The opening night of the European Championship sees the top half of the draw playing out their first round matches on an evening which will see the top seed entering the fray right off the bat out in Dortmund.
Usually that is Michael van Gerwen but he has only come in second on the Order of Merit this time around and instead it is Luke Humphries who will get the honour of headlining the action on a good looking night of darts.
First Four Matches
The opening match of the tournament sees the popular Dirk van Duijvenbode looking to make it through to the second round when he takes on a Madars Razma who had a good run at the World Grand Prix at the beginning of the month. When they are done the heavy scoring Ryan Searle takes on Martin Lukeman, who broke onto the scene when he made the final of a European Tour event earlier in the season. The third match of the evening sees the UK Open champion in action when Danny Noppert takes on Andrew Gilding before we hit the halfway point with Rob Cross taking on James Wade.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Later Four Matches
The second part of the evening begins with the number one seed taking to the stage when Luke Humphries looks to justify the billing when he goes up against Krzysztof Ratajski. The next match is the pick of the matches in the evening as Nathan Aspinall takes on the new kid on the block in Josh Rock. World finalist Michael Smith is in action in the penultimate game in the session when he meets Karel Sedlacek before one half of the World Cup winning pairing, Damon Heta, takes on one of the last men into the field in Vincent van der Voort.
Betting
I’m not one for going too mad in these best of 11 sessions and that isn’t changing here but I can’t ignore the 15/8 on Krzysztof Ratajski to beat Luke Humphries. You get the feeling that this is a big weekend for Humphries. He has worked so hard to be the number one seed this weekend and he won’t want his hard work to go down without a fight. The problem is this is all quite new to him and I wonder if he’ll put too much pressure on himself.
Even when he is flowing, Humphries can miss plenty of doubles at the best of times and he has been known to throw in the odd stinker, the first round of the World Grand Prix being a case in question, and so I think he is worth taking on, especially with someone as solid and consistent as Ratajski. Ratajski pushed Peter Wright all the way in the World Grand Prix at the beginning of the month and has a 3-0 head to head lead on Humphries in matches they’ve thrown at the same board in. That includes an 11-5 win at the World Matchplay last year. I think the Pole is overpriced here and am happy to back him in a much more even match in my eyes than the odds suggest.
Tips
Back K.Ratajski to beat L.Humphries for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Coral
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
