couple of victories in this lucrative tournament.
Betting
I’ll go with just the one bet this weekend and I’m focusing on the bottom half for my outright bet because often when Michael van Gerwen doesn’t win a big title he comes back with a vengeance so I don’t want to be anywhere near him. Conversely, Peter Wright might feel a little more pressure an emotion being the world champion this weekend so his half feels like the place to target for a bet in the hope someone in the top half gets rid of MVG.
Daryl Gurney hasn’t had the second half to 2019 that he would have liked and his World Championship campaign was null and void so he should be right up for the fight here and at 33/1 there is no doubt that someone who spent most of last year in the top four in the world is clearly overpriced. He doesn’t have an easy draw but they don’t really exist in this thing but if Gurney scores well and hits some doubles and fancies the job there is no reason he can’t give us a tasty run at a decent price.
Tips
Back D.Gurney to win The Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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