It’s not often in our betting lives that we would construe an 8/13 shot as ‘good value’ for a major tournament featuring the world’s 16 best players, but then Michael van Gerwen isn’t just any mere mortal.
Having won ALL of the televised majors in 2016 – that’s 26, to be precise – the Green Machine capped his fine season by lifting the World Championship trophy in January for only the second time in his career.
For most, some kind of dropping off in standard, some form of malaise, would surely set in after such a record-breaking year? For most, yes that would be expected, but this is Michael van Gerwen we are talking about. He is simply not human.
The Masters is the first major of the darting calendar year, and while it is relatively young as a tournament having only had its first renewal in 2013, it offers the world’s best players a chance to lay a marker for the 12 months to come.
There’s only one question that we need to ask here: can anybody stop MVG from winning yet another ranking event title?
Unibet Masters Darts Outright Betting Tips: MVG to Make It Three
Having won this tournament in 2015 and 2016, it is fair to say the jaunt to Milton Keynes is one that Van Gerwen enjoys making, and we fully anticipate that he will be celebrating a hat-trick of Masters titles come Sunday night.
Twelve months ago he dominated proceedings, shipping just four legs in his opening pair of matches before running into an inspired Phil Taylor in the semi-finals. The Power averaged 103.45….but still couldn’t outgun the Green Machine, who clinched victory in the 21st and deciding leg.
Victory over Dave Chisnall naturally followed as the Dutchman defended the trophy he had lifted 12 months earlier with an 11-6 win over Raymond van Barneveld in the final.
MVG’s dominance of this event means we can discount any other contender in the top half of the draw, and instead it is the eight men in the bottom half that carry the hopes of tungsten enthusiasts hoping for a new name on the trophy. Taylor, Wright and Anderson will all make their case, as will Dave Chisnall and RVB, but they will have to navigate their way past each other before they can even have a pop at the champ. It could well be that the winner in the bottom half is exhausted before they even meet Van Gerwen in Sunday evening’s conclusion.
So yes, for once we have to admit that 8/13 is fine value on the two-time world champion. It’s not to everybody’s tastes, but MVG is the smart value here.
Unibet Masters Darts Each Way Betting Tips: Expect Chizzy to Get Busy
That bottom half of the draw is looking more crowded than the bar of a Wetherspoon’s at last orders, and you could happily make a case for six of the eight players there – sparing a thought for Benito van der Pas and Michael Smith, for whom glory days will surely come.
Gary Anderson averaged 104.93 in ten sets against MVG in the World Championship final, a fact that is easy to forget, but then the Masters has not been a happy hunting ground for the Flying Scotsman. Mind you, his last two attempts have come immediately after winning his back-to-back world titles, so there is a caveat there.
Does Phil Taylor look like a tournament winner to you? We’re not convinced, particularly given the manner in which he capitulated in his World’s last eight clash with RVB. What about Van Barneveld? Other than the Premier League of 2014, his prior ranking event trophy came at the Grand Slam way back in 2012. He’s still capable of quality performances, but Barney is not what we would call a ‘live contender’ anymore.
The two we really like are Peter Wright, who seems to have finally found a set of darts he likes, and Dave Chisnall, who boasts an excellent Masters record. Chizzy reached the final 12 months ago, while in 2015 he averaged a mind-boggling 108.09 – and lost – to MVG. That means the St Helens man has been knocked out by the eventual champion on his last two visits to MK.
Wright, meanwhile, has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of the Masters, bizarrely for a player of his ability, and so Chisnall – at a mouth-watering 33/1 – is our each way play. We will return a profit even if he loses in the final.