BDO World Darts Tips – Could It Be The Year Of The Silverback?

[quote_box_center]Betting on the BDO darts? Pick up a £30 bonus and bet at Sky Bet[/quote_box_center]

BDO World Championship Betting Preview – 1^st Round

On New Year’s Day we saw Michael van Gerwin win the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace and now eyes are cast to Lakeside for the 2014 BDO tournament.

Can last year’s winner Scott Waites retain the crown? Or will it be world number 1 Stephen Bunting who comes out on top?

Perhaps an outsider will get his hands on the £100,000 prize, but whatever happens it should be a cracking eight days of action. Here’s our picks for round 1.

1st Round Double Bet

Unfortunately, the markets are limited to ‘match winner’ only. This makes it quite difficult to find any real value, particularly in this early rounds.

Nevertheless, we do like the look of a Dutch double in the form of backing Jeffrey de Graaf (4/6) and Jan Dekker (1/2).

[quote_right]Bet on the 2014 BDO Darts Championship at Sky Bet[/quote_right]World number 6, de Graaf, takes on Englishman Martin Atkins for a place in round two and could set up an all-Dutch round 2 as he would go on to face the winner of Hofstra and van Eijden. The 23-year-old Dutchman lost to compatriot Jan Dekker 3-2 in round 1 at his first championship last year and will be favoured to go a little further this time around.

The fact he has climbed to such a high ranking despite only playing professionally for a couple of years suggests he should overcome the test posed by Atkins.

As for Dekker, he has already reached a quarter-final and semi-final at Frimley Green despite only being 23 himself. He takes on 20-year-old Beinto van de Pas in round 1. The last two years has seen van de Pas eliminated at the last 32 stage and Dekker should condemn his compatriot to an unwanted hat-trick here.

Double selection: de Graaf and Dekker both to win @ 1.49/1 with Sky Bet.

George v Green

 It’s not one to bet on but we think the match between Richie George and Robbie Green could be a cracker.

George is hardly a consistent high performer but he the son of Bobby did exceptionally well on this stage one year ago. Richie Rich successfully navigated a route to the semi-final (where he was beaten 6-1 by eventual winner Scott Waites) and would love nothing more than a repeat showing this time around.

Robbie Green is rightfully the heavy favourite and the world number 8 will be looking to go better than last year’s quarter-final. He lost to runner-up Tony O’Shea on that occasion but will be fancied to progress against George.

Nevertheless, if Richie Rich brings his A game then we could be in for a cracker.

Outright Tournament Bet

 Like the PDC event, the BDO could be quite an open tournament. In the top half of the draw, Stephen Bunting will be favoured to progress to the final. The world number 1 is 5/2 with Boyle Sports to lift the crown.

In the bottom half, we quite like the look of Tony O’Shea at 16/1 with Sky Bet. Silverback is the only man in history to lose his first three BDO World Championship finals and will be determined to finally get his hands on the trophy this time. He fell at the first hurdle in both 2012 and 2013 and clearly has the ability to at least challenge.

At 52, some cynics will say O’Shea has missed the boat but Phil Taylor won the PDC event at the same age just twelve months ago so maybe the BDO number 3 can repeat that feat. On the downside he could meet the man who beat him in the final last year, Scott Waites, at the semi-final stage but nevertheless Silverback certainly has an outside chance at 16/1 is definitely worth a small punt with a view to possibly trading out later in the week.