The annual darts visit to Dublin begins on Sunday night when 32 of the biggest stars in the PDC do battle in the World Grand Prix, the tournament where you have to begin each leg with a double as well as finish with one. That quirky format has been sorting the men from the boys for years and I’m sure this year will be no different.
Recent Winners
2015 – Robert Thornton
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Michael van Gerwen
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – James Wade
2009 – Phil Taylor
2008 – Phil Taylor
2007 – James Wade
2006 – Phil Taylor
The Format
As well as the double start and double finish this tournament is played in the set play format rather than the match play one. The first round is a sprint over the best of three sets before the last 16 and quarter final are the best of five sets. The semis are the best of seven sets and the final is the best of nine. Each match has no tie-break in the final set and the tournament is a straight knockout right from the beginning.
Top Quarter
Michael van Gerwen is the main seed in this quarter of the draw. The other quirk of this tournament is that there are only eight seeds in the event so that ensures we get some great first round matches. Michael Smith is the other seeded player.
Of the qualifiers in this quarter we have Mick McGowan, Steve Beaton, James Wilson, Alan Norris, Joe Cullen and Simon Whitlock so this is going to be competitive even allowing for the fact van Gerwen is still in it.
Second Quarter
Phil Taylor will begin his quest for back to back TV wins from this quarter. Peter Wright joins him as far as seeded players go but this looks even more competitive than the first quarter.
That is because the non-seeded players are Dave Chisnall, a former finalist in this tournament, Mensur Suljovic, a recent European Tour event winner, Steve West, Daryl Gurney, Brendan Dolan and Robbie Green so this will take some overcoming.
Third Quarter
World champion Gary Anderson heads this quarter. He will be looking for a first Dublin title in this tournament but you always get the feeling the double start doesn’t suit him. Defending champion Robert Thornton is also in this section.
As with the other sections this one is strong among the non-seeds too. Jamie Caven, Cristo Reyes, Kyle Anderson, Stephen Bunting, Ian White and Kim Huybrechts are all capable of beating anyone on their day in the normal formats let alone these double start sprints.
Bottom Quarter
Adrian Lewis and James Wade find themselves as the seeded players in this section but it has to be said that this is a mini tournament in itself and whoever comes through will certainly have played some decent darts.
Jelle Klaasen, Mervyn King, Raymond Barneveld, Terry Jenkins, Gerwyn Price and Benito van de Pas are the non-seeds in this quarter and there are three former finalists in this tournament among them that is how strong this section is.
Betting
I’m going to take a couple of tournament outrights this week and a quarter bet. I’ll begin with the outright bets which come from the bottom half of the draw so that I don’t need to tackle van Gerwen or Taylor before the final. They showed last week they are the form men so to be able to avoid both until the final is nice.
James Wade is a two time champion of this tournament and he is worth backing to come through what is a tough quarter but one he should feel confident in with his doubling abilities. In all honesty I wasn’t going to take Wade this week but his scoring form in the Champions League last week tempted me in. When Wade scores he is hard to beat especially in this format where there is one less ‘scoring’ throw. At 20/1 he’s worth siding for a third title.
At a bigger price I’m going to take Ian White. He was a quarter finalist in this tournament last year where he lost in a deciding set to the eventual champion Robert Thornton. White is a solid player so hitting the opening double shouldn’t be beyond him and he scores as well as anyone when he gets going. His quarter should open right up so a semi-final place isn’t beyond him and at 80/1 I’ll pay to see how much further he goes.
In the second quarter I can’t ignore the double figure quotes on Mensur Suljovic. Suljovic came through his quarter 12 months ago on his way to the semi-final taking care of James Wade and Simon Whitlock along the way but it is his form this season that interests me the most.
In the last month he has won a European Tour event, made the final of another and the final of a floor event not to mention a semi-final in Dublin in a Players Championship event as recently as Friday. He is in sensational form right now and we know how monotonous he is on that double 14. 11/1 is a bit of an insult on form and I’m having a go despite Taylor’s presence.
Tips
Back J.Wade to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Skybet (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back I.White to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back M.Suljovic to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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