20th September 2012
European Championship Betting: Simon Whitlock can make it back to back wins by winning in Muelheim
The darts European Championship begins on Thursday night with 32 of the best dartists in the world heading to the German city of Muelheim for a weekend of tungsten throwing for the title and a place in the Grand Slam if the winner hasn’t already qualified. Like most tournaments down the years this one has been owned by Phil Taylor and the great one is 6/5 to win the event again with William Hill.
A quick look at Phil Taylor’s section of the draw and you would think he’s absolutely plotted up to make the semi finals at the very least and even in the semi finals he would be seeded to face either Andy Hamilton or Wes Newton, both of whom the Power has seen off numerous times on the stage down the years so it is hard to see past Taylor but I’ll leave it to others to decide if they want to back him at 6/5. While he’s the likely winner that isn’t value to me.
One thing I will make sure I do though is concentrate on the bottom half of the draw for an outright bet so that I’m as far away from Taylor as possible and if the selection meets him in the final at least we will have been paid out by that time. Of the people in the top half special mentions should go to Andy Hamilton, Justin Pipe and Ronnie Baxter, all of whom have won titles in 2012 but neither of whom would I expect to beat Taylor which they would need to do to secure at least a place payout.
So with the bottom half in mind we get the pick of numerous potential tournament winners. The main ones on the face of it would appear to be Adrian Lewis, a recent winner of a European Tour event, Raymond Barneveld, Terry Jenkins, Simon Whitlock and James Wade and my pick for the weekend comes from that group.
Simon Whitlock won his first title in over a year at the weekend. He beat Andy Hamilton in the final and had averages during the event in the 100-107 range which is good darts. Why Whitlock hasn’t won more in his career is a mystery. I suspect it might be the pressure the crowds in the UK put him under but he won’t get that in Germany and that could benefit him. Whitlock was a semi finalist last year before he ran into a rampant Taylor but given that he avoids Taylor until the final and comes into the tournament clearly in good nick I’ll take the Wizard of Oz to have a London bus approach to winning titles with a second coming along straight after the first.
Back S.Whitlock to win European Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
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Author: 'Arry Allsports
