The second round of the PDC World Darts Championship concludes and the third round begins on Tuesday as the tournament continues to rattle along at a strong pace.
With so many big guns making it through already we are set for a superb finish to this tournament and some of the matches in Tuesday’s two sessions look mouth-watering.
The one remaining second round match kicks off the day as Mervyn King takes on Jelle Klaasen before Michael Smith and Benito van de Pas get the third round underway. James Wade and Jamie Caven round off the afternoon.
The evening session begins with Adrian Lewis facing Mensur Suljovic before the world champion Gary Anderson takes on the Dutch star Vincent van der Voort. If that wasn’t enough Michael van Gerwen vs Raymond Barneveld concludes what should be an outstanding day of arrers.
King has a fairly good record against Jelle Klaasen but on the evidence of the first round he is going to need it. Klaasen delivered the performance of the opening set of matches but backing up good performances is something he has struggled with and I’m never sure playing in the afternoon suits him.
That is a silly thing to say but by and large his better performances on the big stage come in the evening when he’s had time to prepare and practice and everything is buzzing. That isn’t likely to be the case on a random Tuesday afternoon.
Timings don’t bother King. He’s in a practice room hours before he plays whenever it is and if anything this match being in the afternoon might be a positive because the crowd won’t be as loud and boisterous and put him off.
Klaasen wasn’t the only one who played well in the first round, King did too and at the prices he’s a little too big to ignore given the timing of this particular match.
Two of the better young players in the game get the third round going and it would be a surprise if Michael Smith doesn’t beat van de Pas but there isn’t an angle into that match I like betting wise.
Taking the Smith 180s doesn’t interest me after the insane number of 140s he hit in the last round to scupper me but I’ve always got the comfort that every Smith 180 goes towards the overall total that I need so I’ll leave this one alone.
I will play the final match of the afternoon though. James Wade is an emphatic favourite against Jamie Caven and while I expect him to win I’m not sure it will be as one sided as the odds suggest.
Caven deserves some credit for the way he has played in this tournament. Sure it should be said his opponents have offered little but we’ve seen much more established names struggle to maintain their level when their opponents have struggled this week – Wade being one of them.
Wade is scoring much better these days but more missed doubles are slowly creeping into his game. I think his finishing prowess over the seven set distance will be enough to see him through but Caven can certainly be dangerous in the early stages and bag a couple of sets before being defeated.
Adrian Lewis takes on Mensur Suljovic for the second TV tournament in a row. Lewis was an easy winner when they met in Minehead earlier in the month and I expect him to win here but it won’t be as comfortable as that. I expect Suljovic to turn up this time.
If he does he could take a couple of sets but once again Lewis’ scoring power and leg on leg consistency will be too much for the Austrian but given that I’m on Jackpot outright I don’t need to risk any handicaps or any of that when I’ll be happy with him winning by any scoreline.
I’m going to bet in the final two matches of the evening session though. Gary Anderson vs Vincent van der Voort should be a pearler of a match not least because they are very watchable players when on song as they both appear to be.
Between the two they hit 17 180s in their second round wins and the only time they’ve appeared on TV they hit 14 in 18 legs in the semi-final of the Players Championship Finals last year. That strike rate doesn’t surprise me because both know their way around the 60 and both should get a lovely rhythm here. I’m expecting at least 14 to be hit in this match.
The last match of the night should be brilliant as the two best Dutch players to have thrown a dart collide as Michael van Gerwen takes on Raymond Barneveld.
These two have met on plenty of occasions, plenty of big occasions too and Barneveld often holds his own. He is well rehearsed in winning matches in this format and I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls something out of his sleeve to win this match. We know he is battle hardened having withstood a barrage of 180s to beat Stephen Bunting in the previous round.
Van Gerwen was exceptional against Darren Webster but he won’t have it all his own way here. Given how good he was in that match some of the lines and prices on Barneveld have been pretty insulting.
You can get odds against on Barneveld winning two sets which I really like. In the five times these two have met in extended best of 19 or 21 leg matches in recent times they’ve all gone to 17 legs or more so Barneveld often keeps it tight. He has usually had chances to get over the line against the Green Machine but not taken them. He might well get chances here and if he does that means he’ll have bagged a couple of sets.
Another line I like is Barneveld over 5.5 180s. He hasn’t scored brilliantly in this tournament yet but this is the night I expect that to change purely because he isn’t carrying the favourites tag here, a tag which no longer does him any favours.
Barneveld doesn’t need to be shown the way to the 60 bed. He might only have hit four against Bunting in the last round but he usually ploughs them in against van Gerwen and I fancy him for half a dozen at least which is this match does have six sets would equate to a perfectly achievable one per set on average.
Back M.King to beat J.Klaasen for a 4/10 stake at 2.75 with Boylesports
Back J.Caven (+2.5 sets) to beat J.Wade for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Sportingbet
Back G.Anderson vs V.van der Voort – Over 13.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back R.Barneveld (+2.5 sets) to beat M.van Gerwen for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Bet365
Back R.Barneveld Over 5.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
