2023 World Championships

[Fader]

27 minutes ago, Torque said:

I'd just take it on the chin. I can't imagine you thought Ashton would take Meikle to a deciding set which he didn't have the throw in and with that in mind the leg cap was fortunate to be covered let alone the set.

She was fortunate to get to the 5th set. You can spin it anyway you like really in that instance. 2 nil up and no, I definitely didn't think it would get to a 5th set. 

[Torque]

19 minutes ago, Fader said:

She was fortunate to get to the 5th set. You can spin it anyway you like really in that instance. 2 nil up and no, I definitely didn't think it would get to a 5th set. 

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.

[daveg]

Souter did the business yesterday, not much time this morning to go into too much detail, but there are a couple more at similar odds that I like today.

 

Raymond Smith to beat Karel Sedlacek @ 1/1

Bit surprised that Smith isn't the favourite here - did very well here last year and has been playing well in the online leagues the last couple of weeks. Sedlacek hasn't been in the best of form recently, so the even money about Smith looks good to me.

 

Scott Williams to beat Ryan Joyce @ 11/10

Again, I would have Williams as the favourite here. I'm expecting a close match, but for me Williams is the better scorer of the two, and if he can take out his doubles when it matters, he gets over the line.

 

Damon Heta vs Adrian Lewis

Really tempted to take the 6/4 on Lewis in this one. I reckon it all depends on which Damon Heta turns up - if it's the one that has played well on the floor this year then he wins this with a bit to spare. But if it's the Heta that has under-performed in most of the big-stage tournaments this year, then the former two-time champion should prevail. The 6/4 on a Lewis win seems pretty generous - what do you reckon folks?

[Fader]

Agree with all 3 above. On my phone for the afternoon session so won't write too much but despite not having too much info on Raymond Smith this year, he was great last year and I reckon he wins today. 

I think Woodhouse wins 3-0 despite a real lack of value in the March and I also think Lewis should win. He had a great match with a solid 96 odd average but it will depend largely on Hetas TV form. Heta I find normally does opposite of what I bet. 

2pts Razma to beat Jiwa 3-0 and all sets go 3-0 or 3-1 7/2 paddypower

2.5pts Woodhouse to win 3-0 and all sets go 3-0 or 3-1 6/5 paddypower

2pts ray Smith to win, hit over 2 180s and checkout 115 plus 9/2 paddypower

1pt afternoon 4-fold - Jiwa (under 1.5 180) , Smith to win, Woodhouse 3-0 and Lewis 16/1 paddypower 

[daveg]

Like the look of that 4-fold mate - best of luck with it.

[Fader]

I wasn't expecting a performance like that from Sedlacek. Woodhouse played within himself against a real poor player. A rubbish afternoon. Evening looks to have bit more quality about it. 

I still think Lewis is a solid bet though.

[Fader]

Here is what I'm going for in the evening. 

3pts De Decker to win and hit most 180s evens paddypower
2.5pts Williams to beat Joyce 11/10 paddypower
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1pt 4-fold - De Decker win and most 180s, Williams, Aspinall to win 3-0 or 3-1 and Campbell 8.5/1 paddypower
0.5pt 4-fold - same as above but Aspinall to win 3-0 16.5/1 paddypower 

[Fader]

36 minutes ago, Darts Vader said:

Hello

I am a bit confused by the format of this tournament. Does everyone enter at round 1 or do some players enter at round 2? Did there not used to be a preliminary round or is that now round 1?

Thanks in advance

All the seeded players 2nd. 

[Fader]

Both bets come in. 4 fold lost by one once again but it's money back atleast. A good evening really. Williams looked very good. 

[Fader]

Afternoon session :

Gilding Vs Owen
Jansen Vs Nebrida
Zonneveld Vs L.Williams
De Sousa Vs Whitlock

I think Gilding probably comes through the first match but I'm quite surprised that it's even money that Owen gets a set here and Gilding go on to win. Owen has won all their head-to-heads but Gilding has most definitely improved as a player over the last 12 months. You would think Owen would have the more nerves out of the two with Gilding playing a few TV tournaments this year and having the more experience but it could be a close one and I reckon Gilding 3-1 or 3-2 unless Owen really does bottle it on the big stage, the even money shot on him getting a set and Gilding to win looks good.

In the second match I would favour Jansen but he's been so poor since that random Players Championship win and I really know nothing about Nebrida and so I'll leave that alone. In the third match, I would normally be rooting for Williams as I think he has a lot of potential. However, it's not happening for him right now and he hasn't played enough. Likely because of becoming a dad but Zonneveld is a good player and I think he wins this 3-1.

Finally, I will take a chance on De Sousa beating Whitlock with the most 180s. I know that every game is different in Darts and Whitlock is a prime example of that, winning with a ton plus average and then going out with an 83, but he looked very average in his last match and whilst I think he will improve, I reckon he would need a 95 odd average to beat De Sousa. I think De Sousa will turn up today. Whitlock only managed 3 180s against Perez and in general, we know De Sousa hits a good solid amount.

3pts Gilding to beat Owen and both players to win a set evens paddypower
2.5pts Zonneveld (-1.5 set handicap) to beat Williams 6/5 paddypower
2.5pts De Sousa to beat Whitlock and hit the most 180s 11/5 paddypower
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1pt treble of the above 3 - 13/1 paddypower

 

[Fader]

I suppose I got abit too greedy with De Sousa to win AND hit the most 180s but atleast Gilding did the business. The Zonneveld bet drives me wild because my head said go with Lewy and my heart said he's not playing well. Ah well. Here's what I'm taking in the evening

2pts Nentjes, Edhouse and Beaton all to win 3/1 paddypower
2pts Price to hit 3+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts 3/1 skybet
2pt treble Nentjes to win and hit most 180s / Edhouse win and hit most 180s and Beaton win 13/2 skybet
 

[bookiebasher]

That must be the worst choke job ive ever seen by Edhouse.. Im sure he was trading at 1/40 at one point when he was 2 - 0 in sets... ?

[Torque]

6 minutes ago, bookiebasher said:

That must be the worst choke job ive ever seen by Edhouse.. Im sure he was trading at 1/40 at one point when he was 2 - 0 in sets... ?

Try 1.02 

Remarkable that he lost.

[bookiebasher]

I didnt watch it on t.v., just on Bet365, but he seemed to throw some weird combinations to me.. Or he was just proper shit  the 2nd half on the match.

[Torque]

Looked to me like he couldn't get over missing all those match darts for a 3-0 win. After that he just collapsed.

[Torque]

About 25 to 1 for the opposite of your treble to happen @Fader

Unbelievable day. The Edhouse collapse was something else and then Beaton gets whitewashed.

[Fader]

18 hours ago, bookiebasher said:

That must be the worst choke job ive ever seen by Edhouse.. Im sure he was trading at 1/40 at one point when he was 2 - 0 in sets... ?

incredible isn't it. Some of the quality last few days has been really poor.

[Fader]

18 hours ago, Torque said:

About 25 to 1 for the opposite of your treble to happen @Fader

Unbelievable day. The Edhouse collapse was something else and then Beaton gets whitewashed.

yeah, a poor day on the whole really. Hopefully better tonight.

[Fader]

Williams V Bialecki
Hughes V Hendriks
Evans V Sherrock
Barney V Meikle

Sherrock returns to the Worlds tonight and has a winnable match against Ricky Evans. First though Jim Williams takes on Bialecki and Bialecki is a real good up and coming player that we've seen on the Player Championships circuit this year. He has beat some good players and I think he will give Williams a good match tonight and could even win. I'm not too fussed about the 2nd match but I think Sherrock is worth a bet on the handicap also. Finally, I will continue with my Meikle hope and say that I think he can beat Barney tonight. 

2,5pts Bialecki +1.5 sets to beat Williams 4/5 paddypower
2pts Sherrock +1.5 sets to beat Evans 6/4 paddypower
2pts Meikle +1.5 sets to beat Barney 13/8 paddypower
---------------------------------------------------------------
0.5pts treble - Bialecki, Sherrock and Meikle all to win 28/1 paddypower

[Fader]

How have Sherrock and Meikle not got 2 sets tonight. Both 1-0 up. Both throwing for a second set. 

[Fader]

5.5pts Chizzy to win and hit most 180s 10/11 paddypower
5pts Kleermaker to win and hit most 180s 4/5 paddypower
2.5pts Kleermaker to win 3-0 and win all 3 sets 3-0 or 3-1 2/1 paddypower
1pt afternoon 4-fold - Labanauskas, Rock (-1.5 set handicap), Chizzy to win and hit most 180s & Kleermaker to win and hit most 180s 9.5/1 paddypower

[Fader]

few bits of bad luck scuppering the good wins really. 2/1 comes in but Gilding somehow finds 7 180s against Chizzy. The 7th being in the final leg pretty much ruins what would have been a good afternoon. Looking at the evening matches there isn't a whole lot of time to go into details but I'll be taking the following myself : 

4pts King to win and hit most 180s 5/4 paddypower
5.5pts O'Connor to beat Clemens 8/11 paddypower
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2pts Bunting to beat Gates 3-0 11/8 paddypower
2pts MVG to win 3-1 11/4 paddypower

[Fader]

started well enough last night but no joy with O'Connor. Clemens probably with his best TV performance ever, ofcourse. MVG looked brilliant in that 2nd set. Something like 125 average, hitting 11, 12 and 13 darters. I thought Williams really bottled it though.

Another full day of Darts today. Here what is happening this afternoon :

Ratajski V Jansen
Searle V Gawlas
Suljovic V De Decker
Van Duijvenbode V Sedlacek

Jansen looked really poor in his round 1 match and he now comes into this needing to up his average by alot to beat Ratjaski. Ratajski isn't pulling up any tress but you would expect him to win that match with a few legs in hand. However, no real value out there on a handicap other than perhaps Ratajski -1.5 in the first set as I think Jansen probably starts slowly. I think Searle beats Gawlas and my first pick today is Searle to win 3-0. Gawlas hit just 84.86 in his first round match win and Searle tends to play well here. I wouldn't expect anything less than 92-93 from Searle and that would be enough tom win this 3-0 unless Gawlas improves drastically.

Whilst I think De Decker has a great chance of winning today, it's got to the point now that Mensur is probably actually value to win with his experience. However, I'm sticking with De Decker, whom I think will actually give MVG a decent match unlike Lewy Williams. The only way i see any real value is De Decker to win and hit the most 180s. De Decker loves a 180 and hit 8 in his win over Jeff Smith. De Decker hit an 88 average in that win and he'll probably need to raise the bar to the early 90s to win today but I'll take the 5/4 that he does.

Finally, Sedlacek was one of the most impressive performances from Round 1. He won a match that many thought he'd lose and he did it with style, winning 3-0 and hitting a 98.72 average. 60% on the doubles definitely helped there and he will need that again to win this match. I'm not convinced that that performance will be replicated against DVD though and despite the high % on his doubling, Sedlacek didn't hit a 100+ checkout and only hit 3 180s. I think this match could go 3-1 and so I'll try DVD on the match treble.

2.5pts Searle to win 3-0 13/10 paddypower
2pts De Decker to win and hit most 180s 5/4 paddypower
2.5pts DVD to win match, most 180s and highest checkout 11/10 paddypower
 

[Fader]

Just the odd checkout and 180 here and there damaging. DVD loses out the treble but had so many chances, including missing the 9 darter by the last D12. Hard few matches to call tonight. 

2.5pts Wade to win and both players to win a set 11/10 paddypower
5pts Van Der Voort to beat Menzies 4/5 paddypower
1pt 4-fold - Anderson to win and both players win a set, Wade to win and both players win a set, Over 3.5 sets (Humphries Vs Hempel) & Van Der Voort 12.5/1 paddypower

[Fader]

1 shy of the accy again. What drives me insane is that I couldn't decide between going with Williams +1.5 or Wade to win and both sets. Bloody Wade

[Fader]

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

 

[Fader]

Who'd bet on Darts? Started well again with Dobey winning the match treble. Ross Smith 2-0 up in sets and 1-0 up and a break ends up losing a set and then Williams couldn't quite do the business against an impressive Rob Cross. The final session of Darts before Christmas tonight and so I'm hoping we can hit a clean sweep. Here's what I'll be going for.

We start the evening of with what I reckon is actually quite a 50/50 match. Schindler takes on Lukeman in the "Battle of the Martin's" 4 matches in 2022 between these two and both have 2 wins each and despite Schindler's good recent form he has real issues with his doubling at times and that's one thing that Lukeman is strong with. I think the value is with Lukeman in this match. Next up Danny Noppert gets his tournament under way when he takes on surprise package David Cameron. Cameron came back from 2-0 down against Edhouse to come back and win. However, personally, I think that's more an Edhouse fragility than fire from Cameron. I think Noppert wins and probably wins the match treble with it.

The penultimate match sees Clayton take on Steve Beaton bestor Danny Van Trijp. Van Trijp looked decent enough in that win despite Beaton being so bad and Clayton has some poor form over the last 6 months but I can see Jonny turning it on here, tonight. I think he wins with a couple sets to spare, perhaps 3-0 or 3-1. There isn't much value in that and so I'll take a chance with the match treble for Clayton. When he is playing well, he hits 180s and takes big checkouts. 

Finally, Joe Cullen takes on the character that is Ricky Evans. Evans got a great result in beating Fallon Sherrock. Especially after losing the first set, but Cullen tends to perform on this stage and I think the evens price on Cullen to win and hit most 180s looks the way to go. Evans hit 5 180s against Sherrock but because of his speed and technique, he will always be quite erratic and Cullen tends to hit alot of 180s when he plays well.

2pts Lukeman to beat Schindler 6/4 paddypower
2.5pts Noppert to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout 11/10 paddypower
2pts Clayton to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout 5/2 paddypower
2pts Cullen to win and hit most 180s evens paddypower
1pt 4-fold - Lukeman +1.5 handicap, Noppert match treble, Clayton match treble & Cullen to win and hit most 180s 20/1 paddypower

 

[Fader]

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.

[amity]

9 minutes ago, Fader said:

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.

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

[Torque]

12 minutes ago, Fader said:

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.

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