Lewis to shine in Blackpool

After a great opening weekend to the BetVictor World Matchplay my attention turn to the conclusion to the first round and with four high profile matches taking place, darts fans like myself are in for a real treat.

The opening match this evening sees Robert Thornton take on Ian White. The Thorn is 2/7 to book his place in the second round and it’s hard to see any other result apart from a victory for the Scot. Thornton surprised many with his first ever season in this year’s Premier League and with him having overcome White in their last four clashes, White will have to be at the very top of his game to compete.

One thing I do like about Thornton and White is that they are both very high scorers. Both players like to hit 180s, which brings draws me towards the total maximums recorded in the match. Coral have set their line at 8.5 maximums and I looking at past tournaments these two players are more than capable of covering the quote (8/11 over 8.5 180s).

Another market I really like the look of is the 8/13 for Thornton to hit more maximums than White in the draw no bet market. This is also backed up in the 180 betting with Thornton 4/5 to record five or more 180s and White 4/6 to record 4 or less maximums.

The second match sees Wes Newton take on an in-form Jamie Caven. Out of the four matches taking place this evening this one looks the most difficult one to call. Newton is now a household name within darts, but with Caven currently on fire and having beaten Wes in the last two encounters, the value looks to be Jabba at 10/11.

Another market that I think represent some decent value is the 5/6 for Newton’s highest checkout to be over 108.5. I can see this match going all the way down to the wire and with the Warrior likely to get a number of chances to take out 109 or more, the 5/6 does look a good bet.

Adrian Lewis is next up on stage when he takes on Ronny Huybrechts. It’s 1/6 for the Jackpot to progress through to the second round and those odds look about right especially with Lewis coming of the back of a moral boosting win in the European Championships.

That victory was the Jackpot’s third major PDC title and looking back at his performances during the tournament, there are a lot of positive to take from it. He averaged 100.34 in his semi-final victory over Michael van Gerwen, including three one hundred plus finishes and eight maximums and then followed this up with an average of 103.34 to overcome Simon Whitlock in the final.