Michael van Gerwen Wins The World Grand Prix In Dublin

Michael van Gerwen Wins The World Grand Prix In Dublin

MVG World Grand Prix

Michael van Gerwen
is the new World Grand Prix champion after beating Peter Wright in the final at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin on Saturday.

The world number one was too much for Snakebite and stamped his superiority on the PDC’s unique double-start major, an event he has won five times in the past seven years. This was also his 17th tournament success of the season thus far, which includes victories during the Darts Premier League and Darts Masters.

Incredibly, Mighty Mike dropped just two sets on the way to the final, where he lost only two more to Wright in a 5-2 victory. In the final, MVG banked his lowest average of the week — 88.45 — compared to world number two Peter Wright’s 91.61. MVG also scored two crucial ton-plus finishes and landed seven 180s during the match, while his opponent hit six maximums and duel checkout highs of 101.

With the match level at 2-2, the popular Peter Wright — who was appearing in his first Dublin final — looked to be the player in control of the fifth leg. It didn’t last long as he squandered his opportunity, something that you simply cannot do when van Gerwen is your opponent. With that, the Dutchman took his chance and won the pivotal leg with a stunning 101 checkout. He followed this up by winning the following two sets to claim yet another trophy.

On route to the final, Mighty Mike had seen off Steve Lennon, Darren Webster, Dave Chisnall and last year’s winner, Daryl Gurney, 4-1 in the semi-finals. It was Gurney who knocked out the in-form Gary Anderson 3-0. On the other hand, MVG’s opponent Peter Wright successfully navigated tricky ties against Mensur Suljovic in the semi-finals as well as Jermaine Wattimena, James Wilson and Steve West. Surpisingly, the world champion Rob Cross flew out at the first handle when he lost 2-0 to Steve Beaton.

European Darts Trophy betting tips

After all the spent efforts of the World Grand Prix, the game’s leading names return to the European Tour on Friday when the thirteenth event of the series gets underway at the Lokhalle Arena in Gottingen, Germany.

This is only the second staging of the European Darts Trophy and it won’t surprise anyone to learn that Michael van Gerwen was the victor. He will be back to defend the trophy he won a year ago when he beat Rob Cross 6-4 in the final. Others will be looking to follow Cross’ lead by using these autumn events to build up some momentum for the World Championships in December.

One player not following his example, however, is Gary Anderson, who has decided to sit this event out due to a hectic winter schedule. Given that he looks like the only player on the circuit capable of giving MVG a scare, you can see why Betway have Mighty Mike down as the red-hot favourite at 8/11.

In total, a field of 48 will be heading to Gottingen including last weekend’s beaten finalist Peter Wright. On form, as last week showed he might be, he can be a factor here, which is represented in the betting lines — second at a handsome 6/1. Rob Cross, who is having a horrible year, is fancied at 9’s and will be desperately hoping to repeat his late-in-the-year form from last year especially given that the Ally Pally is creeping into sight. Another player I keep saying to look out for is Mensur Suljovic. The Australian is hitting some great darts right now and usually enjoys the European games. Betway have priced The Gentle at 12/1.

Finally, it’s worth noting some prices on the outsiders, especially given that Gerwyn Price, Simon Whitlock, Ricky Evans and Mark Wilson have all made European Tour finals this season. Daryl Gurney’s recent upswing in form sees him priced at 33/1, while Gerwyn ‘Superchin’ Price (66/1) Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith (20/1), Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis (28/1), and Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock (66/1) are all capable of winning these Euro Tour events.

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Michael van Gerwen Wins 17th Title Of The Season

Michael van Gerwen Wins 17th Title Of The Season

MVG German Darts Championship

Michael van Gerwen beat James ‘Lethal Biscuit’ Wilson 8-6 at the German Darts Championship final in Hildesheim over the weekend to claim his seventh victory of the European Tour and his 17th title of the season so far.

Van Gerwen, who hit a 103.56 tournament average across the weekend, raced to a 3-0 lead in the final before the Yorkshireman notched up a tidy 44 to land his first leg.

MVG no match for Wilson

After MVG’s strong start, Wilson then wired the double 16 that would have rewarded him with a break of throw. Instead, the mistake allowed a clinical Mighty Mike to step up to land duel checkouts of 118 and 154 and open up a daunting 5-1 lead. Wilson wasn’t about to roll over and he soon dragged his way back into the match by claiming the next two legs on the spin to find himself at a more respectable 3-5 deficit. The fightback wasn’t to last however, as MVG soon impressed his dominance on the game once more to move within a leg of the title at 7-3.

True to form, Wilson refused to go down without a fight and amazingly reeled off three successive legs to give world number one a serious fright. Not that it showed on Van Gerwen, however. He merely shrugged it off and finally put an end to Wilson’s resistance with an 11-dart leg to lift the German Darts Championship for a second time.

Wilson’s strong performance against MVG was even more remarkable given that his Dutch opponent had only dropped one leg in his previous four matches combined after thrashing Cristo Reyes and Martin Schindler each 6-0 and Joe Cullen 7-0 in the semi finals. Only Dave Chisnall managed to claim a single leg against Mighty Mike in their quarter final match, in which he too was shot down 6-1.

Wilson’s route to the final saw him overcome hard fought ties against Jermaine Wattimena, Jonny Clayton, Robert Thornton and Ron Meulenkamp 6-2. He then overcame the odds to drop Mensur Suljovic 7-4 to set up his first ever European Final in what was a very strong performance for the 46-year-old who last year played under the nickname “The Jamie Dodger.”

Dutch Darts Championship Betting Tips

Coming up this weekend — September 7 to September 9 — we have the Dutch Darts Championships at the MECC in Maastricht. Suitably for Holland, one of their own is the standout favourite. Michael van Gerwen can be picked up for a best price of 8/13. It’s hard to see where his main challenger will come from, especially considering he will be on his own turf with his own army of fans in full support.

The second favourite is Peter Wright at a much more attractive 5/1, although he has had a messy 2018 and any faith in him has been severely tested this year. Enjoying a much better year is Mensur Suljovic, who can be backed at 12’s. Considerging that Betway’s each-way terms for this event pay out at 1/3 of the odds for the first two places, it’s probably worthwhile looking into backing the runner-up, for which Mensur stands a great chance.

Elsewhere, James Wade can be picked up at 22/1, before Adrian Lewis’ 25/1 and Daryl Gurney’s 28’s. Other potential long shots include Dave Chisnall at 28/1, Gerwyn Price and Simon Whitlock, who are both at 66/1 with online bookmakers Betway.

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Michael van Gerwen Wins Auckland Darts Masters

Michael van Gerwen Wins Auckland Darts Masters

MVG Wins in Auckland

Michael van Gerwen beat his compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the Auckland Darts Masters last Sunday. The win marked his return to winning ways and put his World Matchplay disappointment behind him during a dominant tournament which saw him win 37 legs and drop just 13.

After crashing out in the first round in Blackpool to another Dutchman, Jeffrey de Zwaan, the world number one thrashed World Cup teammate Barney 11-4 in Sunday’s final at the Trusts Arena. Only one round earlier, MVG destroyed Peter Wright 10-3, aided by an average of 102 plus consecutive checkouts of 170 and 164 in a match that looked to be heading in the direction of a whitewash until Snakebite clawed back a few legs and added a hint of respectability to the rout. All that after his rival had dispatched the World Matchplay champion Gary Anderson 10-4 in Saturday’s quarter-finals.

Other action from Auckland

For Barney, a win here would have been his first solo title since winning the Darts Premier League in 2014 but the former world number one was on the back foot throughout, quickly falling 6-1 behind. He did manage to put together a run of three successive legs to close things slightly, all the while landing five 180s compared to Mighty Mike’s one. The worse of the two averages wasn’t going to stop MVG, however, subsequently reeling off the next five legs without reply, including a checkout of 156.

MVG ended the final with an average of 97.62 over the 93.74 hit by Barney, who was appearing in his second Auckland Darts Masters Final after losing out to Adrian Lewis in 2015.

Barney was also in good form successfully seeing off Aussie Simon Whitlock in their semi-final match, hitting four 100+ checkouts and an average of 103 during a 10-5 victory that set him up in the final against Mighty Mike van Gerwen.

Incredibly, this was van Gerwen’s first World Series of Darts title of the year. Overall was MVG’s 16th tournament of the season and 110th singles title, not including his World Cup victories, which were won in partnership with Barney earlier this year.

Next up is the Melbourne Darts Masters on August 10 through 12, before the Brisbane Darts Masters, running August 17-19.

Melbourne Darts Masters betting tips

Last week’s winner — and quite possibly this week’s too — Michael van Gerwen, is the 8/11 favourite just ahead of Gary Anderson’ 5/1. Rob Cross comes next in the betting at 7/1, while Peter Wright is a decent 10/1, ahead of Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith’s 14’s, which is very a very handsome offer. Finally, Raymond van Barneveld’s 25/1 fills an all-Aussie sandwich of Corey Cadby’s 16’s and the 25/1 Betway have laid on Simon Whitlock.

Champions League of Darts 2018

The full draw for the upcoming Champions League of Darts was made recently, along with the schedule for the BBC-televised event, which takes place at The Brighton Centre on September 22-23. The format of the event is based on two groups of four, with the top two progressing to the semi-finals.

In the group stage, the players play each other once in a best of 19, with two points awarded for a win. The top two in each group will progress to the semi-finals, where the group winners will play the runners-up of the other group over 21 legs, with the two semi-final winners then meeting over a 21 leg final. The eight players making an appearance this year are Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Daryl Gurney, Simon Whitlock, Dave Chisnall and last year’s shock winner, Mensur Suljovic.

The Austrian defied pre-tournament odds of 40/1 a year ago when he beat Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson 11-9 to win his first major televised title, in a tourney in which he also beat tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen, who was knocked out in last year’s group stage. Can we expect similar upsets this time around? We will publish prices nearer to the event.

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