This guy is very decent with his analysis and ante post bets
It's getting close to Christmas now and while I'm delighted to say that means plenty of interesting, high quality football and horse racing action, it's sporting drama of a different kind that really gets me interested, the PDC Darts World Championships from Alexandra Palace in London.
2018 PDC Darts World Championships - Ante-Post Thoughts And Selections
I absolutely love getting involved with the PDC World Darts Championships, I can happily sit there for hours watching the top class darts, enjoy watching the fans going crazy with 180 after 180 flying in.
There is no doubting it's great entertainment and great excitement, but also for me there is no doubt that having a few punts on the tournament adds something extra to it all and cheering on your players while enjoying the top class darts is a great thrill making every dart thrown that bit more important.
Now when individual matches start you'll be able to do seemingly endless different bets In Play on Number of 180's, 9 dart finish, handicap leg and set betting, points totals, basically anything and everything will be available if you to have a punt.
When those 1st round matches kick off then I'll do my best to offer up thoughts within the Darts Forum on
www.olbg.com but for now I want to look at the big one ie the ante-post Outright Tournament
Winner market as ultimately all that counts is who lifts that trophy on the final day once that winning dart has been thrown.
Ante-post Verdict :- I'm not going to win any prizes for being original but I don't want to, I just want to back who I feel is the most exciting, most talented player who I can cheer on throughout the 2 weeks and in my opinion the most likely
Winner, for me that isMICHAEL VAN GERWEN who is 8/11 to win back to back World titles and make it his third World title so far. Van Gerwen won an incredible, mind blowing 25 tournaments last year before the World Championships including all the major TV tournaments and quite simply he's a clear, standout world number 1 and on a different level to his rivals.
The really scary factor for all of Michael Van Gerwen's opponents is that although he did have a quiet time this season, including time away for the birth of his child and also suffered injury which lead to poor results, since returning from that time away Michael Van Gerwen has found his incredible best form again winning everything in sight including most of the major TV tournaments with devastating brilliance and incredibly looking better than he's done before.
Michael Van Gerwen has the most incredible scoring power, he's devastatingly accurate, he's exceptional at exposing any weakness a player has and taking advantage whenever an opponents doesn't take their chances, he just destroys fellow players hopes and belief with his relentless brilliance, even if an opponent finds incredibly brilliant form themselves then MVG has the scary ability to go through several more gears to raise his game again, basically I don't see a weakness and only MVG suffering illness or a sudden, dramatic loss of form will stop him.
It's easy to say of course but I am full of belief that Michael Van Gerwen is the clear man to beat and he's definitely my clear, main bet at 8/11 to win the World Championships and make it back to back titles and that would make him only the 4th ever player to win back to back PDC world championships.
I really can't talk highly enough of Michael Van Gerwen and I will be massively shocked if he doesn't get the job done this time around but with every major event I think it always makes sense and adds extra fun to have other options as insurance in case it goes surprisingly wrong for Van Gerwen.
Double World Champion Gary Anderson has to be the starting point when looking at potential threats to Michael Van Gerwen and given that Gary Anderson is in the other half of the draw and that half of the draw looks measurably weaker than the top half so the draw combined with Gary Anderson's proven experience does give a prime, in form Gary Anderson every chance of at least getting to the final, at 7/1 boosted for win purposes and 6/1 with 1/2 odds two places he looks a solid alternative.
Two other options I want to consider for each way alternative bets to Michael Van Gerwen are DARYL GURNEY at 40/1 & ROB CROSS at 16/1 - in my opinion I believe that outside of Michael Van Gerwen, Daryl Gurney & Rob Cross have been the stars of this darts season and there is an argument to say that what they've both done has been just as impressive as Van Gerwen.
Quite literally ROB CROSS has gone from being an amateur to likely top 4 in world material in about 12 months, due to being an electrician by trade they nicknamed him 'Voltage' and he has certainly put plenty of charge and power into darts this year, even though he's in Michael Van Gerwen's part of the draw and would have to meet him at a potential Semi Final, right now I would think Rob Cross is the player that Michael Van Gerwen would least like to meet, so given his incredible year, his confidence and his proven ability to handle the big stage now, ROB CROSS has good value at the boosted 16/1 for win purposes and still well worth backing each way at 10/1 for 2 places in the standard outright market.
DARYL GURNEY comes into my thinking as an interesting each way value bet for the World Championships as he's just gone from strength to strength this season and now rightly ranks amongst the best in the world, admittedly his early year form was more impressive and stronger than the last few months but GURNEY has proven he can handle the big stage and find his best darts when he needs it, it's 40/1 for Gurney win boosted prices and 33/1 each way 2 places in normal outright betting.
They are absolutely vital elements for any potential World Champion and although DARYL GURNEY would have to get past the likes of Rob Cross and Michael Van Gerwen in his half of the draw and will potentially meet Cross in Round 3, if you fancy Cross at 16/1 then GURNEY at 40/1 has to have some merit each way, if you back both CROSS & GURNEY at their prices then you would be guaranteed at least 16/1 shot in the Quarter Final if they meet in Round 3, I think those odds make it worth the risk that happens.
Given it's half the odds 2 places ie making the Final then you'd get 8/1 or 20/1 for a place if either of those just got to the final.
2018 PDC Darts World Championship Ante-Post Selections And Bets
I'm personally doing a 50 point (£50) Ante-Post budget with Outright
Winner bets spread this way.
- MICHAEL VAN GERWEN 33 pts win at 8/11 (Boosted price win only).
- GARY ANDERSON 2 pts win at 7/1 (Boosted price win only).
- ROB CROSS 2pt win at 16/1 (Boosted price win only).
- DARYL GURNEY 0.5 pts win at 40/1 (Boosted price win only).
- GARY ANDERSON 3pts e/w at 6/1 - 1/2 odds 2 places.
- ROB CROSS 1.15pt each way at 10/1 - 1/2 odds 2 places.
- DARYL GURNEY 0.60 pts each way at 33/1 - 1/2 odds 2 places.
2018 PDC Darts World Championship Alternative Bets
Given today's multi-sports betting markets you can have many varied bets on all sports and when it comes to a major tournament like the PDC World Championships there are loads of different markets to look at, here are few I like to spend the remaining part of my tournament budget on to have some extra fun :-
Tournament Winning Double = Double 18 1pt at 14/1 Tournament Winning Double = Double 12 1pt at 11/1 This particular market really is a fun bet where you have to predict which Double the player will hit to win the final game of the tournament, it's obvious to say the most popular Doubles amongst the top players are Double 20 & 16/1 both priced at 11/4 but for me that's too short for a fun bet so I've taken a punt on Double 18 at 14/1 & Double 12 at 11/1, the thinking being that I believe Michael Van Gerwen is the likely tournament
Winner and he does like to mix things up with his finishes and he's won plenty of legs on Double 18 & Double 12.
RequestABet Special = Michael Van Gerwen to win tournament + to score most 180's + have highest checkout in every match 1pt at 100/1 This is clearly an extreme bet, yes I expect Michael Van Gerwen to win the tournament and yes he has the capability to score most 180's & have the highest checkout, but to do that in all 3 matches is something else but I think this kind of bet at those crazy odds of 100/1 is something fun to have and extra reason to cheer MVG smashing in all those 180's and big finishes, it could happen.
