The Icons of Darts begins a third week of action on Monday with three new players joining the mix to make up the set of five who will battle it out in their own homes throughout the afternoon for our entertainment.
Credit to the Modus team for arranging another week of what has been an incredibly enjoyable event so far, and with leading players from the Challenge Tour rankings joining the party we are set for a good week once again.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday five men will battle it out in a round robin group with the overall champion being determined on Saturday May 2. Matches will see the players compete over the best of 9 legs with each of them at home in front of a webcam throwing at their own individual dartboards. Scores can be found on Dart Connect and the tournament will be streamed on the bookmaker live streaming consoles and for free on Dartslive.tv
Saturday Recap
It was Jason Askew who won the group on Saturday on his way to winning the overall week. He now heads into the evening tournament in good spirits leaving the three men who all picked up four points on Saturday behind. They are Paul Nicholson, Arron Monk and Andy Jenkins. It was a pretty competitive day as it goes with a lot of deciding leg finishes but Jarred Cole pulled up the rear on his last day of competition.
Sadly Cole didn’t deliver the goods for us but we did come out in front for the day to end a tough week with a bit of profit for the third day in succession. That came courtesy of Jason Askew and his 5-3 win over Andy Jenkins in what was a great game of darts. We’ll look to take the profitable run of the latter part of the week into the new campaign.
Monday Line Up
It is Arron Monk who is taking a day off to begin the week so Andy Jenkins and Paul Nicholson are the two men used to this format who are teeing it up on Monday. They are joined by three players who have had success or shown good form on the Challenge Tour.
The first of those is Adam Huckvale, the man who made it to the final of the first event of the new Challenge Tour campaign and who has made it into some of the tour events this term as a result. He was throwing some good averages in that Challenge Tour run and won an event at that level in 2018 so he should be competitive.
James Hubbard was the World Youth Championship winner in 2012 and has played on some of the biggest stages around the world but if you follow him on social media you will know he struggled a bit a few year ago and fell out of love for the game. He appears to have his mojo back now and having made the semi-final and quarter final of Challenge Tour events on the same day earlier in the year when it clicks he’s still got it.
The Brazilian star Diogo Portela completes the line up on Monday. His story is pretty well known from his appearances in the World Cup and the World Championship and he has been plying his trade to good effect on the Challenge Tour over the last year or two. He won an event at that level in 2018 and you know he’ll be out to use this as good practice as he seeks to finally make the main tour later in the year.
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Outright Betting
This group is really interesting on Monday because Arron Monk isn’t around and as such any one of the five on show could win it. I get why Paul Nicholson and Andy Jenkins are favoured by the bookies. Their experience of this gig is an advantage and we’ve seen that in every one of these home events, but they’re not completely consistent so I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the new three do come good here.
In my eyes the bookies have the three Challenge Tour men completely the wrong way round and I’m prepared to get involved in the 6/1 that James Hubbard shows some of his old qualities. He was throwing 90+ averages for fun in those Challenge Tour events earlier in the season. He scores well and if he can be anything like reliable on the finishing he could take some stopping. There is a risk involved. He is playing for the first time, but the price is big enough to factor that in and still have a small bet on him.
Match Betting
Bookmakers seem to have Diogo Portela third best in this group whereas I have him the weakest of the quintet. He is actually a half decent player but I just don’t think he’s up to the level of the rest, certainly not his two fellow Challenge Tour players and I’m going to back both to beat him. Adam Huckvale has actually played Portela on four previous occasions and he’s won the lot, and only once has the Brazilian got close to him. You have to take past records with a pinch of salt here given that the other man isn’t in front of the dominant force but both men will still know the record so it has something in it. Huckvale has already made a final this year which makes me think he can take care of Portela.
I would expect by the time James Hubbard plays Portela he’ll be nicely warmed up as it is the last match of the afternoon for both men. As I’ve intimated above, I think Hubbard is a better player of the two men and now he has got his hunger back I’m expecting him to show that. The fact he doesn’t have to leave his house for competitive action should act as another motivator for the Norfolk man, who when we’re not in lockdown has some excellent practice partners in close proximity. That should battle harden him and he can take that advantage into this match and come out on top.
Tips
Back J.Hubbard to win Group 1 for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back A.Huckvale to beat D.Portela for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back him here:
Back J.Hubbard to beat D.Portela for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back him here:
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