It’s that time of year again and our resident darts blogger has previewed the BetVictor World MatchPlay which starts this weekend in Blackpool.
Michael van Gerwen romped to victory in last year’s BetVictor World Matchplay. He reappears this year having notched 10 tour titles in 2017 and although that is a mighty impressive feat, the Green Machine has fallen to defeat to both Gary Anderson (1) and Peter Wright (2) in finals this term. He could meet either of the two in the final and is probably too short for most to back here.
Wright is in the form of his life and if it wasn’t for the dominance of MVG, he’d surely have more majors to his name. Snakebite is currently available at 11/2 to claim his first Matchplay title. The Scotsman knows how to get to finals, having reached the World Championship final in January and he has picked up 9 tour titles so far in 2017. I could see him going well again and at 11/2 with BetVictor, that could be too big to ignore backing him each way.
One name that sticks out at a huge price is that of Daryl Gurney. The Northern Irishman disposed of both Wright and Anderson on route to the WSOD finals in Vegas. It may be argued that he has a tendency to switch off but the longer format of this tournament may prove more forgiving if that occurs again. It must be noted that he has climbed up to 16th in the world rankings and currently has the 5th best winning average in 2017, with 73 from 117 games. The 8/1 on offer for him to win the 3rd qualifier is sure to be popular, as will the 33s to reach the final for the more ambitious.
If you simply can’t have those arguments and you do think that MVG’s name is on the trophy, you will find some value in our tournament #PriceItUp markets. One which stands out is MVG to win the tournament, hit the most 180s and get the highest checkout. We are 10/1 on this one and it has already been one of the most backed markets for the whole event.
