The PDC World Darts Championship begins inside the Alexandra Palace on Friday night but before we get the opening darts thrown there is just enough time to have a look at the various specials markets that have gone up for the event.
There are markets on all sorts of things from statistical offerings such as checkouts and 180s to iconic things like nine dart finishes as well as when the big boys will be eliminated and plenty more. There are three bets we like the look of.
Total 170 Checkouts
One of the popular things to see at Alexandra Palace is always the big fish getting reeled in. We often see the 170 checkout taken out plenty of times and with players getting their maths correct more and more these days we definitely won’t be short of attempts at this over the 95 matches we are going to see in just under three weeks.
The under/over line is 4.5 in this tournament and in three of the last four years we have seen at least six 170 finishes landed and in the other year we saw exactly four. As I mentioned, players are so much better at counting and leaving the 170 finish that we are going to see it targeted regularly. There will be times when a player is professional and not go for the bullseye when ahead in the leg but plenty of others will get caught up in the atmosphere and take it on regardless. These days the 170 isn’t the unlikely event it used to be and I expect to see it reeled in at least five times.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Total Tournament 180s
The other thing we are guaranteed to see a pile of over the course of the 95 matches are a barrel load of 180s. It comes with the territory here and I don’t think we are too far away from seeing 1000 of them in the one tournament. We cracked the 900 mark last year which makes it quite surprising that the line for this competition is down at just 884.5.
We got 901 last year but there is the potential for plenty more darts here. Two of the quarter finals last year ended 5-0 and 5-1 while the semi-finals were 6-0 and 6-2 and latter stage matches tend to be tighter than that. In fact, of the 31 matches from the last 32 onwards, just seven went to a deciding set last year. This draw feels much more competitive than that. Contrast that to the year before and 12 of the last 28 matches of the event (three players had to withdraw due to Covid) went to a deciding set. The other reason for more 180s here is that relentless 180 hitters such as Dave Chisnall, Ross Smith, Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall, Peter Wright and Ryan Searle were all knocked out in the last 32. I expect more 180s this year than last year and so I expect this line to be battered.
Most 180s
Another market that I like the look of is the one for which player will hit the most 180s. Usually you are looking for a player to make the final as the winner of this and most definitely the semi-finals but a few firms are offering three places on the market so there is a chance that a relentless scorer gets into the mix just by making the quarter finals if they are involved in close matches and there is a not so strong scorer make it into the semi-finals like a James Wade for example.
With that in mind, I will take the chance that my outright bet on Stephen Bunting delivers the run to the semi-final and beyond that I think he can in which case he will be right in the mix. He has been scoring like a dream for a while now. Only six players have hit more 180s than him on the pro tour this season and four of those played more matches and one which didn’t is Dirk van Duijvenbode whose injury will put paid to his chances. Bunting is in a competitive part of the draw so I’m not expecting many blowout wins which will help and at 25/1 I’ll pay to see if he can go deep enough in the event to make the top three and potentially land us the jackpot.
Tips
Back Over 4.5 170 Checkouts for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Unibet
Back Over 884.5 tournament 180s for a 7/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back S.Bunting Most 180s (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-3)
Back them here:
