PDC Darts World Matchplay Betting 2018 – Winner Odds & Predictions

Backing The Field to beat the Green Machine

Darts Betting

PDC Darts World Matchplay Betting Preview – July 21-29, 2018

It is big darts betting time with the arrival of the 2018 World Matchplay from Blackpool and this year’s edition of the famous tournament will actually create a bit of history as well. This is the first time that the competition has not had Phil Taylor in the draw. He was there right from the very start when the tournament was introduced in 1994 and The Power really made this one his own.

The Winter Gardens in Blackpool was like home to him and Taylor appeared in seventeen World Matchplay Finals, winning all but one of them. He bowed out on such a high twelve months ago at the World Matchplay as he took out Peter Wright in emphatic fashion when he beat the Scotsman 18-8 in the Final. So now with Taylor having retired, the other players in the field will actually fancy their chances of winning this.

World Matchplay Darts Winners Odds*

Michael van Gerwen 8/11
Rob Cross 7/1
Gary Anderson 13/2
Peter Wright 9/1
Mensur Suljovic 28/1
James Wade 33/1
Michael Smith 33/1
Daryl Gurney 33/1
Adrian Lewis 33/1
Raymond van Barneveld 33/1
Simon Whitlock 80/1
Ian White 80/1
Dave Chisnall 80/1
Bar 100/1
* (betting odds taken from July 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm)

Michael Van Gerwen, who has won two of the last three editions is the 8/11 odds-on favourite* (betting odds taken from July 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm) which is to be fully expected. Mighty Mike is the one to beat at any tournament, but for some reason, the World Matchplay is prone to throwing up a surprise or two, perhaps more so than any other event. There are no sets at the World Matchplay, it is just a straight race to a certain number of legs, depending on the round of competition.

The Green Machine is such a rapid, heavy scorer that this is a tournament made for him and really the only way to go again him is backing The Field at 10/11 with Betfred* (betting odds taken from July 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm). He is a former champion here but was stopped in the quarter finals last year by Phil Taylor. Other than Van Gerwen it is hard to pick anyone else out of the field and when you look at the price that is on the second favourite Rob Cross you get the feeling that you are going to have to dig around.

The Quarter betting markets are quite popular and while we will skip the first one with Van Gerwen heading it up (which is bad news for Michael Smith who is there) the second quarter is pretty interesting. You have the improving Daryl Gurney in there who could be on a collision course with either Raymond van Barneveld or Gary Anderson. Out of the three of them, Van Barneveld brings up the rear in terms of options, so Gurney or Anderson? We are going with Gurney for the bigger price of 9/2* (betting odds taken from July 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm) to oppose Anderson.

The third quarter provides an opportunity to challenge the favourite as well because that favourite is Peter Wright. The Scotsman hasn’t quite looked at his best for some time, not with the darts in his hand nor his temperament. So it’s worth having a look past last season’s runners-up The trouble is that there is not a great deal to oppose him with. Simon Whitlock, who did better in the Premier League than expected is there but is just too big of a risk. So it leaves James Wade a former winner of this event, who have put some better results behind him lately as the main challenger. There is also Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts a potential banana skin for Wright in the second round.

The 4th quarter has Rob Cross at 10/11 to take the section* (betting odds taken from July 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm) over the main challenger of Mensur Suljovic. We are actually going to go with the favouritism in this one as Cross did well in getting to the semi finals of the Premier League this season where he was stopped by Van Gerwen. We don’t see enough in the section to trip him up.

World Matchplay Darts predictions

There is always a great atmosphere at the Winter Gardens for the World Matchplay darts and without Taylor there, we can only look at Van Gerwen who is the only other man since 2008 to get his hands on the title. He has been to three of the last four finals there, winning two, but we are backing The Field against him as our main World Matchplay darts 2018 prediction.

The main contender that we can see is from the opposite half of the draw at that is Rob Cross. He has been so consistent in recent major tournaments that we can see “Voltage” having a good tournament and another one would be Daryl Gurney who seems to have things together pretty well at the moment. Can the field come up with a way to stop Van Gerwen? We are taking the chance it doing so.