The European Tour is back for the Easter weekend as the second event of the campaign takes place when the German Darts Grand Prix is played out in Munich with the starts of the game heading to Germany for the tournament which begins on Saturday.
Michael Smith claimed the title last season and he is in the field looking to make a successful defence of the crown but some huge names are in line to dethrone him in what should be an excellent weekend of darts.
Recent Winners
2023 – Michael Smith
2022 – Luke Humphries
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
The Format
We have the same format that was in use for the European Tour last year so the 32 unseeded players meet in the opening round on Saturday with the winners progressing to take on a seeded star in the second round which is played over two sessions on Sunday. The last 16 is played on Monday afternoon and the quarter finals on Monday evening. They are all the best of 11 legs while the semi-finals, also on Monday evening, are the best of 13 legs and the winner will be determined in the Monday evening final over the best of 15 legs.
Top Half
The bracket has been flipped up for the draw this week which means that the second seed is the highest one in the top half. That is the 2022 champion Luke Humphries and if everything goes to the seed order then he will meet Gerwyn Price in the semi-final. Plenty of seeded players will be out to stop that from happening and they include the defending champion Michael Smith. Josh Rock, Ryan Searle, Rob Cross, Danny Noppert and Ricardo Pietreczko are the other seeded men in the field.
The way the draw has been worked out in the European Tour this season there are some huge names who are unseeded in these events and that is very much the case in this top half this weekend with Peter Wright the biggest of them these days although Raymond van Barneveld got back to winning ways earlier in the month and will be looking to go well here. James Wade is another easily recognisable name on show while Jose de Sousa, Daryl Gurney and Ryan Joyce will be out to show their worth. Mike De Decker, Gian van Veen and Kevin Doets represent the new brigade of darts players.
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Bottom Half
It is in the bottom half of the draw where the number one seed Dave Chisnall is housed this weekend. Based on the seedings he is scheduled to meet Damon Heta in the semi-final but there are no shortage of players with a seeding looking to stop that from happening. Michael van Gerwen would be the leading light of those but The Masters champion Stephen Bunting will be out for a big week too. Dirk van Duijvenbode, Ross Smith, Krzysztof Ratajski and Jonny Clayton are the other seeds this weekend.
As with the top half of the draw, there are plenty of big names who aren’t seeded in the bottom half of the draw and they include the reigning World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall as well as the man who claimed the UK Open earlier in the month in Dimitri Van den Bergh. Chris Dobey is another leading light in the bottom half of the draw while former UK Open winner Andrew Gilding and previous champion at The Masters in Joe Cullen is also here. Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens will be looking to make the most of the home crowd.
Betting
It has to be said that the record of Nathan Aspinall in these European Tour events is nothing short of terrible for a player of his ability and stature within the game, however the only final he has made in them was in this tournament last year and I wonder if that is significant. Since then, Aspinall has won the second biggest event in the game in the World Matchplay and has competed strongly in the Premier League and surely the penny will drop at some point on these European Tour weekends.
It isn’t completely ideal that he bombed out in the first round of the opening European Tour event this season but he played a night after competing in the Premier League so that was a tough gig. This time around he has a night off between the Premier League and this tournament starting so things shouldn’t be as hectic for him. He has a nice draw with Michael Unterbuchner not really seasoned at this level and then Dirk van Duijvenbode working his way back to his best after his shoulder issue. Ross Smith and then Damon Heta is as hard as it could be up to the semi-final where he could meet van Gerwen but even that isn’t guaranteed. Ultimately, we can get 25/1 on the fourth best player in the rankings to win this tournament with a relatively kind draw. I’ll ignore his European Tour record and pay to see if it changes this weekend.
Tips
Back N.Aspinall to win German Darts Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
