German Darts Open: Free betting tips and preview for the European Tour event
Our darts expert Chris Hammer previews the fourth European Tour event on the 2019 PDC season, which is taking place in Germany this weekend.
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Recommended Bets: German Darts Open
1pt Rob Cross to win the German Darts Open at 6/1
0.5pts e.w. Max Hopp at 80/1 (1/3 1,2)
Michael van Gerwen is hot favourite to win his third European Tour event of the season - just a week after bagging the 30th of his career in Munich - and there's no doubt his form is pretty ominous right now.
He destroyed Simon Whitlock 8-3 in the German Darts Grand Prix final with his second 106 average of the day but don't let that mask over the fact he avoided a real scare against Ted Evetts in the quarter-final while his 7-1 triumph over Rob Cross in the semi-finals was in no small part down to Voltage's poor performance.
James Wade then came agonisingly close to becoming the second player ever to do a Premier League double over him on Thursday night as MVG rescued a point in a thrilling game by winning the last two legs, so you could argue that vulnerabilities are still evident as they were earlier in the campaign.
The world champion also has a tough draw, with Dimitri van den Bergh up first this evening after the rising Belgian star made it through Friday night's opening round for the non seeded players.
Bottom half of the draw
- Peter Wright (4) v Steve Lennon
- Dave Chisnall (13) v Ted Evetts
- Mensur Suljovic (5) v Mickey Mansell
- Daryl Gurney (12) v David Pallett
- James Wade (8) v Luke Humphries
- Jonny Clayton (9) v Nathan Aspinall
- Michael van Gerwen (1) v Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Jermaine Wattimena (16) v Raymond van Barneveld
If he gets through that then it'll be either the fast throwing Machine Gun that is Jermaine Wattimena or Raymond van Barneveld, who desperately needs a big run this weekend to pick up crucial ranking points in his quest to qualify for a big major this season.
A resurgent Wade is a potential quarter-finalist and he'll have plenty of backers himself considering how brilliantly he's been playing in recent weeks, winning three Players Championship titles in the space of a fortnight earlier this month to complement his two majors towards the end of 2018.
He's clearly not afraid of van Gerwen and revels in these tough challenges as he continues his climb back towards the summit, silencing many of his previous critics a long the way.
I wouldn't put anyone off backing Wade at a best of 25/1 but I'd rather go to the opposite side of the draw, where Rob Cross appeals at 6/1 to finally pick up his first title of the season.
Generally he's been playing a standard of darts better than anyone this season apart from MVG, although his form keeps going to pot each time he comes up against the Dutchman.
That said he did come close to defeating him in the European Darts Open final, losing 8-6, but he was crushed twice in the Premier League and - scoreline-wise at least - in Monday's German Darts Grand Prix semis even though MVG only averaged 94.
He perhaps deserves a bit of a lucky break having been so impressive for large parts of the season and maybe fortune is starting to go his way after he survived four match darts to draw 7-7 with Gerwyn Price in the Premier League on Thursday night.
The duo could potentially meet in the quarter-finals if Cross can see off Chris Dobey before either Joe Cullen or Jerry Hendriks in round three - although Price does have the nine-dart hero Steve Beaton and the dangerous Jamie Hughes in his mini section - while the second quarter of the draw is relatively weaker.
So my rationale here is that he should be able to come through his half and has enough reason to feel somebody else can take MVG out for him in that tough bottom section.
My outsider for the weekend comes in that 'weaker' second quarter of the draw, where Max Hopp has high hopes of repeating his heroics of 12 months ago.
The 22-year-old German won his first senior PDC title on this stage in dramatic fashion, beating both Rob Cross and Michael Smith in the semis and final respectively with 121 checkouts on the bullseye in deciding legs.
Since then, he's managed to pick up another PDC title back in August as well as reaching the European Championship semi-final on home soil, agonisingly losing out to eventual champion James Wade after missing three match darts.
On Monday he once again proved how dangerous he is on home soil - apart from that Premier League nightmare against Barney in Berlin - when reaching the German Darts Grand Prix semis before Simon Whitlock pipped him 7-6 after two match darts were spurned in a decider.
The seeded players in his quarter are Adrian Lewis, Ian White and Darren Webster so he won't have fears for meeting any of them before life potentially gets trickier against Price, Cross, Whitlock, Cullen or Hughes in the semis.
He's 80/1 though and that price is worth a small flutter.
Top half of the draw
- Gerwyn Price (3) v Steve Beaton
- Simon Whitlock (14) v Jamie Hughes
- Rob Cross (6) v Chris Dobey
- Joe Cullen (11) v Jerry Hendriks
- Adrian Lewis (7) v James Richardson
- Max Hopp (10) v John Henderson
- Ian White (2) v Jeffrey De Zwaan
- Darren Webster (15) v Vincent Van der Meer
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