The PDC Home Tour continues on Wednesday night when Group 6 is played out and after a couple of evenings without any of the top ranked players on show we are back with the elite as James Wade headlines the four men in action.
The quality of the darts is starting to get better with each group now as everyone is getting used to what is happening so it will be interesting to see whether that trend continues, on what could be a competitive evening of action.
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.
Tuesday Recap
It was meant to be Devon Petersen and Luke Humphries who dominated Group 5 of the event but as it turned out it was the lowest ranked player of the four, Nick Kenny, who stole the show, winning all three of his matches and never really being under pressure in any of them. Petersen actually lost all three of his games while Humphries’ defeat to Kenny in the opener cost him his chance of progressing deeper into the event.
We banked on 180s for our bets on Tuesday evening and they delivered on both fronts. The four 180s we required in the opening match of the night came in before the end of the fourth leg and despite the 180s drying up through the middle of the evening, the final game produced eight of them when we only needed five, so the overall 180s sailed in smoothly enough to give us another two winners to go with the three successful bets of the previous two evenings.
Group 6 Line Up
James Wade is the star attraction on show on Wednesday and he’ll be looking to avoid going the same way as the two men ranked above him to feature in the event so far in Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price. They both failed to win their group but the multiple PDC major winner is a 5/4 shot to come out on top. The big question is probably just how up for this he is but I guess the fact he entered would suggest he wants to be in it.
Ryan Searle is actually the most recent title winner of these four men. He won a Players Championship tournament prior to the stoppage for the virus. Not only did he win that title but he beat Michael van Gerwen in the final which is no mean effort. We’ve seen him perform well on a couple of big stages too and as a huge scorer he could very well be the spoiler in the pack here at around the 7/4 mark.
Andy Boulton is the third highest ranked player in the draw in this group. He has made a name for himself on a couple of PDC stages and will be hoping to do so in his own home here. The break probably came at a good time for Boulton who only one won match in the eight Players Championship tournaments before the stoppage. Clearly he is going to need a significant improvement if he is to land the 5/1 odds here.
Adrian Gray is a name synonymous with darts in the early part of this century. He made his name beating Phil Taylor in the World Grand Prix in 2007 and was a regular in the top 32 of the PDC for a number of years. He has struggled in recent times and seems to play a lot of soft tip now, which anyone who saw the Taylor vs Barneveld match on that board will know is a slightly easier brand of darts. His form on the tour has been poor in recent times. He’s only won three matches in the last 16 floor events but he did make a semi-final last July, seeing off Nathan Aspinall and others along the way. He is 8/1 to come through here.
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Outright Betting
You’ve got to think this is a group which will be dominated by James Wade and Ryan Searle. I get that tour form doesn’t count for a whole lot in this but when you’ve been starved of wins in the way that Andy Boulton and Adrian Gray have in recent times I just don’t see either coming through against either of the other two let alone potentially both of them which to win the group they might need to do.
I guess with that in mind you could argue that the 2/1 on Searle to win the group is a bit of value but I have a nagging doubt about him hitting doubles and James Wade is the last person you want to give a free shot at the outer ring to. At the same time I don’t really want to take Wade to win the group because if Searle is on form on his doubles against him he’ll beat him. I’ll sit and watch who wins the group.
Match Betting
I was tempted by a couple of bets over the course of the night but in the end after a good few nights in this tournament I have decided to run with just the one, which comes in the big game of the night as James Wade takes on Ryan Searle. I’ve already highlighted that this could be the defining match on the evening so you’ve got to think that there are going to be eight or nine legs in it with both men knowing the importance of it.
That should see the 3.5 180 line get covered here. Both men are comfortably in the top 20 in 180s hit on the pro tour so far this season which highlights just how well they can both score, but also how playing in the confined environment of those floor events brings the best out of them. I see no reason why playing in their own homes will have any negative effect on them. I daresay Wade won’t have done much practicing recently but he will have had a match before this one to find his range. Searle could be absolutely relentless and cover this total on his own but with no pressure on I’ve got to think Wade contributes to the 180 hitting here and between then they can reach four before the final double is hit.
Tips
WON – Back J.Wade vs R.Searle – Over 3.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfair
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