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March22March 22, 2017

Double Dutch Darts Delight: Barney and MVG Win In Rotterdam

A packed crowd in Rotterdam were treated to the spectacle of two Dutch masters securing victory last Thursday, when Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld both came through night six of the Darts Premier League victorious.

The former required a much-needed fightback to turnaround a 3-0 lead established by arch-rival Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, eventually closing out the match 7-4 in front of a sold-out Ahoy Arena. The result sees Mighty Mike remain unbeaten and keeps him in touch with Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright in the table, who remains a point ahead having played one game more.

Before MVG’s triumph, his compatriot also provided the home crowd with the result they wanted when he smashed world number two Gary Anderson 7-2. Anderson could not handle a brilliant Barney who averaged 103.71, landing five 180s before rounding it all off with a superb 156 checkout.

Unsurprisingly, Peter Wright overcame Dave Chisnall without too much resistance. Snakebite continued his good run of form with a 7-4 win against the St Helens man despite playing within himself.

Elsewhere, James ‘The Machine’ Wade defeated Jelle Klaasen 7-3 to leave the other competing Dutchman propping up the rest of the table with two weeks left before the cut. For Wade, this was a victory that ended a three-game winless run and now climbs up to third.

Kim Huybrechts is another player fighting for survival and, with relegation looming, couldn’t afford to lose 7-3 to Adrian Lewis last week. That he did, though, in a bad-tempered match where he blew his cool following an on-stage row with Lewis that led to Jackpot winning six legs in succession, leaving the Belgian without a win in the league so far this year.

Premier League Darts betting tips for this week

First up at the Manchester Arena this Thursday is Michael van Gerwen who makes the first of his two appearances in a week with a match against James Wade, the league’s champion in 2009.

The Dutchman has won their last six meetings and with a superior tournament average of 104 to Wade’s 94, looks a good shout to extend that run here. That said, MVG may pace himself knowing that he has a second game later on in the evening, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if this game was still tied after 4 legs, which is available at 7/4 with Bet365.

What should be one of the night’s easier to call matches comes next as Gary Anderson plays Kim Huybrechts, who hasn’t recorded a win in this year’s League and surely won’t start against the world number two.

Anderson is followed by another Scot as Peter Wright who takes on the legend that is Phil Taylor. Wright is on a great run of form, while Taylor seems to be looking less interested by the week as retirement looms. With this in mind, it’s probably worth backing Wright and yet I fancy it to be one of those weeks where the old Phil Taylor stands up. After a run of four games without a win, he needs to. If he does, can inflict damage on Snakebite. Splitting the difference, we’ll put this one down as a draw.

It’s Jelle and the Jackpot next out with bottom of the pile Klassen taking on Adrian Lewis. I doubt even a relegation scrap can lift the Dutchman from tenth place, so would back a Lewis win every time. Far more interesting is the all Dutch affair taking shape in the night’s final game.

MVG returns to the oche to face off against Raymond van Barneveld who last week emphatically dumped out Gary Anderson. He’ll need to summon up something similar if he is to get the same outcome this time and it’s doubtful he can produce this two weeks in a row.

However, with the world number one having played earlier that night, there may be a slim chance of a Barney win. I’m tempted to leave this one out of this week’s acca but will be brave and back a draw; it’s certainly worth it. An accumulator on MVG, Anderson, draw, Lewis, draw at SkyBet pays out at 82.06/1.

Now that the league has settled enough, we know where the likely winners will come from and so it could prove valuable to get behind a Scottish player to win the tournament. This would include top spot Scot Peter Wright or Gary Anderson, twice world champion. The Flying Scotsman is deceivingly low down in the table but could well find himself in the top three (with Wright) by the end of the night meaning that the 9/4 on offer with Betway wont hang around long.

March14March 14, 2017

Betting Tips For Darts Premier League: The Wright Choice

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

Just days after winning the UK Open, Peter Wright beat James Wade to go one point clear at the top of the Premier League, a move that saw SkyBet bring him in slightly to 5/1 for the outright tournament win.

“Snakebite” carried his UK Open form into the night’s second match and instantly chucked himself into a 5-1 lead which, despite a decent attempt at a comeback from Wade, was enough to see the Scotsman home as he finished off a 7-5 in Glasgow.

Darts Premier League reports

Earlier in the evening, Adrian Lewis inflicted a surprise defeat on Phil Taylor, giving The Power first loss of the season. Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen just about made a winning return from injury at the SSE Hydro.

Jackpot’s 7-4 victory, by far the biggest shock of the night, gives his survival hopes a lift. Even though he was unlikely to get drawn into the bottom scrap, his form has fallen short enough at points this season that relegation remained a threat. Now a mid-table finish looks more likely.

Michael van Gerwen returned this week following a back injury that saw him withdraw from week six and the UK Open. He found the going tough however as Kim Huybrechts proved a tough nut to crack. Crack he did though as MVG eventually ran out the 7-5 victor to move a point behind Wright in the table with a game in hand.

The Glasgow crowd helped roar Gary Anderson to a 7-3 win in the fourth match of the evening. Anderson now moves into the table’s third slot following his dispatch of Dave Chisnall. Chizzy was outclassed on the night (and almost on the embarrassing end of a whitewash) but, thanks to help from the other matches taking place remains three points clear of the drop zone.

Thursday’s last match saw Raymond van Barneveld produce a brilliant fightback after finding himself 4-1 down to Jelle Klaasen. Seemingly out of nowhere, Barney dug deep and threw a checkout of 154 to launch a run of five straight legs which led him to victory and banish Klassen to the bottom of the table.

The best darts bets for this week

James Wade steps out for the night’s opener against bottom-placed Jelle Klaasen. Save for last week when he was neatly put down by an increasingly impressive Peter Wright, Wade has looked in fine form this season and there should be no reason whatsoever that he won’t return to winning ways here.

It’s actually Wright that is next out on Thursday as he looks to play in another near-certain game against Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall. Chizzy showed something of his better game a fortnight ago when he won two in one night. Because he has played a game extra (courtesy of MVG’s back injury), he gets next week off and so will want to enter hiatus on a high, meaning this could be more complicated than it first looks. That said, I’ll be sticking with Snakebite for game number two.

The first of two big hitter encounters is up next when Raymond van Barneveld meets Gary Anderson. Barney is a hard one to call these days whereas Anderson has barley dropped a shot all league long. There will always be a part of me reluctant to go against the Dutchman and, given home crowd advantage, I’ll err on the side of caution on this one and call it a draw.

At Bet365, you can pick up 94/4 on Barney being the first player to break his opponent’s throw. While I am calling the match a draw, given Barney’s skillset, I definitely think that price is too good to turn down.

Second from bottom Kim Huybrechts takes on Adrian Lewis next with Jackpot fresh from taking the scalp of Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor a week ago. Lewis has found himself hanging just above the relegation zone over the last few weeks and, even with a game in hand over Chisnall, his safety looks less than certain. Should he win here, and I think he will, then he should be able to breathe a little easier.

Finally, the night closes on a classic matchup between Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen. The champ returned to action with a narrow win last week and now boasts the only unbeaten record in the league. He also sits three points off the top of the table with a game in hand and, with the Dutch crowd behind him, will be looking to see off the old rival one more time.

Taylor, though, has won the last three meetings between the two and often raises his game when pride is at stake. For this week’s accumulator bet, I’m going with one line on Wade, Wright, Draw, MVG and Lewis.

This pays out at 43.17/1 at Betway so is obviously well worth considering!

March8March 8, 2017

Peter Wright Wins First PDC Event

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

Before we recap last week’s Premier League action, lets rejoice in Peter Wright breaking his duck and finally claiming his maiden televised PDC event. That’s right, Snakebite took down the UK Open at the Butlins Minehead Resort last Sunday and with it lifted an enormous monkey from his back.

On the night, he defeated Gerwyn Price 11-6 to avenge the previous two years where he has twice come runner-up to Michael van Gerwen. This time there were no such problems for the world number three as he produced a display and a tournament win that we all knew was coming and, if anything, was long overdue.

The popular 46-year-old produced a tournament average of 101 and a final average of 100 as he won the final three legs to seal victory, finishing the match on the bull in an 85 checkout.

Speaking after the match, an emotional Scotsman said simply: “It feels great to win my first one. The fans have given me fantastic support, not just this year but also for the last two years.”

Darts Premier League summary

Wright’s victory here followed a win on Thursday night in the fifth week of the Darts Premier League, another tournament where Snakebite is flying high. Wright beat Adrian Lewis 7-2 in the penultimate battle of the night. In truth it was a one sided affair as Lewis, who has been out of form for too long now, couldn’t keep up with Wright who, in contrast, is in the form of his life.

The night began with an upset, however, as Dave Chisnall won 7 legs to Raymond van Barneveld’s 2, meaning my acca was blown apart inside the first half hour. I’m sure I wasn’t alone. This was followed by an unsurprising 6-6 tie between Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts before an equally predictable 6-6 was played out by the world number two, Gary Anderson, and retiring legend, Phil Taylor.

In the final match of the night, Chizzy was wheeled out once more to replace an injured Michael van Gerwen who dropped out in the hope his back injury would improve. Chizzy, suddenly alive with form, beat James Wade 5-7 and leaves the Dutchman needing to play two games in week eight in order to catch up.

Premier League Darts betting tips and hints

Play now moves on to The SSE Hydro in Glasgow where another action-packed Thursday night awaits. The Stoke pair of Jackpot Lewis and Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor open up the action at around about 19:00 with the points looking likely to head to the 16-time world champion.

This match is followed by James Wade coming up against Peter Wright where I will stick to Wright stretching his run further still. That said, this is the toughest to call this week with the very capable Wade always a threat.

Huybrechts and MVG are up next and, providing the World Champion’s back holds up, this should be a coast for Mighty Mike. Slightly tougher to call is the Klaasen versus Barney match that follows; it depends on which Raymond van Barneveld turns up on the night. Should the real Barney stand up, it’s a no-brainer win for elder stateman of Dutch darts.

Finally, Chizzy meets Gary Anderson who will fancy his chances – which is why I’m tempted to pick the line of Taylor, Wright, MVG, RVB and Anderson. However, not being brave enough to put on a single acca, I will opt this week for a Canadian instead at just over 11/1 for the five-fold with Betway.

I will also be backing James Wade to make the highest checkout, with odds worth 6/5 available at SkyBet. Plus, given the form he has started to show at long, long last, I’m going to lay some money on an outright win on Snakebite himself. The best I have found for this is by far and away at Bet365 where he is almost twice as good as value as anywhere else.