The opening day of the World Seniors Darts Championship sees two sessions of first round action taking place inside the Circus Tavern when some blasts from the past and some players who are still playing competitively take to the famous Purfleet stage.
Eight matches take place across the course of the day with four in the afternoon and four in the evening. A spot in the second round is the reward for the winner and we are sure to see some competitive darts throughout the opening day.
Afternoon Session
A very good match is on the schedule to begin the day as what many are calling the tie of the first round will be on the stage. That sees the semi-finalist of a year ago, Terry Jenkins, going up against a Chris Mason who looked in excellent order in the Modus Super Series week that he played a few months ago. When they are done the 1997 world champion Les Wallace will return to the stage when he takes on the popular Darryl Fitton.
Two genuine title contenders meet to begin the second half of the afternoon when the Seniors Masters champion David Cameron takes on the local lad Richie Howson, who looked good in this tournament a year ago. The afternoon concludes with the veteran Larry Butler on show. The inaugural World Matchplay champion will go up against one of the new breed in the seniors world in the shape of Darren Johnson.
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Evening Session
A really good evening session begins with two men who were regulars in the deep end of TV tournaments on the PDC circuit in their pomp when Kevin Painter, who reached the semis here last year, takes on Ronnie Baxter who twice made the World Matchplay final back in the day. The second match of the evening sees one of the two female competitors on show when the 10-time world champion Trina Gulliver takes on Dennis Harbour.
The evening concludes with two cracking looking matches. The penultimate match of the day sees the man who was beaten in the final here a year ago in Martin Adams, taking on a BDO World Championship regular in Dave Prins, who himself looked in good order a year ago. The final match of the night sees the man many expect to lay a serious title challenge down in the form of Scott Mitchell, going up against the man who can be best described as the spoiler in Peter Manley.
Betting
There are a couple of bets which tempt me over the course of the day but I’m fully aware that many of these players don’t have too many competitive reps in them so I’m going to ease my way into the tournament with just the one bet on the opening day. That comes in the first match in the evening session where Kevin Painter takes on Ronnie Baxter in a clash which revokes memories of the past between two men who spent most of their lives in the top 16 in the world rankings.
Painter is still basically a semi-professional player, playing in all the seniors events as well as being in the Modus Super Series and the exhibition circuit whereas Baxter is very much a part-time player now and I think that might show over the course of five sets. I really do think that Modus event is a key thing here because players play regularly over the course of four hours or so and this is long course darts so even without the competitive edge it provides it gives players ideal preparation for this. Baxter will have spells in this match because you never lose it but it might take him a while to get up to speed and in that time Painter can be away and gone. The Artist has good memories of this stage and can add another one here.
Tips
Back K.Painter (-1.5 sets) to beat R.Baxter for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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