Sports Blog 21/07/2015: Darts Update – World Matchplay, Saturday 18th to Sunday 26th July 2015

Tuesday brings with it the start of the World Matchplay Darts’ second round and Spreadex has a veritable Aladdin’s cave of fixed odds and spread betting opportunities for your pleasure.

Those looking at the long-term odds of the competition, which ends on Sunday, should take a gander at our Outright Index spreads, where the winner gets 50 points, the runner-up 30, the losing semi-finalists 20 apiece and the losing quarter-finalists get 10. Everyone else, I’m afraid, gets a big fat zero.



With that in mind we turn to the competition itself, and there is unsurprisingly one man who casts a rather long shadow over the tournament’s history: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor. Taylor has won the title in 15 out of the 21 years the tournament has been running in its current incarnation. In fact, he has won it for the past 7 years in a row, and is currently on a 36-match unbeaten run in the competition after comprehensively beating John Henderson 10-2 in the first round. This leaves Taylor at a confident Outright Index spread of 22-25 and a fixed odds price 10/3 going into his second round match against Andy Hamilton, who in comparison sits at a dismal Outright Index spread of 0.5-2 with a hefty fixed odds price of 250/1.

Yet this doesn’t put Taylor atop either the Outright Index or the fixed odds table. That honour goes to world no. 1, and Taylor’s main rival, Michael van Gerwen. The 2014 World Matchplay runner-up, and 2015 Masters winner, is going into his second round match at an Outright Index spread of 32-35 with fixed odds of 5/4 after dispatching of his fellow Dutchman Benito van de Pas 10-4 in the first round. His Welsh opponent Jamie Lewis, like Andy Hamilton, has suffered on the Outright Index due to his opponent, entering the second round with a the worst spread in the tournament at 0.1-1 with an unenviable 500/1 price to win the tournament. Unsurprisingly van Gerwen has a pretty emphatic advantage, at a 10-3 Leg Supremacy spread of 26.5-29.5.

Beyond the two dominant figures in the sport still lies a lot of talent. At a respectable Outright Index spread of 9.5-12.5, and at 22/1, is James Wade, the only man participating in the 2015 tournament that has won a World Matchplay title who isn’t called Phil Taylor. An as expected 10-6 win over the Australian Kyle Anderson saw the 2014 Masters winner set up a second round tie with Brendan Dolan, who sits at a rather limp Index spread of 2.5-4.5. As behoves a former champion, Wade goes into the match with our Spreadex traders behind him, at a Wade/Dolan 10-3 Supremacy spread of 14.5-17.5.



Then there is Gary Anderson. Ranked 3rd in the world, the Scotsman is in rather spectacular form in 2015, winning both the World Championship (beating van Gerwen in the semis and Taylor in the final) and the Premier League (shockingly beating van Gerwen once again despite the formidable form Might Mike had been in all season). Anderson breezed past Steve Beaton in the World Matchplay first round, leaving him with the third best Outright Index spread of 21.5-24.5 and 17/4 fixed odds. His opponent, Mensur Sulojovic, narrowly beat Terry Jenkins 11-9 in the first round, but isn’t expected to progress past the Flying Scotsman, who is the clear favourite at a Anderson/Suljovic 10-3 Supremacy spread of 21-24.

The rest of the PDC World Rankings top 10 will all make an appearance, bar no. 9 Robert Thornton, who crashed out to Keegan Brown. Brown now has to pass world no. 7 Dave Chisnall, at an Outright Index spread of 10-13 to Brown’s own 2.5-4.5. World no. 9 Simon Whitlock then takes on world no. 10 Ian White, with Outright Index spreads of 4.5-6.5 and 5.5-7.5 respectively, whilst world no. 5, and UK Open runner-up, Peter Wright takes on Andrew Gilding, at Index spreads of 13-16 against 1.5-3.5. Finally, world no. 4, and 2 times World Championship winner, Adrian Lewis, at an Outright Index spread of 14.5-17.5, takes on Gerwyn Price, who sits a meagre Index spread of 1.5-2.5.

Make sure to check back at Spreadex for all the latest darts fixed odds and spreads, as well as all the updated prices for the 2015 World Matchplay competition!