After the conclusion of the Premier League on Thursday night, the European Tour is back this weekend as another batch of darting superstars head out to Zwolle to compete in the Dutch Darts Masters.
Michael van Gerwen has dominated the European scene so far this season and that is the case in this event too. He has won it for the last five years and will be looking to win a sixth title here to add to his Premier League crown.
Recent Winners
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2013 – Kim Huybrechts
2012 – Simon Whitlock
The Format
We are using the same format as last season for these tournaments which means that the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
Michael van Gerwen is obviously the number one seed this week and he has been housed in the top half of the draw where he will be widely expected to come through. Seven seeds will look to stop him through with Michael Smith one of them. Gerwyn Price is seeded the highest of those below Michael van Gerwen in this half. James Wade was also meant to be in this section of the draw but he has pulled out of the tournament leaving Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton, Dave Chisnall and Ricky Evans to make up those who made it straight into the last 32.
Raymond van Barneveld and Glen Durrant are the leading qualifiers in the top half of the tournament. The latter has had a right touch as he is through to the last 16 as he was just to face James Wade in the last 32. William O’Connor, Steve Beaton, Danny van Trijp, Dennis Nilsson, Krzysztof Ratajski and Brendan Dolan complete the qualifiers in the top half of proceedings.
Bottom Half
Ian White has been knocking on the door of a European Tour success all season and it finally came a couple of weekends ago. As a result he is the number two seed and the leading light in the bottom half although third seed Daryl Gurney might have something to say about that. Mensur Suljovic and Peter Wright are also in this bottom half while Jermaine Wattimena, Joe Cullen, Darren Webster and the former champion Simon Whitlock are the other members of the seeded fraternity in this juicy lower section.
Home stars Danny Noppert and Vincent van der Voort headline the qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw while the German ace Max Hopp is another qualifier who the seeds will want to avoid. Mervyn King, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Florian Hempel, Mickey Mansell and Ritchie Edhouse complete the list of players competing in the tournament this weekend.
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Betting
It is hard to ignore the form of Ian White this week. He has made the last three finals on the European Tour and finally got over the line in the last of them. What caught my eye about that performance was how he held his nerve in the deciding leg in the final. That showed me that he is getting more confident on the big stage and more comfortable on it as well which can never be underestimated.
Once again White is not in the same half of the draw as Michael van Gerwen so in present form that is a major box ticked and with a relatively smooth passage to the quarter final there is no reason why the Diamond can’t go relatively deep this weekend. This might be a little harder to win than the tournament he came out on top in but there is enough juice in the 22/1 to see how he gets on.
Tips
WON – Back I.White to win Dutch Darts Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Betway (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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