Opening night of the 2010 Totesport.com Players Championship had the layers running for the hills as all eight pre-match favourites prevailed, landing a 16/1 accumulator in the process.
Defending champion Phil Taylor was amongst those to progress to Saturday's second round after an albeit under-par performance against Peter Manley. Kevin Painter, Paul Nicholson & Adrian Lewis all managed to out-average 'The Power' on the night in their respective first round encounters with the latter requiring a final-leg decider to oust Ulsterman Brendan Dolan despite yet another 100+ average. Terry Jenkins & Colin Lloyd also scraped through by the odd leg in eleven. Former Lakedside champion Steve Beaton and Andy 'The Hammer' Hamilton took their place in round two and a guaranteed £6,000 via more straightforward methods with Tony Eccles & Alan Tabern easily dispatched.
Friday night will see the remaining eight places snapped up as the likes of James Wade, Gary Anderson & Mervyn King enter the fray. All sixteen men in action tonight have the added incentive of being in the opposite half of the draw to Taylor and many will fancy their chances of a run to Sunday's final. There has been little market movement to report on tonight's encounters. World number five Ronnie Baxter has been trimmed to take to the spoils in his clash with Mark Dudbridge whilst interest has been reported in Wayne Jones taking a comfortable victory over Andy 'The Pieman' Smith, with many firms having to adjust their correct score offerings (6-0 Jones in from 25/1 to 10/1 & 6-1 Jones in from 14/1 to 8/1).
A repeat of Thursday's scenario with all eight favourites coming out on top pays just over 25/1 with the tournament sponsors.
