Here We Go Again

Posted: 26.11.15 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

The Cash Converters Players Championship starts today in Minehead.

Here we go again! Do you remember when 20/20 cricket first came along? We all went mad for it! But as the money rolled in cricket thought they had cracked it and then starting to introduce more and more games. In the end it didn’t kill it exactly, it is still a popular form of the game, but in hindsight, it was a case of too much of a good thing as attendances dwindled.

Could this happen to darts? We have just had a PDC comp, in Glasgow. I managed to miss the whole thing, we were down at The Devon Open in Torquay and were left blissfully unaware of what was happening at the (I actually need to look this up) that’s it, World Series Of Darts.

The Players Championship is an already established event though and I have always enjoyed it. It started life in the Circus Tavern, immigrating to Doncaster and then moved on to Minehead. The selection process is unusually straight forward, the top 32 of the Players Championship Order of Merit. This system covers the floor tournaments of course and due to the varying degrees of enthusiasm for turning up to all of the floor events the draw can throw up some great games. How about Taylor v Anderson in the first round?

Cash Converters Players Championship Finals
Friday November 27
Afternoon Session (12.45pm-5pm)
First Round Matches, Seeding and Odds
Justin Pipe (16) 17/14 v Vincent van der Voort (17) 4/5
Terry Jenkins (11) 8/11 v Alan Norris (22) 13/10
Jelle Klaasen (10) 3/5 v Gerwyn Price (23) 6/4
Benito van de Pas (13) 6/4  v Stephen Bunting (20) 8/13
Mensur Suljovic (15) 4/5 v Mervyn King (18) 17/14
Brendan Dolan (14) 5/4 v Simon Whitlock (19) 4/5
Michael Smith (2) ½ v Jamie Caven (31) 16/9
Kim Huybrechts (5) 5/12 v Daryl Gurney (28) 12/5

Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
First Round
Dave Chisnall (8) 2/7 v Joe Murnan (25) 100/30
James Wade (4) 4/7 v Mark Webster (29) 13/8
Adrian Lewis (6) 2/7 v John Henderson (27) 3/1
Robert Thornton (9) 4/9 v Jamie Lewis (24) 12/5
Michael van Gerwen (1) 1/9 v Keegan Brown (32) 8/1
Gary Anderson (12) 6/5 v Phil Taylor (21) 4/5
Ian White (7) 17/14 v Raymond van Barneveld (26) 3/4
Peter Wright (3) 2/7 v Steve Beaton (30) 3/1

Format
First Round: Best of 11 legs
Second Round: Best of 19 legs
Quarter-Finals: Best of 19 legs
Semi-Finals: Best of 21 legs
Final: Best of 21 legs
There is no tie-break in any game

In the outright betting MVG is favourite at 7/4.

Taylor 13/2

Anderson 10/1

Lewis 10/1

Peter Wright 10/1

Michael Smith 20/1

Barney 22/1

Wade 33/1

Chizzy 33/1 

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