BDO World Darts Championship Betting Tips & Analysis – 6th to 14th January 2018

The PDC continues to go from strength to strength. The victory of Rob Cross at Alexandra Palace was the latest huge success story to come out of the PDC but for many darts fans the PDC is too much about the night out and too little about the actual darts. For them, there is simply no beating the BDO World Darts Championship at Lakeside Country Club.

Starting on Saturday, the 41st BDO World Darts Championship is the time for the BDO to show what they are all about. The quality of those on the Lakeside stage may not be as high as those who compete at Alexandra Palace but the likes of Glen Durrant, Scott Waites and Martin Adams have all held their own against the best the PDC has to offer. Then there’s the knowledgeable crowd, many of whom view a week at Lakeside as a darting pilgrimage they wouldn’t be without. There’s also a healthy cheque of £100,000 to the winner, so this is far from just a second string tournament.

Who Will Win?

We saw at the PDC how dangerous betting on the favourite can be as Michael van Gerwen blew his chances of another world championship by missing match darts against Rob Cross. That may put some off backing Glen Durrant, another clear favourite but he is much more tempting at 11/8 with Coral as opposed to odds on.

Durrant finally fulfilled the promise that so many in darts have been talking about for so long when he was crowned BDO World Champion 12 months ago. That win marked the end of a long journey for the 47-year-old Teessider and now that he’s made it to the pinnacle there is no chance of him giving up his title without a fight.

Durrant certainly knows how difficult it will be to win at the Lakeside for a second year running. He was unable to follow up his world championship win with any more of the BDO’s majors in 2017 and only won a handful of minor tournaments. That shows the quality of players he’s routinely up against but Durrant is the one with the confidence that he can get it done on the biggest stage of all and looks every inch the man to back.

Betting Tip – Glen Durrant at 11/8 with Coral

Each Way Tips and Other Bets

None of those just below Durrant in the betting will take too kindly to being written off at the Lakeside. Each of Danny Noppert, Scott Mitchell and Jamie Hughes will believe they too have the required mixture of experience, quality and steely determination to come out on top at the end of the week. They’ll also each be well backed by punters but the value dark horse could be two-time BDO world champion, Scott Waites.

As touched on above, Waites has not only got the better of the competition in the BDO, he won the Grand Slam of Darts against the best that the PDC had to offer. Although he’s never switched codes there is little doubt that Waites could forge a successful career against the best in the world but, for now at least, he’s happy with his own approach and remains loyal to the BDO.

That approach includes shunning the busy practice boards at the Lakeside and heading to his favourite small pub nearby to put in the hours. Waites has no time to warm up with a tricky first round tie against Ross Montgomery but that could actually get him up to full speed before his opponents which makes him even more tempting at massive odds of 22/1 with Ladbrokes.