The big names of the PDC tour are back in action on Saturday when the top 16 in the world rankings do battle against each other in the Unibet Masters.
Over two sessions of action on Saturday the entire first round of the tournament will be played out with some eagerly anticipated match ups with some World Championship revenge at stake not to mention good preparation for the upcoming Premier League.
All the matches on Saturday are the best of 19 legs so the first to 10 will make their way into Sunday afternoon’s quarter final session and double their earnings from £5,000 to a minimum of £10,000.
The tournament begins with a juicy looking match between Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall. I would imagine Thornton is chomping at the bit to get the year underway after losing in the first round of the World Championship.
Chisnall was edged out by Peter Wright in that tournament but had played very well up until that point and if he can take that form with him into this tournament then he will fancy his chances strongly.
With these two I did look at taking the 180s but the 10.5 line is just enough to put me off. One or two less and I’d have been a player but we’d need a good 18 or 19 legs for that to be confident of landing and that isn’t certain.
James Wade and Terry Jenkins are up in the second match of the afternoon and although I’ve backed Wade outright in this tournament I’m prepared to back him to win this match too.
We saw both in the World Championship and in the run up to it that Jenkins’ game is sliding a little bit. Too many darts were disappearing into the one bed and missed doubles were coming along more regularly.
You don’t get either of those from Wade so I fancy the Machine strongly here. He has won five of their last six meetings and only one of his wins was close in that time so Wade seems to have the wood on The Bull at the minute and a 2.5 leg handicap might not be enough for Jenkins in this one.
The third match up sees Peter Wright continuing his quest for a first TV tournament win. He takes on Ian White in what should be a great match. Like Thornton I would imagine White can’t wait to get going this week after he also lost in the first round of the World Championship.
Wright went out to Lewis in the quarter final at Alexandra Palace but one thing which was apparent in that tournament was how many 180s he was hitting and I see no reason why that will stop going into this tournament.
Wright is hitting a very underrated number of 180s while White has always been an underrated hitter of them which might be why we are able to get a 9.5 180 line for this match. This looks like being a close match throughout. All but one of their nine previous meetings have gone to a penultimate or deciding leg. If this one does the 180s should rack up quickly.
The afternoon concludes with a World Championship rematch as Michael Smith takes on Raymond Barneveld. The Dutchman won their quarter final in that tournament in a deciding leg but it is Smith who is the favourite here.
It might just have been that set play benefitted Barneveld in that match but he doesn’t have that luxury here and that might be the difference when this one is in the books.
Prior to that World Championship loss Smith had won their last three meetings which were all in leg play like this match is and I suspect a large part of that is because he puts bursts of devastating legs together. If he has a couple of those spurts here he can be too good for Barneveld this time.
The evening session is packed with big names and great matches. Adrian Lewis takes on Kim Huybrechts while Gary Anderson and Vincent van der Voort renew acquaintances after meeting in the World Championship and Michael van Gerwen starts his year off against Stephen Bunting.
There isn’t really a bet that stands out in those matches. I don’t want to be taking big handicaps on the favourites in their first hit out of the year and the lines on the side markets look about right but I am going to chance one other in the evening session.
That comes in the third World Championship rematch where Phil Taylor will be out for ultimate revenge against Jelle Klaasen after the Cobra dumped him out of the showpiece event in ruthless fashion.
Taylor is the favourite to get the better of Klaasen but this isn’t an event which is going to motivate him less than a week before he takes on Raymond Barneveld in the Premier League so I like Klaasen here I have to say.
Even if this was a tournament which motivated Taylor he’s still no 4/9 shot to beat Klaasen as we saw at the World Championship. Klaasen is a much improved player over the last six months and he can attack this match with nothing to lose. That makes him arguably more dangerous than he was at Alexandra Palace and as a result he’s worth chancing here.
Back J.Wade (-2.5 legs) to beat T.Jenkins for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back P.Wright vs I.White – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
Back M.Smith to beat R.Barneveld for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Boylesports
Back J.Klaasen to beat P.Taylor for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Bet365
