The second round of the Grand Slam of Darts draws to a conclusion on Thursday night with what should be an absolutely cracking night of tungsten tossing in Wolverhampton.
Some of the biggest names in the game are in action on the card on Thursday night and three of the four match ups are genuine 50/50 matches which should be full of quality and bags of drama.
The night begins with a pearler of a contest between two of the best players in the game to watch when Dave Chisnall takes on Michael Smith. Both men are very similar in that they score all day and do it for fun but both can be slightly susceptible on their doubles which adds to the intrigue here.
I genuinely think this is a 50/50 match so those who want to take the value and the risk attached to it should be looking at backing Smith at solid odds against but one bet leaps off the page at me and that is on over 11.5 180s.
These two men are no strangers to hitting 180s. Chisnall has already hit 13 180s in this tournament and I’m sure he’ll hit plenty more here but Smith will definitely contribute too given the rhythm both players will get in this match.
They’re good friends so I don’t see either of them performing any antics to put the other off so I’ll be very surprised if these wonderful scorers don’t produce at least a dozen maximums.
Michael van Gerwen is next in action when he takes on Steve Beaton in the second game of the night. To all intents and purposes this should be a routine win for the world number one but Phil Taylor would have thought that when he faced Beaton in the quarter final here a few years ago.
Even so I can’t go against MVG here so I’ll leave this game alone and take the opportunity to marvel in the brilliance of the Dutch star once again.
The third match of the night is another match which looks an absolute screamer as Peter Wright takes on Adrian Lewis. Both men have looked in good form so far and I’m expecting to see no different here.
When these two are at their best there isn’t a lot between them. They both score heavily and they are both capable of the landscape changing checkouts and we’ve seen that in this tournament already in fairness.
I think this has all the makings of being a really close match, one where I don’t see there being more than one break of throw in it come the end of it so the natural bet here is to take over 16.5 legs. Whoever wins as long as there is only one break of throw between them the worst it will end is 10-7 and that sees the bet win.
Given that I think the match will be close throughout and given that both men score so well I’m going to have a small punt on over 9.5 180s too. We’re looking for five from each of them but Lewis could easily plough in more than that. In fairness to Wright he’s hit seven 180s in the tournament already so he’s finding the 60 nicely so that line looks too low.
The final match of the night sees the sole remaining representative from the BDO in action as Martin Adams takes on Kim Huybrechts in another mouth watering match. Both men are full of quality and what could make this one special is how they both have that will not lose attitude so we’re set up for a great finale to the last 16.
I’m already on Adams outright which is enough to keep me interested in the match itself but with the way Kim Huybrechts has scored in this tournament so far I’m more than interested in his 180s in this one. The line is 5.5 and is odds against too and that looks attractive.
Kim hit 5 180s in beating Steve West, 4 in defeat to MVG and 3 in an all too easy win over Mark Oosterhuis. Over this distance I’m expecting him to nail at least half a dozen and that looks a good way to round off the last 16.
Back D.Chisnall vs M.Smith – Over 11.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
Back A.Lewis vs P.Wright – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
Back A.Lewis vs P.Wright – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Sportingbet
Back K.Huybrechts – Over 5.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Skybet
