amity

Could I have 50-50

so close to the afternoon treble. I must admit I thought it would come in but Rock performed well and will now have a great chance of going deep. Van Den Bergh wins the 4/5 and for once, abit of luck the other way as Clayton wins the match treble 7/4 with the last 3 darts. Although anybody following may have seen another 180 last 3 darts for Dolan as he went T20-T20  
all in all I can't complain too much but I just felt Aspinall would win that.

Anyone see any value to win the united cup?Mixed gender with more points you get for beating a higher ranked player.So alot of juicy points for the 3rd  singles player to get a scalp here playing a #1.More so than usual.We got see some upsets.
Aussies have a very good doubles team with Peers/Stosur..Savvy vets..And of course Nick should carry the load with Alex..Home cooking crowd support..Could make an argument they should be the favorites ..6-1 looks like a good bet
 
thoughts? 

I didn't fancy Clayton on the 180's and heading into what turned out to be the final set he was behind on them.

Yeah, I meant did you follow the game, not the bet. Clayton hit an absolute ton of 140s as usual but yeah, lucky last 3 dart checkout.

Sometimes it's such fine margins. 100's, 140's and 180's thrown were very similar and Dolan actually averaged higher than Clayton but Clayton checked out slightly better and that was the difference. 4-1 to Clayton was harsh on Dolan I reckon.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas guys. Looking forward to tomorrow when it all gets abit more serious. Some great match-ups tomorrow. I'm going to have a look at them properly today. Now I've calmed down from that Ricky Evans 180 last 3 darts.  

I feel your pain my dude. Evans the <insert expletive>, unbelievable! 

I like the looks of Huybrechts against Wright. Wright is not at his strongest and Huybrechts lives for encouters with very good players. His odd for +2.5 sets is boosted on BetFIRST to 1.90.
I also like the odd for Dimitri Van den Bergh to have the highest checkout. He managed to make a 164 finish in the first round and his first dart was always solid, obviously needed for a 100+ checkout. Ratajski winning this market would be a big surprise for me. odd of Dimi is 1.71 on BetFIRST.
Last one, I would want Van Barneveld to win against Price again, which he did already 3 times in a row this year. However, it still seems tricky to bet on a win this time. I would prefer asian handicap on sets however 1.46 for +2.5 sets on BetFIRST seems to short for me. Anyone another idea on this one?
 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Win or lose, thank you very much as always. We always appreciate your opinions and predictions. Thank you for your time. Wish you all a Joyful Christmas filled with love, warmth and laughters.x

It'll even out but then I know you know that. Appreciate your insights @Fader have a good Christmas - if you're celebrating it.

Ugh, I hate to moan about luck but losing some of these bets to last leg and TWO times tonight last 3 dart 180s are driving me insane. Bad beats galore.
Atleast Clayton didn't let me down.

The last day of Darts before Santa then. Here is the line up for the afternoon session :
Dolan V Hendriks
Dobey V Kleermaker
R.Smith V Labby
Cross V S.Williams
First of all I can see no upsets today and the only person who I think has a chance of a potential upset would be Scott Williams.
Hendrix was involved in one of the most disgusting games of the tournament. Utter dross from Jamie Hughes, averaging 79 and hitting 7/37 on his doubles, Hendriks rightly went on to win that match 3-1 but somehow hit a lower average of 78 and 11/37 on doubles himself. He cannot be that bad today but despite Dolan being vulnerable today against a good opponent, I think he'll be alright against Hendriks.
Dobey should have too much for Kleermaker in the second match of the afternoon. Kleermaker won 3-0 against a poor player really and averaged 86 but Dobey will bring a completely different challenge. Kleermaker only managed 1 180 in that match and Dobey to win and hit the most 180s looks the bet there. The penultimate match has Ross Smith back on the big stage taking on Labanauskas. Smith tends to perform well at Ally Pally and I don't think that Labbys 84 average is going to scare him, here. Smith to win and hit the most 180s look another pick here.
Finally, probably the match of the afternoon as Scott Williams takes on Rob Cross. Williams can count himself unlucky really to get Cross so early in the tournament but he looked very impressive in his dismantling of Ryan Joyce. Let's not forget that Joyce himself played really well and hit a 103 average and SEVEN 180s in that match and he still lost 3-1. Williams was brilliant, hit 10 180s and hit an average of 100. The 55% on the doubles was also impressive and in the end was what was the main aspect in his win. He has to have a chance today. Cross will come into this cold, without a game yet and Williams won the last h2h 6-4. It was just a floor event but shows he can beat Rob.
Here is what I'll be going for this afternoon.
2pts Dobey to win the match, most 180s and highest checkout 13/8 paddypower
2pts R.Smith to win 3-0 evens paddypower
2pts S.Williams to beat R.Cross 2/1 paddypower
1pt 4-fold - Dolan win and most 180s, Dobey win and most 180s, R.Smith win, most 180s and highest checkout and S.Williams +1.5 set handicap 12.5/1 paddypower
 

Raonic is supposedly getting back next year!

Set and leg caps should have landed in all honesty. I didn't watch so can't speak for Meikle's performance and also that of Ashton, but it's swings and roundabouts isn't it. Sometimes a sure winner turns into a loser and others what looks like a cast iron loser turns into a winner.

Yeah, I've said it before but some guys find it really hard to play against women when they have basically never had to. O'Conner wasn't really her beat opponent to play. If she played evetts I'd fancy her. O'Connor is a quality player 

O'Connor played well. Did that thing you always hear about which is play the board not the opponent - which Evetts and Suljovic definitely didn't do.

I like Soutar today. I would make him a favourite. Here is what I'll be going for in the afternoon session
2.5pts Gawlas to beat Burnett 5/4 paddypower
2.5pts Soutar to beat Gurney evens paddypower
1pt afternoon 4-fold - Lukeman 3-0, Whitlock to win and hit the most 180s, Gawlas and Soutar 8/1 paddypower

Should have taken heed of your warning @Fader, Keegan Brown was bang up for that game, and although Hempel won, he didn’t cover the handicap.
 
Any thoughts on Souter this afternoon, a bit surprised he’s the outsider. Played well here last year, and at the Grand Slam last month. Will probably have to up his game a bit from yesterday, but he’s well capable of doing that and Gurney doesn’t seem to be in any sort of form.

The thing is, how used is she to going a set or two down. Most yet matches it seems like she just dominates from the off. That big stage does things to players and most importantly she's playing women who probably average 80-85 max on a good day. Will be an interesting meet

If you think Willie wins then he looks a good price to me as he knows this stage and was only a miscount away from possibly beating Price on it a few years back. It's such an unknown though how he'll cope with what's likely to be a partisan crowd, plus Beau can clearly play. She might be the best female player right now which is scary when you realise she's only 18. From what I've read she has a good temperament and it seems people expect her to thrive on this big stage but again who knows - she's not been here before.
Compared to Sherrock's prices in recent years you'd have to say her price is on the skinny side but then again, winning is a habit and Beau has won a silly amount of matches in a row if I've read right - something like 60 - and that breeds confidence as you'd expect. All things considered it's a difficult match to call, but my first instinct was that Willie was a nice price but having said that I'll be leaving it alone.

what's everybody's opinion on Beaus match? I want to like her chances as she has the same name as one of my dogs but I just think Willie wins it with ease. I know he has been practising mad hard for it, too.

Adding one more outright bet at bigger odds …
Michael van Gerwen to win the tournament, hit a 170 checkout and a 9-dart finish 0.5pts @ 66/1 Skybet
I’ve already set out why I think van Gerwen is the most likely winner of this event, so to add a bit more interest, I’m also going to back him to hit a 170 checkout and a 9-dart finish in the process. His record of 170 finishes in this event is incredible, hitting one in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 !!! He hasn’t hit one in the last couple of years, but it’s clearly a finish he likes to leave. The 9-darter has been a bit more elusive; he did hit one on the Ally Pally stage in the 2013 tournament, but it sounds as though van Gerwen wants to make a bit of a statement in this tournament, so this would be a good way to do it. Furthermore, this bet would have landed in the last tournament, the Players Championship Finals, when MVG hit a 170 checkout and a 9-darter against Rob Cross in the final. 

that's a lovely price. Like that bet.