PDC Masters - 1st- 3rd February 2019- Milton Keynes

[ssjsa]

BETVICTOR, one of Europe’s leading online gaming companies, has been unveiled as the title sponsor of the 2019 BetVictor Masters, which will see Michael van Gerwen begin his bid to claim a fifth straight title against Jonny Clayton.

The operator will continue their association with the PDC through the sponsorship of the three-day, ITV4-televised event from February 1-3 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

"The Masters brings together the sport's elite 16 players, and it is fantastic to have BetVictor on board as title sponsor," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.

"BetVictor is a long-standing and valued partner of the PDC, and the BetVictor Masters promises to be an exciting three-day event as our top stars return to action next month."

Director of Sportsbook at BetVictor, Matt Scarrott said: “We’re really pleased to continue our relationship with the PDC. Darts has grown in popularity over the years and is now a favourite among sports fans.

“At BetVictor, we’ve been supporting the sport for many years, having sponsored the BetVictor World Matchplay for six years running, and extending the partnership with the PDC allows us to be a part of the sport and tap into its ever-growing fanbase.”

Van Gerwen has won the Masters for the past four years since the tournament's move to Milton Keynes, and is bidding to extend that run to five as he targets the £60,000 title.

Van Gerwen will begin his challenge against Welsh ace Clayton, who makes his Masters debut after rising to 16th on the PDC Order of Merit following a successful 2018 which included his Austrian Darts Open success.

World Championship finalist Michael Smith will play Ian White, while former Masters champion James Wade comes up against Grand Slam of Darts winner Gerwyn Price.

World number two Rob Cross meets Joe Cullen, Peter Wright plays Adrian Lewis and former finalist Gary Anderson takes on Darren Webster.

Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney will play 2016 Masters finalist Dave Chisnall, while Austria's Mensur Suljovic takes on Australian ace Simon Whitlock.

The £200,000 tournament begins with four first round ties on Friday February 1, with the remaining four games from round one being played on Saturday, February 2.

The tournament then culminates on Sunday, February 3, with the quarter-finals in the afternoon session and the semi-finals and final in the evening session.

Tickets for the BetVictor Masters are available now from SeeTickets via this link. For full ticket information, please click here.

2019 BetVictor Masters
Draw Bracket
(1) Michael van Gerwen v (16) Jonny Clayton
(8) Mensur Suljovic v (9) Simon Whitlock
(5) Daryl Gurney v (12) Dave Chisnall
(4) Gary Anderson v (13) Darren Webster
(2) Rob Cross v (15) Joe Cullen
(7) Gerwyn Price v (10) James Wade
(6) Michael Smith v (11) Ian White
(3) Peter Wright v (14) Adrian Lewis

Schedule of Play
Friday February 1 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round
Daryl Gurney v Dave Chisnall
Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock
Gary Anderson v Darren Webster
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton
Table Seat Tickets £26
Tiered Seat Tickets £21

Saturday February 2 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round
Gerwyn Price v James Wade
Rob Cross v Joe Cullen
Michael Smith v Ian White
Peter Wright v Adrian Lewis
Table Seat Tickets £31
Tiered Seat Tickets £26

Sunday February 3
Afternoon Session (1300 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Table Seat Tickets £26
Tiered Seat Tickets £21

Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals & Final
Table Seat Tickets £31
Tiered Seat Tickets £26

[Ginge]

the pdc are tyrants - and as locke said - it is our moral duty to stop them taking over darts - wade vs price - thats what its come to - a lakey reject against a rugby player - acting like eco manical arseholes on stage -

robson

[thelad1985]

the pdc are tyrants - and as locke said - it is our moral duty to stop them taking over darts - wade vs price - thats what its come to - a lakey reject against a rugby player - acting like eco manical arseholes on stage -

robson

just about to post that - thanks ginge -

robson

[Tommy T-Rex]

Another meaningless exhibition fleecing the working man of his hard earned cash. Look at the ticket prices. For £4 you can watch a BICC game over 2 days with 12 ladies matches and 24 men's in a brilliant atmosphere showing respect to the players and not a chance of getting showered in piss. It beggars belief that ITV have decided to show this tripe, if only some TV mogul had the foresight to attend a county match, alas no, they are brainwashed by Hearns media machine.

[Deleted User]

Another meaningless exhibition fleecing the working man of his hard earned cash. Look at the ticket prices. For £4 you can watch a BICC game over 2 days with 12 ladies matches and 24 men's in a brilliant atmosphere showing respect to the players and not a chance of getting showered in piss. It beggars belief that ITV have decided to show this tripe, if only some TV mogul had the foresight to attend a county match, alas no, they are brainwashed by Hearns media machine.

£4 per day, actually, Robson.

Of course as a valued BICC official I get in foŕ free.

Now off you sod, you boring multiple.

[Skewball]

Another meaningless exhibition fleecing the working man of his hard earned cash. Look at the ticket prices. For £4 you can watch a BICC game over 2 days with 12 ladies matches and 24 men's in a brilliant atmosphere showing respect to the players and not a chance of getting showered in piss. It beggars belief that ITV have decided to show this tripe, if only some TV mogul had the foresight to attend a county match, alas no, they are brainwashed by Hearns media machine.

£4 per day, actually, Robson.

Of course as a valued BICC official I get in foŕ free.

Now off you sod, you boring multiple.

and the tickets are cheaper then Lakeside.

[DavidB]

Another meaningless exhibition fleecing the working man of his hard earned cash. Look at the ticket prices. For £4 you can watch a BICC game over 2 days with 12 ladies matches and 24 men's in a brilliant atmosphere showing respect to the players and not a chance of getting showered in piss. It beggars belief that ITV have decided to show this tripe, if only some TV mogul had the foresight to attend a county match, alas no, they are brainwashed by Hearns media machine.

£4 per day, actually, Robson.

Of course as a valued BICC official I get in foŕ free.

Now off you sod, you boring multiple.

Does that make you a boring singular then??

[Deleted User]

Does that make you a boring singular then??

It has been said.

[ChrisW]

Revised Schedule of play:

2019 BetVictor Masters
Schedule of Play
Friday February 1 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round
Daryl Gurney v Dave Chisnall
Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock
Stephen Bunting v Darren Webster
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton

Saturday February 2 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round
Gerwyn Price v James Wade
Rob Cross v Joe Cullen
Michael Smith v Ian White
Peter Wright v Adrian Lewis

[only85]

spread betting market for how many games of darts ian white will win on tv this year !!

[1205]

Gerwyn Price v James Wade

[ssjsa]

Christopher Kempf, the statistical analyst of the PDC, takes a look at how experience in long-format matches could play a big part in this weekend's BetVictor Masters.

Due to the long-term rolling nature of the Order of Merit, the PDC top 16 at any given time often contains players both on their way to the top and on their way out of the top echelons of darts.

2019 is the first edition of The Masters without the participation of Raymond van Barneveld, and the first with two Welsh players (the first five editions of this tournament featured zero).

It is within the top 16 that players have regular exposure to the longer format best-of-19 and best-of-21 leg matches, and in which players become accustomed to matches interrupted every five legs by TV commercial breaks.

Thus, newcomers to The Masters (and to the top 16) like Jonny Clayton, who has played 11 matches in these formats since 2013, are massively outmatched in experience by the likes of Michael van Gerwen (143 matches). 

Van Gerwen in particular has won as many matches in best-of-19 and best-of-21 since the year of the debut Masters as ten other 2019 players combined, winning 493 more legs than his opponents in that time period.

As MvG attempts to claim a fifth consecutive Masters title, he will be aided by the withdrawal of Gary Anderson from his half of the draw.

Of the players remaining in the upper-half, the most experienced players in The Masters format are Simon Whitlock and Dave Chisnall, who are both experiencing record-long winless streaks against the world number one.

A potential quarter-final rival for Van Gerwen could be Mensur Suljovic, who has the best record of any player other than the Dutchman in these longer formats.

His 25 wins over the past four years include stunning victories over Phil Taylor (10-3), Anderson (10-3) and World Championship finalist Michael Smith (10-4) - although he has never beaten Van Gerwen in this format. 

Smith, who has leapt to world number six in the Order of Merit, has historically been unsuccessful in best-of 19 and best-of-21 matches: a record of 14-24 since 2013 includes two victories over Anderson but no wins against MvG, Taylor or James Wade.

His first round match against Ian White pits him against a player with a very similar average in this format (95.91 vs 95.75).

White has not reached the semi-final of a televised tournament since 1997, and has lost five of his last 17 matches in the format that went to at least 15 legs.

Wade's reputation as a player who wins matches by narrow margins by doing just enough to get over the line is belied by his historical record of 28-38 and leg difference of -41 in this format; although Wade achieved notable success by claiming the European Championship and World Series Finals last year with seven consecutive wins, it is more difficult for him to outpace rivals with high averages like MvG, Anderson and Wright (none of whom he played in those events) in the longer format.

Gerwyn Price, who lost to Wade in a deciding leg in Dortmund, will look for revenge and redemption after collapsing in the finishing straight of that match.

The Wright v Lewis match-up will eliminate one of the two most successful long-format players before the quarter-finals (due to the 14th seeding of Lewis).

Wright's average of 98.74 and 56 total wins put him only behind MvG's performances in this format, but Wright has historically been unable to reproduce his early-round successes with authoritative finals displays.

Wright's underwhelming 27% win rate in finals has been his downfall; no amount of early-round victories can compensate for his 0-6 record in this format in finals against Van Gerwen.

He may face such a scenario again, unless Lewis, who has won eight consecutive last-leg deciders in this format, can recapture some of the magic which made him the fearsome world number three at the inaugural Masters.

Masters debutants Joe Cullen, Clayton and Darren Webster have played few matches in this format compared to the veterans of the PDC tour, but they have had the three lowest averages of the 16-person field in them.

With no ranking money at stake, however, The Masters is as good a venue as any to get accustomed to the format and do one's best to knock out the best in the world at it.

[ssjsa]

Latest episode of Edgar TV.

[dartsweekly]

Five things to look out for at the Masters this weekend: https://weeklydartscast.com/2019/02/01/ ... r-masters/

[ssjsa]

2019 BetVictor Masters
Schedule of Play
Friday February 1 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round

Daryl Gurney (93.90) 8 (19) 10 (97.56) Dave Chisnall
Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock
Stephen Bunting v Darren Webster
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton

[ssjsa]

Ochepedia's data in the earlier part of this thread showing that Chisnall's win was not really an upset.

Utilising the same data looks like wins for Suljovic, Bunting and MVG.

[ssjsa]

Mensur absolutely tanking Whitlock. 9-1 up averaging circa 105.

[ssjsa]

2019 BetVictor Masters
Schedule of Play
Friday February 1 (1900 GMT)
4x First Round

Daryl Gurney (93.90) 8 (19) 10 (97.56) Dave Chisnall
Mensur Suljovic (106.12) 10 (19) 1 (87.50) Simon Whitlock
Stephen Bunting v Darren Webster
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton

[ssjsa]

Tungsten Tales interview with Dave Chisnall.

[ssjsa]

Tungsten Tales Interview with Mensur.