Bullseye – It’s Semi Final Time!

Well, we were bang on the money in two of the quarter finals, slipped up selecting Adrian Lewis, and then totally embarrassed ourselves in thinking that Andy Hamilton could beat Phil Taylor. Let’s see if we can get closer in the semi finals:-

Phil “The Power” Taylor (ENG – $2.50) vs Raymond “Barney” van Barneveld (NET – $4.20)

A day or two ago there was some talk that Raymond van Barneveld was firming as a possible favourite for this competition – that was before Phil Taylor completely destroyed Andy Hamilton 5-0 in the quarter finals. Barney played very, very well against Simon Whitlock (who didn’t do a lot wrong), but that performance paled in comparison to the way Taylor took Hamilton apart. These two have played in incredible games against each other before, and this should be another ripper. van Barneveld has been very good under pressure so far, and his technique has looked superb. But you don’t win 15 world titles without knowing when to pull out the big games, and we believe Taylor should have enough to see the Dutchman off. Taylor to win 6-3.

Michael “Mighty Mike” van Gerwen (NET – $2.50) vs James “The Mechanic” Wade (ENG – $12.00)

Michael van Gerwen’s win over a dogged Adrian Lewis in the quarter finals is being rated as one of the best ever games shown on TV. It had everything, and despite van Gerwen’s inability to hit closing doubles, his accuracy during the early parts of each set was just incredible. The game before was almost as good, with Wade fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Wes Newton in a great game. But this is a step up again, and if van Gerwen can hit some doubles he will beat Wade relatively comfortably. Wade is a determined player, and brings a fighting quality to this match, but van Gerwen is on a real roll. We reckon that Michael van Gerwen will take this semi final out 6-1, and meet Taylor in the final.

NOTE: The prices are for the overall winner at the time of writing on the NZ TAB.