2023 Austrian Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2023 Austrian Darts Open Betting Preview
We have reached the fifth Euro Tour event of the season with the 2023 Austrian Darts Open, which will take place in Premstätten, southern Austria.
This will be the sixth Austrian Darts Open and the past winners in the field are Michael van Gerwen (x3) and Jonny Clayton. Michael Smith, winner of the German Darts Grand Prix two weeks ago, is a two time runner up. Winner of two Euro Tour titles in 2023, Gerwyn Price, is absent this weekend.
Seeded Players
1 Luke Humphries
Remains in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches, in line with his 70% win rate in 2023. He was runner up in ET1, missed 2 & 3 due to illness and reached a quarter final two weeks ago. That, and last weekend’s Players Championship events should have got Humphries back to match fitness after his bout of sickness.
2 Dave Chisnall
Winner of ET1 but since then he has lost three of his six Euro Tour matches and his form in general has become inconsistent.
3 Michael van Gerwen
The three time former champion but yet to pick up a Euro Tour title in 2023. He skipped the German Darts Grand Prix but was runner up in ET3 and a quarter finalist in ET2, losing both to Gerwyn Price. Seven of his last eight defeats have all been against Welshmen, twice vs. Jonny Clayton and five times against Gerwyn Price. Will the absence of Price be the key to MVG picking up his fourth Austrian Darts Open title? He has lost four of his last six matches and was very out of sorts in his 5-6 loss to Nathan Aspinall last night.
4 Damon Heta
The Heat is finally getting going in 2023, winning seven of his last ten matches and reaching the semi-final of ET4 and the quarter final of ET3 & 2. He reached the quarter final of PC10 on Sunday and he is getting there.
5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Picked up his third Players Championship title of 2023 on Sunday. He was runner up in ET2 and the semi-finalist in ET3, losing to Gerwyn Price in both. Like MVG, Dirk will be glad that Price is not here this weekend. He has won nine of his last ten matches and his win rate in 2023 is a best in field 80%. Surely his first Euro Tour title is coming very soon?
6 Rob Cross
Voltage is a bit of a puzzle. He is generally playing well but is lacking enough consistency to win titles. His win rate is 59% and he has lost four of his last ten matches, and three of his last four. It is just not quite happening, but you can’t rule out a good run.
7 Michael Smith
Took the weekend off but he is in good form, having won the German Darts Grand Prix two weeks ago. That was his first ranking title since winning the World Championship. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but not all in entirely convincing manner. A two time runner up here, another good run would be no surprise.
8 Nathan Aspinall
The Asp was semi-finalist here last year and runner up to Smith at the German Darts Grand Prix. He did not impress in his run to the final and lost his first round match to Peter Wright in PL night 11 a few days later. Aspinall pulled off a surprise night win in the PL last night, he was lucky to face a very flat MVG in his opening match. With his first night win in the PL and a runners up spot last time out on the Euro Tour, the Asp has his tail up.
9 Danny Noppert
Runner up to MVG last year but not in great form, losing five of his last ten matches.
10 Peter Wright
Snakebite has lost five of his last ten matches, but in his case, that is considered a return to form. He has won three of his six Euro Tour matches in 2023. Wright didn’t play at the weekend, which was strange because he needs the match practice. He is showing flashes of form, but looks some way off competing for titles. His performance in the PL last night was poor, an 87.7 average and a 3-6 loss to Van den Bergh inspires no confidence in Wright’s chances.
11 Ryan Searle
We haven’t seen much of Searle in the last few weeks. He hasn’t played a great deal in 2023, certainly compared to the premier league players, just 27 matches, but he has enjoyed good results on the floor. Searle won PC1 and was runner up in PC4 and PC6, losing both to Van Duijvenbode. He has won six of his last ten matches and after three weeks off, he returned to action last weekend, winning three of his five matches but the last three saw sub 90 averages.
12 Joe Cullen
Reached the semi-final of ET4 two weeks ago but didn’t do anything eye catching. He won three matches at the weekend but again, there was nothing to write home about. His doubling remains suspect and winning a title would be a surprise right now.
13 Jonny Clayton
Picked up his sole Euro Tour title here in 2018. That was before 2021, the Year of the Ferret, and he is a better player these days. He was very poor when losing 1-6 to Andrew Gilding in ET4 but showed some good form at the weekend, reaching the semi-final of PC9. He averaged 108 in a 6-1 win over Gary Anderson and another 108 average the next day. Clayton has won seven of his last ten matches, and has played himself onto the short list. A 1-6 defeat to Gerwyn Price and an 88.5 average last night tells us that he still is not the player he was in 2021.
14 Martin Schindler
No home crowd for Schindy for a change. Will that be a help, or a hindrance? He reached the semi-final of ET3 and the quarter final of ET1. He has been racking up plenty of good runs in tournaments and that continued at the weekend when he reached the quarter final of PC9 and PC10. The Wall has won eight of his last ten matches but he still lacks the consistency to think he could go all the way. However, another good run seems likely.
15 Josh Rock
He too reached two quarter finals at the weekend and has won eight of his last ten matches. Unlike Schindler, Rock’s consistency was impressive. If he can take that floor form onto the stage this weekend, Rock can have a good run. He has reached quarter finals on the Euro Tour and with a bit of luck, he could go deeper this weekend.
16 Andrew Gilding
Has won six of his last ten matches and reached the quarter final of ET4 two weeks ago. His scoring hasn’t been entirely convincing at times but he could have a reasonable run and he has one less match to play now that he is a seed.
Best of the Non Seeds
Of the four ET events in 2023 no unseeded player has progressed beyond the quarter final stage, so the winner would seem to be unlikely to come from those entering at the first round stage. Last season saw four unseeded players make a final, but none won.
Ian White
His return to form is still evident. He has won eight of his last ten matches and reached the semi-final of PC10 on Sunday. Seven of his last ten matches have seen 98+ averages. He can still choke on his doubles and that may well be the final piece of the jigsaw to fall into place.
Krzysztof Ratajski
Fresh from winning PC9 on Saturday, The Polish Eagle has the qualities required to have a good run. He has only had the one ET title win, back in 2019, but he is in great form, winning seven of his last ten matches. His Gibraltar Darts Trophy win in 2019 is his only stage title and he has yet to shake off that floor specialist tag. His 2023 win rate is 70% and only Van Duijvenbode and MVG have better win rates in this field of players.
Chris Dobey
His seasonal win rate is just 55% which probably rules him out. He has won five of his last ten but averaged over 97 in eight of those last ten. His win rate isn’t helped by playing in the PL. Also, being a first round entry and playing in the PL, means he has a tight schedule just to travel to the various venues on time. He should be doing better than his results suggest, but playing well and losing will be frustrating him.
The Draw
First Quarter
Headed by Luke Humphries and he is joined by Andrew Gilding, Nathan Aspinall and Danny Noppert as the four seeds. Humphries is the form pick but not convincingly. He will be sharper after getting some game time after two weeks out but at the odds of 15.00 he looks a bit short.
Nathan Aspinall was runner up two weeks ago and took last weekend off to have a break. He is a frustrating player to follow, but he does have good H2H records against the other seeds here and he will have received a confidence boost from winning the PL last night.
Unseeded players of note are Gurney and Bunting who are once again draw against each other, the winner facing Humphries. Matt Campbell, Ian White and Chris Dobey are all drawn in this quarter.
Second Quarter
The seeds here are Damon Heta, Jonny Clayton, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Joe Cullen. It is hard to oppose Dirk van Duijvenbode. He has picked up three Players Championships in 2023, including one last Sunday. He has been runner up and a semi-finalist on the Euro Tour already this year.
His H2H record against the other seeds is decent, Heta excepted, but he did finally get a win against the Aussie at ET3. None of the unseeded players in the draw pose any real threat.
Third Quarter
Dave Chisnall is joined by Josh Rock, Michael Smith and Peter Wright. A difficult group. Rock and Smith are in the best recent form players, but Chizzy has been a thorn in the side of both. Chisnall has already won on the Euro Tour this year but he has failed to get beyond the second round in the last three events. Consistency has been lacking.
Rock has been playing well and with a good deal of consistency. He hasn’t got beyond the quarter semi-final stage on the Euro Tour yet, but it is only a matter of time.
Smith is going for back-to back Euro Tour titles but went down 3-6 to Price last night having missed darts to go 4-1 up. The dangerman in the first round draw has to be Ratajski and he is drawn to face Josh Rock in round 2. A tough draw for both, but Rock is 4-1 in their H2Hs.
Fourth Quarter
The defending Champion, Michael van Gerwen, is the top seed here with the other three being Martin Schindler, Rob Cross and Ryan Searle. It is hard to oppose MVG in the bottom quarter. His recent form is decent, yes there are defeats, but his scoring is generally good and his H2H record against the other seeds is strong.
Title number four in Austria? Very possibly, but his performance in the PL last night was dreadful and his odds remain prohibitively short at 3.50.
