In the wake of the Brighton hosted PDC Champions League excitement this past weekend, the PDC Tour remains close to home soil prior to one of the most highly anticipated major annual darts tournaments. The 2018 World Grand Prix of darts to be hosted in Dublin’s Citywest Hotel, a well-chosen venue imbued with plenty of grandiose warmth delivered by its old-world charm, situated in the picturesque tranquillity offered by immaculately manicured rolling green lawns and gardens. Fantastic, and now back to the most important issues at hand, betting tips & odds.
Tournament Format and History
This unique event delivers betting excitement in two playing formats: A Double-in & Double-out system of play that requires players qualify with a starting checkout and finishing checkout to clinch the leg, and “Set Play” lately this format has become an extremely rare beast hardly seen outside this particular championship.
The double in & out system of play introduces an intriguing variable, similar to a horse race with 100 kg in weight added to each horse. Despite all basic requirements remaining the same in the sport it brings about significantly changed dynamics, as is evident from witnessing eight different finalists in the past five Grands Prix two of which delivered unexpected winners.
Over the past two decades, Grand Prix match results delivered only 15 recorded instances of 100+ game averages, with Phil Taylor accountable for 12 and Michael van Gerwen owning 1. Rochester’s Casino Rooms hosted the inaugural edition of the competition in 1998, where Phil Taylor received a top championship prize of only £9000. 20 years later Dublin will play host to its thousands of hangers-on, and the champion will pocket a substantial £100,000.
With the Grand Prix of Darts in full swing, punters interested in finding good bookmakers to turn into excellent betting partners will find an exceedingly comprehensive list vetted at some of the best international online bookmakers at Efirbet, an online site dedicated to honest and accurate bookmaker reviews, predictions and betting tips.
Over the course of the past twenty Grand Prix events, Phil Taylor, and Michael van Gerwen took fourteen tournament titles. However, despite their dominance of this tournament the two unique formats still provide the unique opportunity for players having a great day to cause a massive upset, when remembering Phil Taylor, despite capturing eleven Grand Prix titles, also suffered no less than five first-round defeats.
Player Field
As expected in a tournament of this magnitude all the heavy hitters will be heading to Dublin, where an enthusiastic audience can expect to see the top sixteen players listed in the PDC Order of Merit joined by sixteen qualifying players from the Pro Tour.
Significant first-round matchups will have MVG facing-off against Ireland’s Steve Lennon. In what promises to be an equally eye-catching spectacle, fans will see Raymond van Barneveld taking on Ricky Evans who will attempt to capitalise on his recent success in the Pro Tour. Furthermore, in a repetition of the previous semi-final clash Henderson and Gurney will once again take each other on. Meanwhile, Adrian Lewis versus Michael Smith and James Wade versus Mensur Soljovic will make their own play at title success.
Betting Favorites
With Michael van Gerwen regularly displaying what is simply astounding skill levels he created a bit of a latter-day oddity amongst bookmakers since backing him might prove costly with current odds offered at 6/5 on Mighty Mike carving his fourth notch in World Grand Prix trophy base. Other top contenders include Gary Anderson at 7/1 odds; Peter Wright at 8/1; Rob Cross – 9/1. All fair odds considering this is the one event that invariably throws a spanner into the expected works by serving up an unexpected new name on the tournament’s top trophy, a fact borne out by previous champions Robert Thornton in 2015 and Daryl Gurney in 2017.
This still places outsiders like Mensur Suljovic at 22/1, and defending champ Gurney at 40/1, as well as Raymond van Barneveld at 40/1, plus Gerwyn Price, the recent International Darts Open victor at 80/1, right in good value for money sweet spot.
