PDC Darts World Grand Prix Betting
The World Grand Prix of Darts is hosted in Dublin every year in October. This is a PDC Event and it’s popularity comes about because of offers a slight variation to the bulk of the tournaments that are out there.
The World Grand Prix is a “double, double out” tournament. So with the players having to strike doubles to open and close the legs of the match, it adds that extra level of unpredictability.
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World Darts Grand Prix History
The tournament was hosted for the first time in 1998 and it was a legend of the sport Phil Taylor who would sweep the first three editions of the tournament. Taylor would, in his career go on to win the title 11 times. Remarkably he won every single final of the World Grand Prix Darts that he took part in.
Michael Van Gerwen made his first final at the World Grand Prix in 2008 where he was beaten by Taylor, just as he was the following year. It wasn’t until 2012 that Mighty Mike made his breakthrough in Dublin to land the title for the first time.
The tournament went through some changes through the years, such as a switch to a group stage format in 1999. The event is open to the top sixteen on the PDC Order of Merit along with the top 16 non-qualified players from the ProTour Order of Merit. There is seeding at the event, the top eight being kept apart until at least the quarter-finals of the draw.
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2018 World Grand Prix Darts Review
The World Grand Prix 2018 saw pre-tournament favourite Michael van Gewrwen duly fulfilled his role and lift the title. That gave the Dutchman his fourth title at the tournament and is the second most successful player in the history of the event, but with some way to catch Phil Taylor’s record. MVG beat Peter Wright 5-2 in the final.
The win for Mighty Mike in Dublin continued a trend as well. It has been in alternating years in which he has picked up the title at the tournament, the wins coming in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. That, of course, adds up to him not having successfully defended a title. Just once he has gotten back to the final as the reigning champion. That was in 2015 when he lost to Robert Thornton.
The defending champion in 2018 was Daryl Gurney who was stopped in the semi-finals by eventual winner Michael van Gerwen. There were only one of the eight seeded players to fall in the first round of action at the tournament. That was Rob Cross. Dave Chisnall also created history. He lost in the quarters to MVG put posted the highest ever losing average in a World Grand Prix match.
2019 Preview
The 2019 edition will be the 22nd World Grand Prix event. The prize money gets a bump up from £400,000 to £450,000 this year as well with the winner walking off with almost a quarter of that total.
The top eight seeds for the tournament which starts on October 6th, 2019 is Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Daryl Gurney, Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and James Wade.
Michael van Gerwen will be the outright favourite to lift the title and goes as 6/4 odds to get the crown for the fifth time in his career* (betting odds taken from bet365 on October 27th, 2019 at 10:45 pm).
The big wildcard in this season’s event is Glen Durrant who made the switch from the BDO this year to the PDC. It has been an impressive season for him as well, including his semi-final appearance at the World Matchplay.
Other main contenders in the picture for the Dublin title are Peter Wright, Rob Cross and Gary Anderson.