It’s no surprise that the Netherlands, England and Scotland are dominating the outright betting for this week’s bwin World Cup Of Darts in Frankfurt – those three pairs have quality that the other 29 participating countries can only dream of.
The Dutch are the defending champions and world number one Michael van Gerwen and partner Raymond van Barneveld are again favourites at a best 15/8 with Stan James and sportingbet. Van Gerwen has just beaten van Barneveld and English pair Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor to win another Dubai Masters – his fourth tournament victory of the year already – so is in red-hot form. The Netherlands begin late on Friday against the USA (500/1 with Betfred and sportingbet) and look the pair to beat.
England are next best at 2/1 with Unibet, 888sport and Boylesports. The top seeds are bidding for a third World Cup triumph having triumphed in 2012 and 2013. They meet Denmark (a general 500/1) in the first round and it’s difficult to see Stoke’s finest encountering few problems before they meet either the Scots or the Dutch in the final – another England/Netherlands final is 7/4 with Skybet who price up a Scotland/England final at 5/2.
Scotland are represented by Premier League winner and PDC World Champion Gary Anderson and Peter Wright and should be a threat to all if they play to their potential. They begin against Singapore (a general 1000/1) and though they are scheduled to meet the Dutch in the semi-finals are still no bigger than 7/2 (sportingbet, Coral and BetVictor).
Australia are fourth seeds and, on paper, should be the fourth team in the semi-finals. Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson have World Cup debutants Russia (a general 1000/1) up first and are 25/1 to win the 2015 bwin World Cup Of Darts with most layers. Skybet price up the Aussies at 5/1 to reach the final.
The sponsors are offering 6/1 that any player in the tournament completes a nine-dart finish and it’s 19/4 that anyone manages a 170 checkout between Thursday and Sunday – each-way betting is availabe to reach the final at one-third the odds.
