The first round saw some cracking games and particularly some underdog victories.
The opening two games on Saturday saw Steve West and Darren Webster ruin plenty of fav’s accumulators on the night by ploughing home at a combined 14/1 double if anyone was on this.
Gary Anderson and Peter Wright obliged but if backers had taken on the positive handicaps on the underdogs they would have cleaned up.
We said this to Justin Pipe himself last week and it stated we would love to see Pipe and Suljovic battle at the last 16 phase and we have been granted this.
The order of play for Tuesday:
Mensur Suljovic vs. Justin Pipe (Pipe leads 9-2)
Darren Webster vs. Steve West – no previous meetings
Gary Anderson vs. Darryl Gurney – (Anderson leads 6-4)
Peter Wright vs. Cristo Reyes – (Wright leads 7-1)
Mensur Suljovic vs. Justin Pipe (1/3 -3/1)
The pair have met 11 times with Pipe prevailing on nine occasions. Blewboy won the last encounter at a Pro Tour event in April 6-2 with Mensur over the last year or so as the in-form player, who has recently dipped sideways in form especially on the floor events.
On stage however since the World Cup of Darts in June he has made a semi final and final in three events so his stage work is still mighty great.
Pipe managed to see off out of touch Jelle Klaasen in the opener on Sunday with it looking visual that the Dutch maestro’s wrist injury was not completely match fit. Pipe won the game with a tad under 91 average hitting six maximums in the process.
Mensur saw off John Henderson with some ease with a 10-4 victory with a mid 94 average and three maximums.
The betting price firmly sits with the Austrian and why shouldn’t it? With Mensur’s stage work and epic resilience playing a Pipe (3/1) who seemed to not be at his best saw some good darts and some off par shots also.
In a best of 21 clash Pipe is given a +3.5 leg headstart at 10/11 and I see the format suiting both players with a deliberate slow pace. This game should be a cracker now Pipe will be more confident after a win on stage. With the slower pace of the game if this game goes some distance will surely over run the estimated game length.
We contacted William Hill for a match bet and they offered us our fair scenario which was both players to hit 4+ maximums and the match checkout over 110.50 at 100/30 and I cannot deny there isn’t a fair chance of landing especially offering us a bet with an implied percentage of 23.09%.
Darren Webster vs. Steve West – no previous meetings
The pair have not met before according to my sources and both caused early upsets from short priced backers on Saturday.
Both Webster and West collectively would have returned just over 14/1 and between 5/2-3/1 on the positive handicaps had this been backed.
Both players performed brilliantly throughout with Webster needing a mention for his sheer bottle of not succumbing to the big stage and seeing it through against James Wade who was reportedly not well but is not excusing that for defeat.
Steve West and Michael Smith accelerated into the first mini session with a 108 average to a credible 99.94 10-5 victory.
Surprisingly bookies have favoured Webster at 58% to West’s 42% which could be on the basis of form in respect West was a longer price against Smith that Webster was versus Wade.
Bet365 goes 11/8 the pair are 2-2 after four legs and 15/8 it is still tied after six. Looking at the high checkout since the World Championship on stage Webster’s best checkout was a 112 at a European Tour event and hit a 102 in his opener.
West’s best in this period was a 130 at a European Tour event as well as a 121 vs Smith on Saturday. Layers have Webster at short at 8/11 but 5/6 in places for the highest checkout on the night with West at Evens.
Our reasoning for the pricing is purely the match pricing in respect Webster’s price indicates he will win at least two more legs than West. I still fancy the even money price though as I think Webster is a shade shorter than I would have stated.
My target bet here although will be Sky Bet is for West -1.5 maximums vs Webster. The outright most 180’s is 1/2 so the target price minimum for this is even money (1/1)
Gary Anderson vs. Daryl Gurney – (Anderson leads 6-4)
In what may be billed as a rematch just over a week ago when Gurney bested Anderson 8-4 at the US Masters he will look to make it a double sweep as the pair meet again.
Anderson pocketed 10 maximums in his win over Christian Kist which saw the Scotsman bring some of Kist’s better performances out from him.
With both players in fine form, this should be a cracker. Gurney averaged 97 in his first round victory and looked full of confidence. The treble 20 will take a pounding in this game.
Checking certain markets we love Marathonbet offering 89/100 on Anderson to net over a 112.50 checkout. We hope this is not an error but is the bet we take here!
Peter Wright vs. Cristo Reyes – (Wright leads 7-1)
An interesting statistic that all of their eight meetings would have seen over’s on the total leg line (over 9.5 for best of 11) and (over 16.5 on a best of 19).
Wright managed to get over the line against Wilson in the opener despite some below par darts seeing Wright struggle to get out of second gear for some of the contest managing an 89.26 average despite some brilliance from a 147 checkout.
His opponent Reyes pocketed a cool 101 average in a good display against ailing Robert Thornton.
Wright priced on reputation here is around 3/10 with the Spaniard at 4/1 in places. Had the pricing been based on the last performance alone you would be queuing up for the 4/1 wouldn’t you? Of course I’d be in that queue also.
There will be a no bet in this game as nothing takes much fancy.
Recommendations
Suljovic/Pipe both to land at least 4 maximums each and match checkout over 110.50 – 100/30 William Hill #yourodds – 0.5 pts
Steve West -1.5 180s vs. Webster – (Target price 1/1 Sky Bet) – 2pts
Steve West – Highest Checkout – 1/1 general – 1pt
Gary Anderson – over 112.50 checkout – 1.89 Marathonbet 1pt
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