If you've been following along with our PDC Home Tour Darts coverage, you know what our basic strategy is for the group stages of this first-of-its-kind event. Given the unfamiliar environment and format for this tournament– the players are at home, play is sometimes interrupted by phone calls and the matches are short — it seems unwise to back big favorites.
And just like that, your favorite Play-From-Home Darts Tournament is heading into its fourth week of play.
My hat is off to the fine folks running the show at the CPBL and I'm over the moon about opening week of the KBO, but when this is all said and done I'll be forever grateful to the PDC Home Tour, a professional darts tournament taking place in the middle of what's essentially a Zoom happy hour, for providing a consistent sweat in the middle of this world-changing event.
The ride continues with Group 21.
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PDC Home Tour Night 21 Betting Odds and Picks
Thursday, May 7 at 2:30 p.m. ET
- No. 4 Rob Cross (-150)
- No. 28 Dimitri van den Bergh (+225)
- No. 110 Karel Sedlacek (+650)
- No. 104 William Borland (+800)
- Rob Cross (-400) vs. William Borland (+280)
- Dimitri van den Bergh (-230) vs. Karel Sedlacek (+175)
- William Borland (-106) vs. Karel Sedlacek (-125)
- Rob Cross (-177) vs. Dimitri van den Bergh (+135)
- Dimitri van den Bergh (-265) vs. William Borland (+200)
- Karel Sedlacek (+260) vs. Rob Cross (-360)
There's no getting around it, this group should belong to 2018 World Champion and World No. 4 Rob Cross. The former electrician is the odds-on favorite on Thursday and the bookmakers are giving him a 60% chance of advancing to Round 2.
Cross carries a 96.11 year-long scoring average with him into Thursday's action, easily the best mark in the group. Betting on anybody at -400 in a high-variance tournament like The Home Tour is out of the question, so I'm hoping that "Voltage" struggles to adapt to this set up.
It's unlikely that he completely capitulates, but we've seen big-time favorites like Gerwyn Price, James Wade, Michael Smith and Peter Wright stumble in this first-of-its-kind event so it isn't outlandish to suggest that Cross could mail it on Thursday.
Dimitri "The DreamMaker" van den Bergh is expected to be Cross' main competition and the 25-year-old has the game to hang with the Englishman in this format.
I wouldn't be shocked to see van den Bergh upset Cross, so I'll take a shot on the Belgian in the group headliner, but I'm not interested in laying the kind of lumber required to bet "The DreamMaker" in his showdowns with the two group underdogs.
Thursday could go a number of different ways. Perhaps Cross and van den Bergh go toe to toe. It could be that one of them gets hot and the other falters. Or maybe, just maybe, Karel "Evil Charlie" Sedlacek or William "Big Willie" Borland can get hot and give Cross and van den Bergh the business.
In a regular, longer match it would be a huge ask of Sedlacek and Borland to stick with the likes of Cross or van den Bergh but these short matches are a different animal. Talent wins out over time, but these matches are so short that there's less time for the cream to rise to the top. As we saw with Ryan Murray on Wednesday, any professional darts player is good enough to get hot and steal a 9-leg match of darts from superior talents.
PDC Home Tour Night 21 Betting Picks
- William Borland (+280) over Rob Cross
- Karel Sedlacek (+175) over Dimitri van den Bergh
- Dimitri van den Bergh (+138) over Rob Cross
- William Borland (+200) over Dimitri van den Bergh
- Karel Sedlacek (+260) over Rob Cross
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PDC Home Tour Betting Record: 22-47, -6.8 units
PDC Home Tour Group Winners
- Group 1: Jamie Lewis (+600)
- Group 2: Luke Woodhouse (+600)
- Group 3: Dave Chisnall (-134)
- Group 4: Geert Nentjes (+250)
- Group 5: Nick Kenny (+450)
- Group 6: Ryan Searle (+180)
- Group 7: Jelle Klaasen (+200)
- Group 8: Jonny Clayton (+130)
- Group 9: Martijn Kleermaker (+350)
- Group 10: Nathan Aspinall (-177)
- Group 11: Mike van Duivenbode (+300)
- Group 12: Max Hopp (+175)
- Group 13: Carl Wilkinson (+450)
- Group 14: Chris Dobey (-118)
- Group 15: Darren Webster (+175)
- Group 16: Jeff Smith (+225)
- Group 17: Damon Heta (+163)
- Group 18: Stephen Bunting (+100)
- Group 19: Glen Durrant (-121)
- Group 20: Ryan Murray (+500)
PDC Home Tour Darts Tournament Rules and Format
- If you're unfamiliar with the rules of darts, click here.
- The tournament will feature 32 groups of four players who will play a round robin to determine a group winner.
- One group plays per day, for 32 days in a row. Yes, 32 days in a row.
- All group-stage matches are best-of-9 legs and two points will be awarded for a win. If there is a tie at the top of standings, the first tiebreaker will be leg difference.
- After the 32-day group stage, the winners will advance to the second phase of the competition. I'm assuming that means a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. But, the PDC website didn't go any further than that.
- The action will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local time) each night and stream on PDC.tv, free of charge.
- The first 20 groups have been announced, along with the order of play, though the PDC has yet to confirm the remaining competitors.
