The second biggest tournament in the world of darts gets underway on Saturday as 32 of the best darts players in the world head to Blackpool for the World Matchplay, the annual summer showdown at the iconic Winter Gardens.
This tournament sees the best in the world challenge themselves over long form matchplay to determine who the current best in the game is. There hasn’t been a lucky winner of this tournament yet and at the end of the tournament we’ll know the best player has won as that is what the format dictates.
Recent Winners
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Phil Taylor
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Phil Taylor
2008 – Phil Taylor
2007 – James Wade
2006 – Phil Taylor
The Format
There has been a slight tweak to the format this year with the second round being shrunk from the best of 25 legs to the best of 21. The rest of the format is the same as last year. Each match has to be won by two clear legs unless it hasn’t been decided after five extra legs. If that is the case the sixth extra leg will be sudden death.
The tournament in a straight knockout which begins over the best of 19 legs before going up to the best of 21 for the second round, the best of 31 for the quarter finals and best of 33 for the semi-finals. The final will be the best of 35 legs.
Top Quarter
Defending champion Michael van Gerwen is in the top quarter of the draw and he will get his title defence underway on the opening night. He is joined in this section in terms of seeds by Vincent van der Voort, Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall.
The qualifiers to face them are Jamie Caven, Josh Payne, Kyle Anderson and Benito van de Pas so this has the potential to open up with a couple of dangerous qualifiers around but it is hard to see MVG not making the semi-final from this part of the draw.
Second Quarter
Adrian Lewis is the top seed in this section of the draw but his record in this tournament isn’t what he would have liked it to be. Peter Wright, Kim Huybrechts and Ian White are the other seeds in the quarter so this one is quite strong but open at the same time.
The qualifiers here are Mark Webster, Gerwyn Price, Daryl Gurney and Joe Cullen so whichever way you look this portion of the draw is loaded with talent and it will be interesting to see who comes through it.
Third Quarter
This is where the world champion Gary Anderson is housed. In terms of the seeds he is joined by Michael Smith, Terry Jenkins and Jelle Klaasen so this is another competitive part of the draw, as in fairness everywhere is.
The qualifiers for this quarter are Steve Beaton, Simon Whitlock, Alan Norris and Justin Pipe and that makes for some really exciting matches over the first few nights of the tournament.
Bottom Quarter
There are three world champions and a World Matchplay champion in what looks the toughest section of the draw on paper. Phil Taylor is the main seed here and he is joined by James Wade, Raymond Barneveld and Stephen Bunting in a section which should be full of terrific darts.
The qualifiers in this part of the draw is probably the strongest too with the former world finalist Mervyn King joined by Robbie Green, Mensur Suljovic and Brendan Dolan. There really isn’t an easy game among that lot it must be said.
Betting
Michael van Gerwen has shown signs of vulnerability in the World Series events in recent weeks but I’m still not going to rush in to oppose him even though he is nothing like a certainty to win any event over this format. He did brilliantly to win the tournament last year but he could easily have been beaten in an epic quarter final and he is just too short for me to back.
With that in mind I’ll head to the bottom half for a bet where you have to say Gary Anderson is probably the man to beat but when it comes to this tournament he often is beaten and he actually has a real banana skin against Alan Norris in the opening round.
Anderson has never gone past the semi-final in this tournament and he has only reached that stage once. He was beaten by Mensur Suljovic here last year and that isn’t really the sort of record that ropes me in I have to say.
You should never be too quick to take on Phil Taylor in this tournament as he showed two years ago when he beat Michael van Gerwen in the final when few gave him any chance at all but this is a really long format and I’ve just got a feeling Taylor will walk into one too good especially in the tough part of the draw he is in.
I’m going to take them all on with a man who loves it in Blackpool and that is James Wade. Wade was a runner up to Michael van Gerwen here 12 months ago and having won the tournament in 2007 and played in five other finals he has actually featured in six of the last 10 finals of this tournament so this is clearly a stage that he loves.
Wade has already won a European Tour event this season and he goes in here off the back of a solid run of results in the World Series events recently. He beat Taylor twice in those events so that is encouraging should the two meet in the quarter final. He also beat him in the semi-final last year so Wade has plenty going for him this week and at 25/1 with the record he has here he is well worth backing again.
I’m also going to look at the second quarter which is wide open and take a player in there. I’m not convinced about Adrian Lewis at the minute. I certainly don’t doubt he is a world class player and I’ve regularly championed his case but he has only been past the quarter final twice since 2007 which isn’t ideal.
This section is going to open up and I might regret down the line not taking Kim Huybrechts but this format suits Peter Wright I believe. Wright is very good at winning legs in bursts and that is what this format is all about and at 11/4 he’s decent value to Lewis. I would rather back Wright for the quarter than outright as if he does run into Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final his record in that match up isn’t great.
I think Wright can beat Joe Cullen in the first round and then he has the easier second round game of that second quarter on paper too and that might well benefit him in a quarter final. He is the value in this section of the draw in my eyes.
Tips
Back J.Wade to win World Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Ladbrokes (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back P.Wright to win 2nd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Coral
Back him here:
