Saturday Evening PDC World Championship Tips – JP
Saturday Evening PDC World Championship Preview
Darius Labanauskas landed a nine darter this afternoon but it was as good as it got for him. There is no let up at the Ally Pally and the tungsten theatrics will continue tonight. MVG tops the bill, taking on Chas Barstow. James Punt has previewed every match, check out his Saturday evening PDC World Championship tips below.
Adam Hunt vs. Boris Krčmar
Krčmar came through the qualifying tournament to earn his place here. He started with a bang, averaging 121.8 when beating John Brown 6-0, but it has been downhill ever since as he won his final qualifier 7-3 against Peter Hudson and averaged just 83.8. He has won seven of his last ten matches and averages 91.7 in 2021.
Adam Hunt has lost six of his last ten matches, averages 88.8 in 2021. This will be his third World Championship and he has won two of his four matches. Hunt is a journeyman pro, existing on the fringe of the professional game. He struggles to string more than two wins together, but he has his moments.
Neither player is anything special, but Boris is a more explosive player. When he is on, he can hit big numbers, but he is inconsistent and there are more lows than highs. Krčmar is the 1.80 favourite. He has lost both his previous opening World Championship matches.
Boris is the 1.80 favourite, Hunt 2.10. Those odds look about right but Boris is yet to win a match on TV having played seven and lost the lot. He won just three legs from three matches in the recent Grand Slam, and he is poor value at odds on. However, it is hard to get excited about an opponent who has lost six of his last ten. No bet.
Ted Evetts vs. Jim Williams
Super Ted Evetts has been around for a number of years now and it was a surprise to see him win the World Youth Championship a few weeks ago. Not the fact that he won it, just that he still qualifies as a youth player. He is still only 24 but has had a tour card for five years. This will be his fourth World Championship. He has won just the one match and is more famous for losing to Fallon Sherrock in his opening match last year.
At least this year he will not be playing with 3500 punters booing his every throw. He won seven matches to win the World Youth Championship, but he had lost his previous five senior level matches before that. It is hard to say where his form is, but he should be feeling good about things.
Williams is a late comer to the PDC, preferring to be a big fish the BDO pond. With the BDO gone he tried and failed to win a tour card at Q school but he played on the Challenge Tour, won the Order of Merit and will be on the pro tour next year.
He played in the recent Grand Slam of Darts but failed to get out of the group stage, despite winning two of his three matches. He has played ten TV matches in the PDC and won half of them. That is a lot better than Evetts TV record, playing 18 and losing 14.
Williams is the 1.80 favourite and given Evetts’ dire record in front of the TV cameras, he is just about worth backing.
Saturday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Jim Williams to win @ 1.80 with Betvictor, Skybet, SpreadEx
Rowby-John Rodriguez vs. Nick Kenny
Not a match to get the blood pumping. We saw Rowby-John at the Grand Slam of Darts a few weeks ago where he played well to get out of the group phase with wins over Dobey and Bunting. However, he was thrashed by James Wade in the knockout phase and was beaten 2-6 by Danny Noppert at the Players Championship finals the following week. He has lost six of his last ten matches but hit three ton plus averages in those ten. Form that is as clear as soup.
Nick Kenny’s win rate collapsed in 2021, down to just 38%, and he has lost his tour card. He has won six of his last ten matches thanks to his four match winning run to come through the qualifying tournament. He will have winced when the draw came out, however. Kenny has faced Rowby-John three times and lost the lot 0-6, 2-6 and 2-6, two of them this season.
Saturday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Rowby-John Rodriguez to win -1.5 sets @ 2.28 with Unibet
Michael van Gerwen vs. Chas Barstow
This is the one MVG wants, this is the one he needs to win to silence his detractors. There is nothing wrong with his game, but Van Gerwen has lost the winning habit. One pro tour title and a World Series event victory is very slim pickings for the once Mighty Mike. Van Gerwen has however, only lost two opening matches in the World Championship and the last was in 2010.
Chas Barstow is doing alright for a player without a tour card. He has picked up some £33k in prizemoney so far and a win here would add another £10k. That is unlikely given MVG’s phenomenal record here.
Barstow’s 3-1 win over John Norman jnr. was only his third win in his last ten matches. He is under no pressure here and hopefully he can relax and play his A game which is pretty good when he gets it going.
Of MVG’s 14 opening matches in the World Championship he has only won three 3-0, one 3-2 but eight 3-1, including the last four.
