Melbourne Darts Masters 2019 Preview & Predictions

The Melbourne edition is the fourth World Series event of the season. The tournament will be one of the toughest to predict which only adds on the excitement.

Peter Wright heads into it as the top-seeded player, but he is only the third favourite to win the event according to the bookmakers. Speaking of them, they fancy the World No 1 Michael van Gerwen to lift the crown in Melbourne. However, he has not clinched silverware in almost three months and his recent form does not quite promise success in Australia. The best player in the world has failed to go beyond the quarter-final stage is any of his three World Series events this year. He will begin the campaign with the clash against local hopeful Tim Pusey and anything but a straightforward win for the Dutchman would be a major upset. Pusey failed to jump the first hurdle in any of Oceanic competitions at this level last year.

Looking at the draw, van Gerwen should not have troubles making it to the semi-final as he will likely play non-seeded Gary Anderson in the quarter-final. However, the semi-final is where the fourth-seed may run into Peter Wright. Either way, there is little value in backing van Gerwen to go all the way at 7/4 odds.

On paper, Gary Anderson should be van Gerwen’s quarter-final opponent as he owns a much better reputation than his counterpart James Bailey. However, if we take a look at the recent form exclusively, there is certainly value in backing the Australian to produce a shock at 9/1 odds. Anderson is yet to pass the quarter-final at this level and this is the fourth such tournament of the year. On the other side, Bailey forced Rob Cross to a decisive leg in a narrow 8-7 defeat last week in Brisbane.

Peter Wright did not have luck with the draw which gave him the like of the UK Open runner-up Corey Cadby as the maiden rival in Melbourne. The top seed is 2/5 to win his opener here and we see the bet as a banker knowing that Cadby failed to impress last week in Brisbane. He suffered a disastrous 6-1 loss to Gary Anderson and averaged no more than 87 points in the process. Wright fell to Kyle Anderson but pushed the tie all the way to the decisive leg where he failed to take advantage of five match darts. Wright can easily bet any opponent on his day and we consider his the best value for the outright winner bet at 13/2 odds according to BestBettingSites.Online.

Raymond van Barneveld should be Wright’s quarter-final opponent. The second Dutchman in the draw is about to play Haupai Puha for the second time in just seven days. Van Barneveld showed class in a 6-2 drubbing of the New Zealand opponent and his win is also one of the safest bets of the opening day. Van Barneveld is 2/7 to beat Puha once again, while braver tipsters can back the Dutch to win in a 3.5 legs handicap at 7/4 odds. Nevertheless, it’s hard to discuss a potential deep run for van Barneveld who will likely take on the top-seeded Wright in the second match.

Australia’s biggest hope Simon Whitlock will raise the curtain on the event with the clash against Mick Lacey where he is a 1/10 favourite. Elsewhere, Daryl Gurney is worth backing to see off Kyle Anderson following his run to the semi-final seven days ago in Brisbane.

If we have to choose the first-round match to watch, it would be the one between James Wade and Damon Heta. Heta enjoyed the best week of his career in Brisbane where he went all the way to shockingly lift the trophy. He was 150/1 to claim the title before the event. For the sake of comparison, the Australian is 33/1 favourites to make it back-to-back World Series titles here in Melbourne. Wade is fancied by the bookies, but Heta is red-hot and we have to go for surprise and back him at 11/5 odds.

To sum it all up, Peter Wright is well worth backing to lift the trophy at 13/2, while Heta is our pick for the opening day upset at 11/5.