The Masters betting preview and tips

ITV4, 7pm Friday

It's a new darting year but punters are facing the same old conundrum – is Mighty Michael van Gerwen worth backing at short odds this weekend?

My answer is no, though given the size of the wave which Van Gerwen is currently cresting and the absence from the Masters field of Gary Anderson, an alternative viewpoint is quite understandable.

Four weeks after the planet’s best player was crowned world champ for a third time, Van Gerwen arrives in Milton Keynes, hell-bent on retaining a trophy he has had on his mantelpiece for the last four years.

The Dutch darting leviathan, the top seed in an elite field of 16, goes off a 4-6 chance and it’s 8-1 bar. That’s what happens when a player of the calibre of Anderson pulls out – he is struggling with a back injury once more – though it’s another Scotsman, Peter Wright, who would have been worth backing anyway, especially at a tasty 14-1.

Van Gerwen was slated to meet Anderson in the semis if he had first taken care of Jonny Clayton and either Mensur Suljovic or Simon Whitlock. Now his task looks a whole lot more straightforward, hence odds-on quotes.

What we do know – because we’ve seen it in each of the four previous runnings – is that Van Gerwen is always up for this challenge. He’s already trousered one trophy in 2019, so there are just another 19 to go to beat his incredible 2018 haul.

The bottom half of the draw is wide open. Michael Smith, after his heroics at Alexandra Palace, is awarded second-favourite status and deservedly so. He was gift-wrapped a dreamy run to the final of the worlds courtesy of other players’ failings but he still produced some majestic stuff before succumbing to the great man.

But Wright is the type of price that would have been unthinkable a few months ago.

Snakebite was a three-time winner in 2018 and a multiple finalist, the most recent of which came at the Grand Prix in October.

Generally, however, his autumn was disappointing and it’s hard to say quite what went wrong.

There was a eureka moment following his first-round exit at the hands of Toni Alcinas in the worlds, when he admitted that maybe he was changing his equipment too much, something his critics had been telling him for ages. He claims he is now sticking with the darts he used at the worlds.

There’s nothing wrong with the throw, the appetite or the bottle and clearly this former major champion boasts the pedigree. At a decent price Wright ought to be worth trusting.

Recommendation
P Wright
1pt each-way 14-1 general

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport