The penultimate day of action in the BDO World Darts Championship is a pretty big one as the two men’s semi-finals are played at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green with the ladies final sandwiched in between the two.
Both the number one seed and the defending champion went out in the quarter finals of the men’s event as Glen Durrant was edged out by Scott Waites and Scott Mitchell fell victim of the Dutch star Richard Veenstra. That all leaves us with two unexpected semi-final matches.
The afternoon semi-final sees Waites taking on Jamie Hughes who will be buzzing right now. That is because for the first time in his career he has shown what he can do on the biggest stage of them all.
Hughes scored brilliantly against Wesley Harms. He hit 9 180s and 13 140s in a comprehensive victory as he finally took his top form onto the iconic stage. That has been a long time coming and I expect him to go from strength to strength now.
Scott Waites refuses to be beaten this week. He came back from 3-0 down to Geert de Vos to win 4-3 in the second round and then trailed 4-2 to Durrant in the quarter final before putting in a brilliant three sets to win 5-4.
I guess the question is can Waites go to the well again and get his wishes granted? You’d have to think there are only so many times he can fall behind and come back. That said we know he has plenty of fighting spirit and heart so he should be competitive.
I think the longer this match goes the better Hughes might get. That was certainly the case with him in the quarter final and on the other side Waites might weaken the longer the match goes as his physical conditioning with his arm might come into question.
I’m expecting a close semi-final but ultimately when the final double is landed I fancy it to be Jamie Hughes picking the dart out of the board.
The second semi-final could be anything in many ways because nobody expected Jeff Smith and Richard Veenstra to come this far. I’m expecting a really good semi-final because both love to rattle along and unlike in their quarter finals both should get the rhythm they crave to play their best darts.
Veenstra is an interesting individual. He has played rubbish when his opponents have this week and when his rival has laid it down to him he has responded in kind so that says to me this match will be close. I think the styles of the two dictate it will be close too come the end even if it isn’t throughout.
Veenstra is the better scorer of the two but Smith is the better finisher and when the two styles have merged we should have seen a close match. You can get solid odds against on over 9.5 sets here and that looks good to me.
In the ladies final Trina Gulliver goes for an unprecedented 10th title while Deta Hedman has a third attempt at her first world title. It goes without saying this is a big match for both.
It is fair to say Hedman is the better of the two but we’ve seen all week how being the better player on paper has accounted for little on the oche and I’ve a feeling Trina is a little bit of value in this final.
It is sure to get nervy at times because it means so much for the pair of them but when I’m betting I like to have my money on the person I know can hold their nerve under such pressure. Trina has hit a double to win the world title nine times whereas Deta is yet to do it and when push comes to shove that could be the difference in what looks an intriguing final.
Back J.Hughes to beat S.Waites for a 4/10 stake at 2.63 with BetVictor
Back S.Waites vs J.Hughes – Over 9.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Titanbet
Back J.Smith vs R.Veenstra – Over 9.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Ladbrokes
Back T.Gulliver to beat D.Hedman for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with BetVictor
Don’t give up the day job
That didn’t work out how you planned did it!? 😉