Grand Slam Of Darts Betting: Waites and Taylor to be last men standing

Darts / David Croft / 21 November 2009 / Leave a Comment

Scott Waites too can make a name for himself over the next couple of days if he carries on where he left off last night against Gary Anderson

David Croft tells us how his recommendations from last week got on and looks ahead to the action in the quarter-finals, where he expects the likes of Raymond Van Barneveld to win but acknowledges Phil Taylor is still very much the man to beat.

So first things first , how did my selections to make it through to the second round get on? Ten out of sixteen in the end, not bad but not helped by Darryl Fitton putting in some below par performances and Ted Hankey missing the one dart he needed to make it out of Group E. Fair play to Simon Whitlock though who not only won the leg after Hankey missed out but went on to take the match with some impressive checkouts. Whitlock continued in a similar vein in his first knock out match, trouncing Steve Beaton. He must be respected this weekend although he's not my tip to make it through

Phil Taylor, despite a shock defeat in his final group match against Vincent Van der Voort and a tricky opening 8 legs against Colin Lloyd, must be seen as the man to catch. He remarked that Lloyd gave him the wake-up call he needed and that it would do him good for a quarter final clash against the BDO No1 Tony Shea.

This to me has the makings of an absolute classic. O 'Shea has been outstanding this week, loving the atmosphere and producing some gutsy displays. He held his nerve to see off Mark Webster on Thursday night, as the Welshman blew 4 darts to win the match. But that aside he's looked every bit the number 1. What concerns me though is the amount of doubles he, and it has to be said, the other stars from the BDO have missed. Maybe this is the difference between the two organisations. When it comes to the pressure dart on the big stage the PDC boys, used to these events, don't seem to crack as easily.

Taylor is as short as [1.06] to beat O Shea on Saturday, the man they call 'Silverback' a massive [15.0]. Which means that someone, should there be an upset, is going to come out a happy punter. O Shea has played Taylor on many occasions and they get on well off the oche. He certainly won't be phased and won't suffer under pressure. Whether he can up his game enough I'm not sure.

Raymond Van Barneveld at [1.41] should have too much in the locker for Kevin Painter. Barney's had a good week so far and came back brilliantly from 3-1 down against Painter in the group stages to win 5-4. His victory against Mervyn King saw him throw a 161 checkout, a finish that changed the game and he admitted afterwards that playing against his best mate in darts had been very tough. I don't expect this to be tough at all for the Dutchman.

I'm a little surprised, but pleased none the less that Robert Thornton has made it through to the last 8. Like his quarter final opponent Terry Jenkins, he had to win the final leg of his first knockout match to make it through, Jenkins seeing off James Wade with a stunning 121 checkout. It has to be said though that the crowd's booing of Wade as the match got down to a double was totally unacceptable.

Wade had done nothing to deserve that and whilst you could argue that Ted Hankey got a little of what he dished out when he had problems with the boo boys earlier in the week, Wade hadn't. Once again the PDC need to get a grip on the crowd behavior and remind those in the hall that respect should be given to all players at all times. Back to Jenkins against Thornton though and with Jenkins now just [2.0] to win the Grand Slam in the "without Phil Taylor" market, the pressure will be on the man from Herefordshire to continue his good form. He can cope but then again so can Thornton and as he has proved over the last couple of years, he's not a man to write off. I fancy his chances of an upset in the quarter finals at a generous [3.0].

Scott Waites too can make a name for himself over the next couple of days if he carries on where he left off last night against Gary Anderson. Once again Anderson had the bad luck of being up against the wrong man at the wrong time. Waites was simply awesome in closing out what was the fourth second round match to go right to the wire. Now he has to pick himself up and dispose of Simon Whitlock which won't be easy, though to be honest there is no easy match from here on in.

Whitlock is a tricky man to beat, he never strays from his own slow and deliberate tempo and Waites may find that hard. He's a man who likes to get on with things and the pace of the game won't necessarily suit him. But at [5.5] he's excellent value in the "win without Taylor" market and at that price Scott '2 Hotty' could give his Betfair backers a very warm feeling indeed.

I still think that Taylor at [1.38] will be too hot to handle and will add another Grand Slam to his collection on Sunday. It's been an excellent week of darts so far, the standard has been more than impressive and a Taylor v Waites final will be the icing on the cake for me. This is the only tournament that brings together both sides of the darting divide. It's such a shame that we don't see it happen more often.

Recommended bets:

Back Van Barneveld to beat Kevin Painter @ [1.41]
Back Robert Thornton to beat Terry Jenkins @ [3.0]
Back Scott Waites in the "winner without Taylor" market @ [5.5]