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It would be extremely hard to match the drama, tension and theatre of last night's darts where two of the four games went to deciding legs and the other two matches produced an unbelievably high number of 180s.

Tonight's matches all have the potential to be as exciting, however, although I - and the Betfair markets - believe that there are four clear-cut winners in Paul Nicholson, Phil Taylor, Mark Webster and Adrian Lewis, so get them into a four-fold, paying at around 2.9 on Betfair Multiples. Otherwise back them individually as and when their matches start with a proportion of the winnings from the previous one to suit your own betting bank and risk strategy.

For a little extra value on the Taylor/Newton game, dutch The Power from 10-2 to 10-6 when liquidity permits as the percentage profit to be made doing this (I'd look for anything between 1.5 and 1.6) will easily outweigh the 1.14 about him simply to win the match. Dutching him this way also allows you to tinker with laying chunks off in-running, rather than taking him on the handicap which doesn't afford as much flexibility.

The four aforementioned favourites are priced up that way for good reason, with the quartet all posting superior three dart averages against their respective opponents over the course of the tournament so far. Similarly, all four have outscored their opponents in terms of 180s.

The only slight doubt of the favourites is perhaps Webster, purely and simply because Martin Phillips has matched him in terms of finishing percentages, but Phillips will have to increase his three dart average tonight to have any chance of causing an upset.

Furthermore, I believe all tonight's favourites are potential winners of the trophy, which is something I couldn't say with conviction about last night's. Even Anderson, who was so far in the zone he couldn't miss, has peaked too early and will have a job on his hands recreating that sort of form three more times.

Recommended Bets
Back Nicholson, Taylor, Webster and Lewis
Dutch Taylor 10-2 to 10-6

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