Adrian Lewis vs Mark Dudbridge – Lewis won’t have it his own way

Mark ‘Flash’ Dudbridge will take to the oche on Monday night as a huge underdog after failing to fulfil his early promise.

Dudbridge burst onto the scene in 2002 with a win in the BDO’s Winmau World Masters, his first televised tournament, and three years later faced Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship final.

Since that loss to Taylor, Dudbridge has slipped down the rankings to 18th, but the 37-year-old from Bristol will be a tough opponent for Adrian Lewis and his darts betting odds of 11/4 offer plenty of value.

Lewis, ranked fifth in the world, is short at 1/4 to beat Dudbridge considering on the 13 occasions the two have met, Lewis has won seven times to Dudbridge’s six.

We’ve already seen John Part exit the tournament and the favourites aren’t guaranteed their route to the latter stages and this could be Dudbridge’s chance to shine after demolishing Alex Roy 3-1 in the opening round.

Dudbridge is 25/1 to beat Lewis 4-1 and 66/1 to whitewash Lewis 4-0.

Paul Nicholson vs Peter Wright

Aussie Paul Nicholson took Steve Farmer to the cleaners in the opening round of the PDC World Darts Championship, and despite Wright overcoming Co Stompe in the first round, the darts odds suggest Nicholson will progress easily.

Wright, whose walk-on music ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ by Slade may set the festive tone in the Ally Pally, will struggle to find any festive cheer from Nicholson and the Australian is 1/8 to defeat Wright.

Wright is 9/2 to win the match but considering Nicholson is as short as 2/1 to win the match 4-0, it seems a foregone conclusion that Nicholson will meet either ‘The Power’ or Per Laursen in the third round.

A £10 stake on Mark Dudbridge winning the 2011 World Darts Championship would return £1,260. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.