It’s been a wild four days of the 2018 PDC Darts World Championship at Alexandra Palace and the action is just getting started. Some of the more fancied seeds have been knocked out of the tournament, which could make way for some surprising results later in the tournament. Day 6 (Tuesday night) features two confirmed games including Raymond van Barneveld vs. Richard North and John Henderson vs. Marko Kantele. Bettors have been cashing in so far throughout the contest and there looks to be good value on offer from bookmakers.
Raymond van Barneveld vs. Richard North form and tips
RvB will be the popular pick with bettors and his record is far superior to that of Richard North’s, but van Barneveld does produce the odd poor performance. The Dutchman comes into this game with two recent losses under his belt. The first game to Robert Cross at the Grand Slam, which was followed up with a loss to Ian White at the Players’ Championship last month. It’s safe to say that his confidence is lacking and he’s not an overly confident player to begin with, but he’s ranked 49 places higher in the world than Richard North. North is coming off a 3-6 loss to Adrian Lewis at the Players’ Championship after winning his qualifying match 6-1 in fine style. The Englishman has struggled against the best in the world, however, with recent losses coming to Simon Whitlock and also Michael van Gerwen. These two have yet to meet on the world stage, but we’d have to give the edge to the more experienced Raymond van Barneveld. There’s no value in taking the 1/6 in the head-to-head market, so we suggest taking the 3-1 in sets betting which pays 21/10 at Ladbrokes.
John Henderson vs. Marko Kantele form and tips
Big John Henderson was on a roll earlier this year when he made the final of the Players’ Championship.
During that tournament he managed to defeat Michael van Gerwen, Alan Norris and Raymond van Barneveld before succumbing to Daryl Gurney in the final. His form since than hasn’t been quite as stellar, with losses coming in three of his last four games, but he’s coming up against a player ranked #152 in the world. Relatively unknown Marko Kantele has lost of his three European Tour matches this year, but he did enough to qualify for the World Championships so that must be respected. John Henderson is currently the hot favourite and his odds actually represent good value. We can see Kantele getting close and the 4/6 for Henderson –1.5 sets could be the best way to go.
PDA World Championship outright betting tip
Michael van Gerwen is still the popular play at 4/6 to retain his World Championship title, but the value is currently with Gary Anderson. The Scotsman is currently 11/2 with Ladbrokes and we think he could go one better than he did last year. The two-time World Champion hasn’t been playing his best darts in 2017, but he always prepares for the final tournament of the year. If everything goes well he’s due to meet MvG in the final where he will be paying much less than 11/2.