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Premier League 2012 Week 7 Tips
Halfway into the Premier League season after tonight, and it’s shaping up to be an interesting fight for 3 of the play-off places. Three, not four? Well, let’s just say Phil Taylor has secured his place, as he’s looking phenomenal right now. After the Premier League left Glasgow, the top four are Phil Taylor (11 points), Simon Whitlock (7), Gary Anderson and Kevin Painter (both 6). Are you surprised at this? I have to admit, I am, especially with the World Champion, Adrian Lewis, languishing at the bottom on 3 points, and no wins at all.
After announcing last week that if this year’s Premier League picks end up in a loss, the UK Open tips will be FREE to all subscribers, we had a great night, going 4-1 and missing out on the perfect night by one maximum. So that puts us at 12-15 for the season. I’ll give a units update next week.
The Premier League came and went into Glasgow last week, and what a night it was. James Wade looked like he was getting back to decent form, while Adrian Lewis looked a mess. Then we saw Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock take part in a classic encounter, with the Aussie taking the win and also second place in the Premier League. Phil Taylor started slugging, before taking out Andy Hamilton 8-3 with a 106.05 average. Finally, Raymond van Barneveld got incredibly lucky (and WE got incredibly lucky) with an 8-5 win over Kevin Painter in what could be Painter’s harshest defeat since a certain World Championship Final. So what now? Well, we’ve got an Irish crowd tonight in Dublin, as the PDC 2012 Premier League comes to the O2. Some big matches tonight, but we can’t look past the Robot versus the Machine, as Phil Taylor puts his undefeated streak on the line against the resurgent James Wade. The other matches are also interesting, but the marquee match really is a bobbydazzler! So let’s get onto tonight’s Premium Darts Betting Tips.
Andy Hamilton versus Simon Whitlock.
Second bottom takes on second top – although the doesn’t sound great, this will be a cracking start to the night, as both men are capable of some fantastic scoring. In fact, Andy Hamilton proved to be a revelation on the 180s at the start of the Premier League, and now Simon Whitlock is back to his heavy scoring best.
Andy Hamilton has impressed me at times in his first Premier League Darts season. Yes, I think he’s not in the same league (so to speak) of the top players in the field, but he’s playing some good darts, he’s scoring well and he’s giving the established Premier League Darts stars a bit of a fright. He even looked capable of giving Phil Taylor a run for his money for the first few legs of their match last week. But the stats tend not to lie at this stage in the Premier League, and an overage of 91.53 isn’t going to cut it against players hitting 96+ or even 100+ in some cases, every week. But he’s grafting and his 20 maximums and highest checkout of 150 proves that. He’ll fight hard against Whitlock, but I’m not sure if it will be enough. I think that’s why he’s such a big price, at around 3/1, to win this match.
Simon Whitlock has been coming on and improving week after week. After a terrible 2011 by his usual standards, it’s great to see the Australian improving as time goes on, as it shows he’s going to be a threat for the majors this year. He’s not hitting the heights of a certain Phil Taylor, but his average of 97.11 is the third highest in the Premier League and it’s only going to improve over the coming weeks as he gets stronger after his foot injury at the end of last year. So, his 23 maximums and his highest checkout of 164, along with his average, proves just how well he’s playing at the moment. Can he take out The Hammer? The bookies think so, and I think so too. But at 1/3, he’s no price for us in this format!
This should be a fun match to watch, as both players are proper grinders when it comes down to it, and the win is important for both men – if Hamilton doesn’t win, he can start to kiss his play-off hopes goodbye, but if he wins, there’s a big chance for him. And Simon Whitlock will want to consolidate his second place in the Premier League, further cementing a place in the end of season play-offs. So, as I’ve said earlier, I think Whitlock is going to take this, but there’s no value for us to back him. So we’re going to look elsewhere for our tip here. The interesting line is the player to score the most 180s – Hamilton hasn’t been firing in the 180s with as much aplomb as he had been at the start of the season, while Whitlock is banging them in now. So to see Whitlock at 5/6 to score the most 180s looks like a nice price for us.
Simon Whitlock to score the most 180s against Andy Hamilton: 5/6 @ 888.com.
Recommend: 3 units.
Adrian Lewis versus Kevin Painter.
I don’t know where to begin with Adrian Lewis’ form. He’s sitting on three draws, no wins and at the bottom of the Premier League table. For a back-to-back World Champion, it’s not looking great and he’s going to have to get his arse in gear if he wants to reach the Premier League play-offs in London in May. And to be honest, the way he’s been playing, lacking confidence, I can’t see it. He’s struggled in the Premier League since the World Championship Final and he’s struggling in the floor tournaments. The thing is, he’s still scoring unbelievably well, hitting a league-leading 31 maximums, but his finishing is just letting him down time and time again, which is an old Adrian Lewis problem. But can he win this? Maybe. Just maybe. But he should be good for some exciting darts.
I say this every week and I’ll say it again: Kevin Painter keeps on surprising me. While he came up short against Raymond van Barneveld last week, he fought for every leg and broke Barney time after time. It was just unfortunate he missed crucial doubles towards the end of the match. Now, I must admit that Painter, like Andy Hamilton, is not exactly at the top level of darts, but he’s holding his own and is sitting fourth in the Premier League table. While I don’t think it will last, he’s certainly proved people wrong. But, like I said earlier, the stats don’t lie and an average of 91.38 with a paltry 11 maximums means he’s having to put in the big checkout in every game, and when they don’t come he struggles. A bad week for Painter and he’s going to be smashed by the right player. That being said, this is a new Kevin Painter who won’t start muttering to himself should he go behind, so he’ll be fighting right until the end.
The big question is where do I sit on this match? To be honest, I can’t see Painter winning it, but then Lewis doesn’t fill me with confidence in backing him at 4/6. So I think we’ll steer clear of the match winner market and look at the total maximums market. The fact is that Adrian Lewis is still scoring bags of 180s even though he’s not winning. an average of 5 a match is perfect for us, considering he came in well under that on a couple of occasions. So as long as The Artist can fire in a couple, I think we’re going to get this line of 6.5 no problem.
Over 6.5 180s in Painter versus Lewis match: 10/11 @ 888.com.
Recommend: 2.5 units.
Raymond van Barneveld versus Gary Anderson.
Looking at the overall card, this must be right up there with Taylor versus Wade for match of the night. Both men are big hitters in the PDC and both men will be wanting a win here to keep them in the end of season play-off scene. A win for the Dutchman will move him into the top four, a win for Gary Anderson keeps him in the top four and looking good for a place at London’s O2 Arena, and giving him a chance to retain his title.
Raymond van Barneveld is having a bit of a resurgence this year. He’s playing well on the floor and his average of 99.13 is the second best in the Premier League. His 24 180s is joint second best and his highest checkout of 145 isn’t too bad either. However, he hasn’t looked strong every week, and was lucky to get over the line against an unlucky Kevin Painter last week. In fact, his average of 95.37 sums up what was just an average performance. The week before, he got unlucky in defeat to James Wade, but there are signs there that Barney is getting into a bit of inconsistency. However, he’s finishing well and his scoring is still unbelievably solid in-between the 45s and 30s. So he’s got a great chance to take the Scotsman’s scalp here tonight.
Reigning Premier League champion Gary Anderson is playing as inconsistently as tonight’s opponent. The fact he’s third in the league doesn’t show how he’s playing. What does show it is his average of 90.90. His average of 90.83 last week in his 8-6 defeat to Simon Whitlock is just what we expected. What we didn’t expect from Anderson is the shocking 16 maximums he’s scored over 6 matches. An average of less than 3 a match just isn’t what Gary Anderson is about. So his scoring is letting him down and his finishing is what we expect of Anderson – wobbly at best.
I think this is going to be a scrappy match, as Anderson is not playing the best darts of his career, and Barney is showing he’s prone to the old lapses of concentration. What both men have in their locker is the ability to score heavily when the mood takes them. For Anderson this mood hasnt’ taken him all that often in 2012, but the ability is there. Barney just seems to be churning out maximums in his matches, and with quite a few legs on the card for tonight’s match, I think the number of maximums is where we have to look. The line is 7.5 and even though we just came up short last week with a line of 7.5, I think both men are going to be fighting hard for this match, and the fighting means hitting the maximums.
Over 7.5 180s in the Raymond van Barneveld versus Gary Anderson match: 5/6 @ 888.com.
Recommend: 2 units.
Phil Taylor versus James Wade.
Like last week, I don’t have much to say about this match, as even though Phil Taylor started slowly last week, he ended up crushing Andy Hamilton and averaged over 106 in what ended up being a dominant performance. James Wade is on a bit of a winning streak, he’s playing pretty well, but in my eyes he’s not playing well enough. Maybe this match will have him turning the corner, but I really can’t see it. However, both men will know what the other is capable of and will want to finish each leg quickly, so the line of 120.5 is a fantastic line for us to back. So we’re going for this to finish the night off with a bang!
Highest checkout over 120.5: 5/6 @ 888.com.
Recommend: 3 units.
And that’s all from Week 7 of the PDC Premier League 2012 Premium Darts Betting Tips from Dublin. Remember to check back next week for more darts betting tips, this time coming from Cardiff in wonderful Wales.
