Two more places in the Championship group of the PDC Home Tour II will be won on Tuesday when the second of the three phase three groups are played out as seven men embark on their home oches for the third time in the tournament to battle it out for one of those spots in next week’s finale.
The first group of this phase was a competitive one on Monday but this second one looks like it is full of much more quality and with just two qualifying places available instead of the four in the second round a very tense and dramatic day awaits us.
The Format
Each day seven players will be in action on their home oches in a group stage format looking to progress. In every group in the tournament the seven players will each play each other once. In the first round the top three players in each group and the five best fourth-placed players go through to the second stage. Five groups are played out in the second phase with the top four in each making it through to the third stage along with the best fifth-placed player. The final stage begins with three more groups with the top two in each and the best third-placed player qualifying for the Championship Group where the champion is crowned. Each match throughout is the best of nine legs and the tournament will be streamed live on PDCTV or the consoles on the bookmaker websites.
Phase 3 Group 1 Recap
Damon Heta was the favourite to win the first group of this phase on Monday and he delivered the goods as well with five wins out of his six matches. He occupies one of the places in the final group and the second spot in it went to Kai Fan Leung who won four of his matches and edged out Ron Meulenkamp on leg difference. He could still make it through as his leg difference isn’t too bad but he’ll have to wait and see if he is good enough. Andy Boulton, James Wilson, Carl Wilkinson and Luke Woodhouse have all seen their campaign come to a conclusion.
It was another profitable day for us in this tournament albeit not quite as much of one as we would have liked. The profit came with Leung winning his match against James Wilson as we expected him to do. He had the throw in the deciding leg if he had needed it but he broke in the leg before that to come through 5-3. A point of the profit was taken away with Boulton not showing the form he had last week and ultimately failing to win the group.
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Phase 3 Group 2 Line Up
The Favourites
Two men standout in this group on Tuesday and it would be a surprise if they don’t both make it through to the final group. Krzysztof Ratajski is the class act in this section. He was a leg away from a clean sweep in his second phase group and the same in his first phase section as well. The Polish player who took Michael van Gerwen the distance at the World Grand Prix last week is going to take a lot of beating here. Chris Dobey rates as his closest challenger and he might be more suited to this exam paper than the World Grand Prix where he was nowhere near his best.
The Outsiders
Five players will be out to cause a major upset with Ross Smith the first of those. He could be competitive at his best but he can be hit and miss at the same time. Ryan Meikle has had a decent couple of months of it and he might fancy his chances of usurping the main two while the other three players probably have a bit to find. They are Marko Kantele, Nick Kenny and Joe Murnan who have done well to make it this far but have it all to do to make it any further.
Group Betting
I’ve had a dabble in the last few groups but I can’t get away from Krzysztof Ratajski here. He isn’t just favourite for this group he is the one to beat in the whole competition in my eyes but I hate betting on things at short prices when winning isn’t the primary aim. I don’t mind it when there is some value to be had and the reward outweighs the risk but the best you can get on the Polish star is 11/10. It might be that backing him to win all six matches lands this time but he seems to continually fall a leg short.
Of the others Chris Dobey looks the main danger but there isn’t a whole lot of value in the 3/1 on offer on him. The rest of the players are all big prices and while I’m tempted by the 20/1 on Nick Kenny based on his performance earlier in the competition but I’m not convinced he is going to get the better of Ratajski either. We might look back on the day and think the 11/10 on Ratajski was a gift and if that is the case then so be it but I’m not massively interested.
Match Betting
I will take Nick Kenny in the match betting front though. He has been pretty good to me in the tournament so far and there is one match in particular where I think he is value even at around the 4/5 mark. That comes in his showdown with Joe Murnan, a player who I would probably have backed him to beat anyway but when you factor in that he has the throw in this one he looks an even better prospect.
These two have history in the Home Tour. They met in the first version of it when Kenny came out on top 5-2 and I’m expecting something similar from this match as well. Murnan is what I call one paced whereas Kenny is a very heavy scorer and over this short distance I expect that to make the difference. Murnan did well to come through this second phase group but when he played anyone of any note in it he got beat. I think the same thing will happen to him here too.
Tips
WON – Back N.Kenny to beat J.Murnan for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
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