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PDC 2013 World Championship Day Three Premium Picks.
Yesterday I said I was worried that it was going to be a damp squib because of Day One of the PDC 2013 World Championship. However, Day Two restored my faith in the game, even if not all of our bets came off. Richie Burnett was the star of yesterday, not for his amazing darts, but for coming through a tense encounter with James Hubbard, and sticking it to the vile idiots who decided to get on his back with every dart he’d thrown. Jerry Hendricks pulled off the first real shock of the tournament, and Daryl Gurney followed that up with a shock win over Andy Smith. Terry Jenkins put in an extremely solid performance in defeating Steve Brown, while Shane Tichowitsch can think himself unlucky to lose 3-0 to Dave Chisnall; the Aussie played some great darts, hit a couple of big outs and really put pressure on the man from St Helens. There were also comfortable 3-0 wins for John Part and an out-of-sorts Phil Taylor, and then Max Hopp blew it big time against Denis Ovens, leading 2-1, and then losing the last 6 legs to go out 3-2 after such high hopes. The day had it all; drama, excitement and great darts. So let’s hope it continues today.
The Premium Picks went 3-3 last night, taking them to 5-4 after two days of the PDC 2013 World Championship, with a profit of +4.44 units which could have been a lot better if luck had been on our side on a couple of occasions. I mean we got Sudden Death in the Burnett/Hubbard match, but we still couldn’t get over the 180s line! And Wayne Jones hitting a 180 in his last throw of the match to tie the 180s market with Jerry Hendriks was unreal. But we still made a profit, and that’s what matters.
Before we get into the tips, I want to remind you of the great offer from Victor Chandler. Victor Chandler are refunding all bets placed on the outright market until the start of the second round if Phil Taylor wins the World Championship.
Brendan Dolan (20) Vs Mark Jones.
An inauspicious start to the night, with Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan taking on England’s Mark Jones. I don’t think it’s going to be a classic match, but both men will be pleased with the draw.
Brendan Dolan has had another solid year, reaching the semi-final of the World Grand Prix and the European Championships. It’s a nice year of consolidation for Dolan, and he’s been decent enough on the floor, making a few quarter-finals and a final back in March. He’s becoming one of those players that will win a few matches on the stage before losing out to one of the big guns, as his scoring is just consistently around the 85-90 mark, which is usually enough to beat those lesser ranked players.
Mark Jones is one man I don’t have much to say about. He’s here more or less on the back of his semi-final in a floor tournament back in March, as well as qualifying for a couple of European Tour events. He’s not done much outside of that, regularly going out in the first round (or prelim round) of the ProTour events.
It’s actually quite amusing that Mark Jones’ best run of the year back in March was ended by Brendan Dolan. Dolan won the match 6-4, and it doesn’t seem like Jones will trouble him this time either. Dolan is a class above, and with Jones losing in the first round in 2 of his last 4 floor tournaments. The odds on Dolan are extremely restrictive at 1/3, and the handicap isn’t much better. However, I think Dolan is going to be far too good for Jones, and I can’t see past a 3-0 win for him, as the odds are far nicer than that of the handicap.
Brendan Dolan to beat Mark Jones 3-0: 15/8 @
Recommend: 1 unit.
Qualifying Match
Jarkko Komula Vs Jani Haavisto
Jarkko Komula, the big name of Finnish darts has to play a qualifying match, even though he’s owned Scandinavian darts this year. He made the quarter-finals of the WDF Europe Cup, losing 5-4 to BDO World Champion Christian Kist. In the same tournament, JJani Haavisto lost in the quarter-finals, so both men are in decent form coming into the tournament. Haavisto actually beat Komula 6-4 in the final of the SDC tournament in Sweden back in September. Both men are, no doubt, handy players, and it’s going to be a close one. Toss a coin, pick a winner, would be my guess. I’m not making any assumptions, as the Ally Pally stage can do strange things to a darts player. Just enjoy this, as I think it could be one of the better qualifying matches.
Recommend: No bet.
Andy Hamilton (8) Vs James Richardson.
Last year’s finalist against last year’s Barney slayer. Andy Hamilton went on the run of his life last year, and James Richardson got the win of his life in the same tournament. How both men’s 2012s have contrasted!
I really admire Andy Hamilton. He was a solid player who became lost in the PDC shuffle, so to speak, and then a great run in the second half of last year, culminating in his appearance in the 2012 PDC World Championship Final signaled a change in fortune for The Hammer. He’s shown that the older players can still find a new life on the ProTour while all the young upstarts are coming through. He played well in the Premier League reaching the semi-finals, then reaching the quarters of the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, then the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts and the quarter-finals of the Players Championship. Mixed in with some finals on the floor, as well as other great runs, and Andy Hamilton is definitely one of the top 8 players in the world right now.
There was a lot of pressure on James Richardson after his performance in the first round of the 2012 World Championship last year, where he beat Raymond van Barneveld 3-0. Unfortunately, he never “trained on”, to use horse racing parlance. He’s had 19 defeats in the first round (or prelim round) in floor tournaments this year, and outside of his quarter-final in the Austrian Open, he’s just had an absolute shocking year. It’s only down to his £4,000 earned in April that he’s even in the tournament. It’s disappointing for Richardson, but I think he might just be out of his depth here.
Hamilton is 1/10, and I don’t blame the bookies for being this short. They haven’t played each other this year, and the last result was 6-1 to Andy Hamilton last year. There’s a huge contrast in form, with Hamilton capable of a big run here. Richardson will probably just be looking for a nice payday. Hamilton is playing a man completely out of form, and I think 3-0 is the play here.
Andy Hamilton to beat James Richardson 3-0: 6/5 @
Recommend: 1.5 units.
Raymond van Barneveld (13) Vs Michael Smith.
Another Major, another meeting for Raymond van Barneveld and Michael Smith. This is their third match against each other in a PDC Major in the space of a year and a half. Both men are in good form, so we could get an interesting match.
Raymond van Barneveld ended his tournament drought with a huge win in the Grand Slam of Darts, beating the in-form Michael van Gerwen in the final. His slide down the rankings hasn’t been helped by his poor form in the Majors of late, and he’s been unable to defend his winnings over the last two years. But he’s undoubtedly finding his range now, and he’s been playing well on the floor to boot. Yes, he lost 6-5 to Steve Beaton in the first round of the Players Championship, but he still averaged 99.79, and Beaton played some great darts at times, so it’s not a truly bad result. The Dutchman will be confident of a good run here, and he’ll just be gutted he’s in the same half of the draw as his nemesis Phil Taylor, along with Gary Anderson and Dave Chisnall. But with his ranking dropping so low, that’s to be expected; the higher you’re ranked, the easier, in theory, your draw should be.
Michael Smith is one of the top players on the PDC Youth Tour. He’s won his five tournaments on the Youth Tour, making the final of two others, and also winning a ProTour event back in February. There’s no denying that the youngster is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the PDC. Outside of the Youth Tour, Smith has been consistent on the ProTour, without setting it alight. He was actually the No.2 player on the ProTour list that wasn’t seeded for the World Championship, ranked above players like Dean Winstanley, Arron Monk and Dennis Preistley. He’s going to be full of confidence.
This is a strange one. Barney has beaten Smith in both their Major matches to date, winning 9-4 at the UK Open and 10-4 at the World Matchplay. How does that bode for tonight’s match? I could not possibly say. It would point to 3-1 to Barney, possibly, but it’s not a sure thing, considering Barney’s 3-0 defeat to James Richardson last year. That being said, it’s a completely different Barney to 12 months ago, and the five-time World Champion is a different man to the one who lost to James Richardson on this stage. Smith just hasn’t delivered against Van Barneveld, and I don’t think it’s going to chance, especially with Barney’s win at the Grand Slam of Darts giving him confidence in his game. I don’t think we’re going to get a lot of legs here, and I think the 180 count could low. The line is 6.5, and we’ll take the unders here, as there’s no value on the outrights.
Under 6.5 180s in Raymond van Barneveld Vs Michael Smith. 11/10 @
Recommend: 1.5 units.
Gary Anderson (4) Vs Komula/Haavisto
No prices up for this, so I can’t put a tip up. That being said, Anderson is looking like he’s getting back to some kind of form, so this should just be a formality for the Scotsman. Just enjoy it, and keep on eye on how Anderson’s form is for later rounds, where he’ll hopefully end up facing Raymond Van Barneveld.
Recommend: No bet.
That’s it for the third night of the PDC 2013 World Championship. Thank you for subscribing, old subscribers and new, and here’s to a fantastic World Championship. Remember, get your outright winners bets on (I’d looking at Winstanley/King/Kellet) at
Remember, if Phil Taylor wins it, and you back someone else, you get a refund of your bet up to the value of £50. What are you waiting for? I’ve already hit them up, you should, too.
