The 21st edition of the World Grand Prix of Darts kicks off on September 30th, 2018. The tournament runs through to October 6th in Dublin. This is one of the unique events on the PDC calendar which runs on a “double in, double out” format.
Heading back to defend his World Grand Prix title is Daryl Gurney who was a surprise winner twelve months ago and he is a big 33/1 odds outsider to go and pull off a repeat* (betting odds taken on September 28th, 2018 at 6:00 pm).
Table of Contents
World Grand Prix Darts Odds*
Michael van Gerwen even money
Gary Anderson 7/1
Peter Wright 8/1
Rob Cross 15/2
Mensur Suljovic 20/1
Michael Smith 28/1
Daryl Gurney 33/1
Adrian Lewis 40/1
Ian White 45/1
Joe Cullen 45/1
Raymond van Barneveld 50/1
James Wade 50/1
* (betting odds taken from Ladbrokes on September 28th, 2018 at 6:00 pm)
Qualification
The top sixteen on the PDC Order of Merit all automatically get their places in the tournament and the top eight of those will be seeded. The other sixteen places in the 32-man field are made up of the top 16 non-qualifiers players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit.
Top Eight Seeds
Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright
Rob Cross
Gary Anderson
Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic
Simon Whitlock
Dave Chisnall
The Main Contenders
Naturally, the World Number One Michael van Gerwen is going to be in the mix as a front runner for the tournament and the Dutchman is at even money* (betting odds taken on September 28th, 2018 at 6:00 pm). We have seen him enter a tournament at shorter odds than that. But because his winning output hasn’t been quite as high recently, he is going at a bit more value than usual. But suddenly the likes of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright look big threats.
Van Gerwen suffered a loss in the recent semi-final clash against Peter Wright at the Champions League of Darts. Although he did win his pool in the first stage, there was a loss in there as well as the eventual tournament winner Gary Anderson beat him in the round robin format as well. Surprisingly Van Gerwen has won just one of his last five tournaments entered and just two since his European Matchplay success back in August.
Oppose MVG again
So it is well worth looking beyond MVG and digging into the field. Gary Anderson, the Champions League winner is obviously going to be high in confidence. The only thing is that he hasn’t won this tournament before. He reached 2016 final and was denied there by Michael van Gerwen. That is Anderson’s only appearance in the final of the World Grand Prix.
The success at the Champions League of Darts was Anderson’s first win since his World Match Play success. But add on top the UK Open title as well and it’s been a decent return from him over the second half of the season. He took out fellow Scotsman Peter Wright in the final of the Champions League. So with his win over Van Gerwen in the group stage of the tournament, Anderson is a pretty decent price at 7/1 odds* (betting odds taken on September 28th, 2018 at 6:00 pm).
Peter Wright is the other big threat in the field at the moment on current form. He will be trying to close in on his first-ever World Grand Prix final. In the recent Champions League, he finished second in his group to Mensur Suljovic, a group which ‘Snakebite’ was favourite to win. He responded in tremendous fashion though in edging a tight and stressful contest against Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals, before missing out in the final to Anderson.
The Chasing Pack
Rob Cross leads the chasing pack but looked a little off his game at the recent Champions League. He bombed badly in the first round of last season’s World Grand Prix as well. Austria’s Mensur Suljovic looks to be the best fit as an outside chance and he is at 20/1 odds* (betting odds taken on September 28th, 2018 at 6:00 pm). That would be nothing more than an each-way option of course. But Suljovic had a great time of things last season at this event, making it through to the final four.
Predictions
Right at the moment, it is Anderson who is the strongest in terms of form. He is likely to have the edge across the tournament over Wright when it comes to the aspect of hitting the doubles with enough regularity and accuracy.
The way the draw is set up is that Anderson and Van Gerwen will meet at the semi-final stage. Of the two it would have to be back Anderson who shades the betting. We are looking at the 4/6 odds on the No option on a Previous Winner getting the title again.
Given that none of the likes of Anderson, Wright, Daryl Gurney or Mensur Suljovic has managed to get the title before, largely because Phil Taylor and Michael Van Gerwen have won so many World Grand Prix titles between them, we are opposing the big previous winner in MVG.
