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As ever with our tips for the PDC World Championships, the write-ups will be a bit more details, so hopefully they’re beneficial to your thought process, but I’ve given you the best advice possible for your betting tips.
Betfair have a lot of great markets and a lot of great valueevery year during the PDC World Championships. Head on over, get yourself a free bet and get stuck into the in-running betting. You’ll struggle to find a better place to bet during the PDC World Championships than Betfair.
Jamie Caven (18) versus Roland Scholten.
Caven best price: 4/6 @
Scholten best price: 11/8 @ Betfair.
An inauspicious way to start the PDC World Championship with two men in horrible form. Jamie Caven’s not won a televised match this year, while Roland Scholten hasn’t got past the last 16 of any PDC tournament, televised or not this year.
Caven will think himself fortunate to be seeded, as his form would suggest that against any of the game’s top players, he’d struggle. He was shown up by Scott Rand at last week’s Players Championship Finals, which came after an October televised defeat to Denis Ovens (2-0) at the World Grand Prix in Dublin. The lowlight of his year will have been the 10-0 drubbing at the World Matchplay from James Wade. So, it’s fair to say Caven’s year hasn’t been one he’ll be in a hurry to try and repeat.
Roland Scholten’s fall from grace coincided with a shoulder injury a couple of years back. While he wasn’t playing to the standard we once expected of the Dutchman, he was still capable of holding his own. But then injury stopped him dead and the defeats starting coming in. The fact he’s not played in a televised tournament since last year’s World Championship, where he came through his preliminary match before losing to Ronnie Baxter 3-0 in the first round.
This match isn’t going to be a classic. While Caven’s form isn’t great, Scholten’s is just terrible. Caven did make a floor tournament semi-final at the end of October and a quarter-final the week before that, so a little bit of form has come through. While the price isn’t generous for Caven, it’s bigger than I had expected.
Jamie Caven to beat Roland Scholten: 4/6 @
Recommend: 3 units.
Paul Barham versus Scott MacKenzie:
Paul Barham best price: 5/6 @
Scott MacKenzie best price: Evens @ Paddy Power.
Prelim match
Paul Barham is an emerging star on the PDC Under-21 circuit, where he reached the semi-finals of the Under-21 World Championships. He’s won 2 Youth Tour events this year, and was a finalist in another one. While he’s not an established name, there’s people that have high hopes for him.
Scott MacKenzie from Hong Kong is making his second appearance at the PDC World Championships, the first time losing in the prelims to Jyhan Artut 4-3, having played better than a lot of people expected. He came through the Chinese qualifying event for this tournament, after failing to get through the BDO qualifiers that same month.
While MacKenzie has some experience, Barham is used to playing very short format events and he’s had a lot of success in them on the PDC Youth Tour. Both men will want to put in a solid performance, but the up-and-coming player should have the “home” advantage which should carry him to victory.
Paul Barham to beat Scott MacKenzie: 5/6 @
Recommend: 1.5 units.
Mark Webster (6) versus Richie Burnett:
Mark Webster best price: 1/3 @
Richie Burnett best price: 3/1 @ Paddy Power.
Now we’re talking! Some great action for us now, as the battle of the Welshmen hits our screens. We’re talking former BDO World Champions facing off against each other, at polar opposites of their career, but with Richie Burnett showing some resurgence in form.
Mark Webster went on a great run at the PDC Players Championship Finals, eventually losing to Kevin Painter in the final 13-9, which followed up a quarter-final appearance at the Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost to Adrian Lewis 16-5. Webster is playing some great darts and he’s taken a couple of big scalps on his way.
Richie Burnett found himself in a great vein of form, getting to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix, where he lost to Phil Taylor 5-2. That was following up his first floor tournament win for several years in Holland in September. While nor sparkling form, he did play some excellent darts at the World Grand Prix.
The facet of both men’s games is that they’re not huge 180 scorers. Burneet managed none in his defeat at the Players Chamiponship finals in his 6-3 defeat to Wes Newton, and didn’t get firing great guns at the World Grand Prix until the second round, so he takes his time to warm up. The same can be said for Webster. At times Webster can batter in the 180s, but he’s by far a more consistent 140 scorer. Webster only managed 2 in his 22 legs against Kevin Painter, 3 in his 10-7 win over Wes Newton, but 5 against Dave Chisnall in 17 legs (3 and 1 in his first two matches). So both men aren’t known for their 180s, which is why I’m surprised to see under 5.5 as the outsider of the pair. I can see the match going 4 sets, 4 legs on average, so 16 legs. I reckon 5 is pushing it, so Evens is a nice dabble for us at this stage of the tournament.
Under 5.5 180s in the Mark Webster versus Richie Burnett match: Evens @ 888.com .
Recommend:Adrian Lewis (2) versus Nigel Heydon:
Adrian Lewis best price: 1/7 @ 888.com .
Nigel Hylton best price: 6/1 @ Paddy Power.
The defending champion and No.2 seed starts his tournament with a tough match against Nigel Heydon. Heydon has been building a name for himself on the PDC tour and Adrian Lewis isn’t going to have it all his own way if he starts losing focus.
Lewis hasn’t played on TV since the Grand Slam of Darts, where he made the semi-final, before being beaten 16-9 by Phil Taylor. Lewis played some magnificent darts and it was a bit strange without him in the Players Championship Finals. But that sums up Lewis’ year, especially when it comes to floor tournaments – he’s been wildly inconsistent. Lewis seems to feed off a crowd, as his best results are on the big stage. The fact that in the last 3 televised tournaments he’s played, he’s made one semi-final, one final and then lost in the last 32 (the World Grand Prix) sums up the inconsistency, but you know he feeds off the crowd.
Nigel Heydon disappointed at the Grand Slam of Darts, but he did beat Gary Anderson 5-3 in the group stages. He’s started to build a name for himself, without making the major breakthrough yet. but there’s no denying Heydon is a solid player, even if his throwing action makes me feel just a tiny bit sick sometimes.
As expected, the price on Lewis is disgraceful, but then can you see him losing? I really don’t know. The short format can lead to some upsets and this might just be one of them. I certainly don’t think Heydon will make it easy for Lewis, but the World Champion might just have enough to scrape past this match.
I like Heydon to get at least a set here, so we’re going to look at the handicap markets for this. The bookies have Heydon a 2.5 sets underdog, and I like that line, just for the fact Lewis is prone to going AWOL for a few legs now and again. He does that for a couple at any point in the match, Heydon can nip in and take the set, which is what we want.
Nigel Heydon +2.5 sets to beat Adrian Lewis: 8/11 @ Paddy Power.
Recommend: 2 units.
Wayne Jones (15) versus Paul Barham/Scott MacKenzie:
