A week after the last European Tour event took place in Gibraltar the next one takes place in Hamburg this weekend as the European Darts Matchplay is played out over Saturday and Sunday.
As ever we had the first round of the tournament on Friday which has left us with the 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers to play out the remainder of the event over the rest of the weekend. Before we get stuck into the matches there is just enough time to look at the outright market.
Top half
With Phil Taylor having pulled out of this tournament the top half is lacking any of the top four in the world rankings which gives the chance for someone outside of that zone to win some money and look to close in on it.
The man with the best chance would appear to be Peter Wright. Wright will have a bit of a point to prove this weekend after his near miss of the playoffs at the o2 Arena in the Premier League on Thursday night. If he has the form he had when he beat Barneveld with him this weekend he could go very close.
Other seeds in the top half include Michael Smith, Dave Chisnall who did so well for us last weekend, Ian White, Terry Jenkins and Robert Thornton among one or two others but these will be the men where the finalist from this half is most likely to come from.
Bottom half
If there is a lack of big names in the top half there certainly isn’t in the bottom half as last week’s winner Michael van Gerwen is joined by the likes of the world champion Gary Anderson, the runner up in the World Championship in Adrian Lewis and a very live danger in James Wade.
Already this half has a feel of being a tournament in itself about it without bringing last week’s semi-finalist Kim Huybrechts, Mervyn King and Benito van de Pas into things but no matter how much of a tournament it looks it would be foolish to take on van Gerwen in his present form although he’s not as much of a certainty to come through this draw as he is others.
Betting
I’m avoiding the van Gerwen half of the draw. While I like the line up of players taking him on in that section he is just in sensational form and there is little value in going against him. Not only because he’s likely to come through but also if you happen to back the man who beats him the come down will be hard to overcome.
In terms of the seedings this week everything is exactly the same as last week which isn’t ideal although the qualifiers are different so not everything is the same. In this half last weekend I took Dave Chisnall and he made it to the final. In theory there is no reason to desert him but I’ve just got a feeling he might not repeat his heroics.
I’ve a gut feel that Robert Thornton might go ok this weekend but I can’t be backing him on his form especially when he could have to come through Chisnall and Michael Smith just to make the semi-final.
Instead I’m going to side with the man Chisnall beat in the last four last week in Ian White. I mentioned last week that I expect to see the best of White in the coming weeks and we saw some good stuff from him last week before he was given a good going over by Chisnall in the semi-final.
That run was encouraging though and in what looks an easier section if he can take care of Peter Wright I think the Diamond is worth a go at 40/1. He was only one win from a payout last week and hopefully he can go at least one step further here if not two.
Tips
Back I.White to win European Darts Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
