The fourth night of action in the PDC Hone Tour sees the first female player in action as once again four star players battle it out in a round robin group for our entertainment in this time of lockdown. A place in the next round is the reward for the winner.
The first three groups have all had overwhelming favourites going into them but that is not the case on Monday night, so we could be in for our most competitive evening of the competition so far with everyone fancying their chances.
The Format
Each night four players will battle it out in a round robin format with the group winner progressing to the next stage of the tournament. All six matches in each group will be the best of nine legs with two points 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.
Sunday Recap
All the hype heading into the group on Sunday was around Dave Chisnall and he didn’t disappoint, dropping just three legs on his way to a comfortable group win which saw him hit 180s for fun, a couple of big checkouts and provide a lot of laughs. Chisnall came through with Scott Waites in second place while Jonathan Worsley was third and Jan Dekker brought up the rear on what was a poor evening for the Dutchman.
It hadn’t been the best start to the competition for us betting wise but we put that right on Sunday as both of our bets came in at odds against prices. It was apparent pretty early that Chisnall was going to bring the group bet in and along the way he also delivered on the King of the Oche punt against Jan Dekker so we’ve gone from -6 for the tournament to being in profit and will look to kick on from here.
Group 4 Line Up
For the first time in this tournament we have nobody in the top 40 players in the world on show so all four players will be out to progress. The highest ranked player in the field is Ross Smith, the 7/4 favourite to come out on top over the course of the night. Smith is one of the big underachievers in the game as shown by his win over Michael van Gerwen in the European Championship last year. As the highest ranked player in the field it is hard to argue against him being favourite.
World Cup star Mickey Mansell is the second favourite in the field. Whenever you see him on a big stage you tend to wonder why he isn’t much higher up in the rankings than what he is. He is world ranked 53 and what I call a steady eddie in that he’ll get so far in a tournament taking advantage of the draw his ranking gives him but when he comes up against the better and elite players he is found wanting.
The third player in the field in this group is the youngest man on show in Dutch ace Geert Nentjes. We’ve seen Nentjes at the last two World Championships but he hasn’t had any success however he has won a Development Tour event and I am always wary of opposing players who come through that competition as they have to be half decent. We know all Dutch youngsters can score which could serve him well and he’s a 3/1 shot to come out on top here.
The outsider in the group is the one most of the attention will be on over the course of the fourth night of action and that is Lisa Ashton, the woman who took the world by storm when landing herself a Tour card earlier in the year. Ashton is 11/2 to win this group and she isn’t without a chance if she can hit her doubles because she can score with the best of them when she is on her game.
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Outright Betting
This is not an easy group to call the winner of. As I said above Smith is a worthy favourite but he’s nothing like a certainty in the way that Dave Chisnall was on Sunday night. Mickey Mansell could be the spoiler if he is given the chance while Lisa Ashton isn’t without a shot. Geert Nentjes could be anything really and if I was betting on the group I would probably side with him as I do have a bit of a thing of this stuff favouring the youngsters.
I’m not going to bet on the group outright but a few bookies are starting to price outright specials up for these groups and one has caught my eye here. It comes in the form of the most 180s on the night and I’ll have a bet on Geert Nentjes to deliver on that front. As I’ve said before you don’t come through Dutch darts if you can’t score and we saw the evidence of that at the World Championship last year. Although he lost to Kim Huybrechts in the first round he did slam in five 180s. Ross Smith knows the 60 too but he’s under more pressure and while the other two should be competitive I don’t expect them to outscore Nentjes. I’ll take the Dutchman here.
Match Betting
There isn’t a whole lot I like in the match betting front. My gut feel is that Lisa Ashton will win a match. I fancy she’ll find someone who messes up on the doubles and takes advantage of that but I’m not sure which match I expect that to happen in. If this was a stage game I’d be looking to get with Mickey Mansell but it isn’t it’s at home.
Again Geert Nentjes is my idea of the man to be on but I can’t say I’m overly enthused about any of the prices and if you back Ross Smith at odds on I just feel there is an element of dicing with death about it. If Nentjes dominates this group and makes me regret not backing him for some of his matches then so be it. If he does he is likely to outscore everyone anyway so that will do me.
Tips
WON – Back G.Nentjes Most Group 180s for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with William Hill
Back him here:
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