World Grand Prix Darts Betting Review
Michael van Gerwen proved that he is indeed still the best darts player on the planet by claiming the 2018 World Grand Prix title at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin. MVG won the trophy after a quite frankly bizarre final against Peter Wright.
Many pundits were suggesting that the world number one may not be the dominant force that he once was and that players such as Gary Anderson and Peter Wright were going to challenge for the top spot. Van Gerwen proved that when it really matters, he is still very much the man to beat. It may not have been his greatest performance ever, but the Dutch dynamo hit the right shots at the right time in this 2018 World Grand Prix final to eventually overcome Peter Wright 5-2.
From a darts betting point of view, MVG went into the tournament as an Evens* outright favourite with Bet UK’s online betting. The previous few TV tournaments had not gone his way at all, most recently losing in both the group stage and semi-final of the Champions League of Darts. That will all be forgotten now though, as he heads into a busy few months knowing that he’s the World Grand Prix Champion.
Saturday’s match was Michael van Gerwen’s fifth World Grand Prix final in the last seven years, with this victory providing “Mighty Mike” with his fourth title. It has to be said that the final itself was one of the strangest finals the darts world has ever seen. Even the Sky Sports commentary team could not work out exactly what was going on early in the contest. MVG was averaging a paltry 73 at one point in the second set, which is astonishingly low for someone of his immense talent.
Amazingly though, despite how poorly van Gerwen was playing, his opponent Peter Wright just could not take advantage. Peter Wright had pre-tournament darts odds of 15/2* and looked great going into this match but just could not replicate his form. In the entire match, MVG missed 25 darts at a double when attempting to checkout, only landing 16 out of 41 efforts. The crucial part of the match came when the players were locked at 2-2 with the world number 1 looking completely out of sorts. Peter Wright was in control of the fifth and deciding leg of set five, but could not handle the pressure. This lead to van Gerwen taking out an excellent 101 checkout and there was only one winner from that point on.
“Snakebite” will be incredibly disappointed with the way the final went and must feel like he has missed a big opportunity. It is well known that he has struggled in major finals, particularly against van Gerwen, so this will have been another blow. The next event for both players will be the European Championship on October 25, quickly followed by the World Series of Darts Finals on November 2nd. Stick with Bet UK’s sports betting blog for darts betting tips and predictions on all of the big upcoming events across the autumn and winter months.
Darts Results
Saturday October 6
Final
Michael van Gerwen 5-2 Peter Wright
Friday October 5
Semi-Finals
Mensur Suljovic 3-4 Peter Wright
Daryl Gurney 1-4 Michael van Gerwen
Thursday October 4
Quarter-finals
Mensur Suljovic 3-2 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 3-2 James Wilson
Daryl Gurney 3-0 Gary Anderson
Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Dave Chisnall
Wednesday October 3
Last 16
Mensur Suljovic 3-0 Ian White
Steve Beaton 1-3 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 3-0 Jermaine Wattimena
James Wilson 3-2 Adrian Lewis
Tuesday October 2
Last 16
Dave Chisnall 3-0 Raymond van Barneveld
Gary Anderson 3-0 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Daryl Gurney 3-2 Ron Meulenkamp
Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Darren Webster
Monday October 1
Round One
Jermaine Wattimena 2-0 Mervyn King
Josh Payne 0-2 Ian White
Danny Noppert 0-2 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 2-0 Steve West
Rob Cross 0-2 Steve Beaton
Mensur Suljovic 2-0 James Wade
Simon Whitlock 1-2 James Wilson
Michael Smith 1-2 Adrian Lewis
Sunday September 30
Round One
Jeffrey de Zwaan 2-0 Kim Huybrechts
Ron Meulenkamp 2-1 Joe Cullen
Darren Webster 2-0 Stephen Bunting
Ricky Evans 1-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Dave Chisnall 2-0 Max Hopp
Daryl Gurney 2-0 John Henderson
Michael van Gerwen 2-0 Steve Lennon
Gary Anderson 2-0 Jonny Clayton
*All odds from Bet UK’s online betting feature were correct at the time of writing.
Remember, if you are placing a bet on future darts events, please do so responsibly and when the fun stops, stop. All players must be 18+. BeGambleAware.