When the draw came out for the PDC World Darts Championship, the section of it that stood out was the second quarter, where there are some big names gathered, each looking to go as far as they can, and even all the way to the title.
That all makes for a decent second quarter market for the tournament and we are going to work our way through that in this preview, where Michael Smith is the betting favourite to be in the semi-finals for the second year in a row.
Draw
(5) Gary Anderson v Brendan Dolan/Nitin Kumar
(28) Steve West v Ryan Searle/Robbie King
(12) Nathan Aspinall v Andy Boulton/Danny Baggish
(21) Krzysztof Ratajski v Jamie Hughes/Zoran Lerchbacher
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(4) Michael Smith v Luke Woodhouse/Paul Lim
(29) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Josh Payne/Diogo Portela
(13) Adrian Lewis v Cristo Reyes/Lourence Ilagan
(20) Darren Webster v Ryan Meikle/Yuki Yamada
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Preview
Once again I have divided the draw up into a red section and a green one with the winner of each meeting in the quarter final. The red section is an interesting one. It is headed by Gary Anderson, but he has shown no form whatsoever to suggest he is guaranteed to come through what is a competitive little section. Nathan Aspinall won his quarter last year and will fancy another deep run while Krzysztof Ratajski and Jamie Hughes might just be sleepers, particularly with one of them likely to make the third round at least.
The other half is equally as tough to decipher. Smith made the final here last year but you could make the argument he was in better form then and he wasn’t such a favourite which might have benefitted him. My gut feeling is he is worth taking on both in the quarter and definitely the outright market, with the winner of this quarter potentially facing Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final. Adrian Lewis knows how to go the course and distance here while Darren Webster, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Josh Payne can be dangerous.
Betting
Of all the quarters this is the one which I feel could open up the most. Anderson quite simply has to be vulnerable and therefore opposed while Smith is so much better flying under the radar as an underdog, something he doesn’t have the luxury of here. I would say the same thing about the UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall as well. He has visibly struggled under pressure in the last few TV events.
With the favourites easy to oppose I’m going to take a couple of men at bigger prices here. Krzysztof Ratajski has shown his ability on the floor all season long and it is only a matter of time before that comes out on the big stage. The beauty of set play is that you can have a flat spot and not be miles behind which is why we see some lesser players go deep in this event. When the Polish star is good he’s very good. I think he can be a dark horse. I’m not sure whether Adrian Lewis can be a dark horse but there were enough signs in the Grand Slam to suggest he has been crying out for a set format and as such I think he is worth supporting here. He knows just how to do deep in this thing and with the format suiting I expect him to challenge strongly in this quarter.
Tips
Back A.Lewis to win 2nd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 12.00 with Bet365
Bac K.Ratajski to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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