By Dave South
21 DECEMBER 2016 • 8:03AM
As day seven of the William Hill World Darts Championship heads to us, four more games take place as we head into the Christmas break.
As ever, for short price backers the accumulator four fold on Stevenson, Suljovic, Wade and Thornton all to win is 23/20 with most firms.
Longshot punters will get over 650/1 for Lerchbacher to win twice, Meulenkamp and Ronny Huybrechts all to win!
In the opener Simon Stevenson pocketed his position in the championship as one of the PDPA qualifier, and for those not too aware of the 44-year-old chucker from Plymouth he has made a string of last 16 places in the Pro Tour events over 2016 as well as a couple of European Tour events.
This suggests confidence is growing. Stevenson faces Zoran Lerchbacher who makes his second appearance on the big stage, with limited success on the tour which includes a last 32 in one European Tour events in 2016.
Stevenson is 4/9 with Lerchbacher at just over 2/1 and I find it difficult to argue on the form line! Betfair is 6/4 on a 2-0 win, which is an implied 40% chance of happening.
I do think if Stevenson wins the first set the 4/9 is a great boost to 6/4 on seeing out the second set. .
Mensur Suljovic has had a good two years or so on the circuit and has climbed inside the top ten.
Ron Meulenkamp is the opponent and what a mark he made at the Players Championship Finals last month.
Early betting captured from fellow colleague Carl Redden saw Suljovic’s price trim from 2/1 on 3-0 to 7/4 in a matter of two minutes flat and trust me, I saw it happen!
The price remains with a small handful of firms at 7/4 now and as short at 11/8.
Suljovic should see this out, and -1.5 sets could be the professional bet here doubling up with another strong fancy.
Third up is James Wade versus Ronny Huybrechts and look for the Machine to see the game out early.
With Wade’s reputations for checkouts versus Ronny who can win legs, but not often on high checkouts it will only need a high checkout benchmark set by Wade to win this.
With the 1/2 on Suljovic not winning by less than two sets and the left hander winning the high checkout battle pays 5/4 with Betfred.
Robert Thornton plays in the last game versus the winner of the preliminary and trying to bet on this is a mystery and we will let this game pan out!
Today’s recommendations
Simon Stevenson to win 2-0 – 6/4 Betfair Sportsbook
Mensur Suljovic -1.5 sets and James Wade highest checkout vs Huybrechts – 5/4 Betfred (Nap)
Prices correct at time of publication
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