2023 International Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2023 International Darts Open Betting Preview
The 2023 International Darts Open is the third of the European Tour tournaments. The 100th European Tour event comes from the SACHSEN arena, Riesa, Germany. This has been the venue for the event since its inception in 2015. It has been won by five different players but the only multiple winner is Gerwyn Price who has won three of the last four.
Other winners in the field this weekend are Michael Smith, the 2014 champion, Peter Wright who won in 2017 and Joe Cullen who was the victor in 2020, beating MVG in the final. Kim Huybrechts is a two-time runner up and also made another semi-final.
There were three withdrawals from the original draw. Luke Humphries due to his continuing illness picked up in Leverkusen last weekend, Adrian Lewis and Sebastian Bialecki. They have been replaced by Raymond van Barneveld, Scott Williams and Mike de Decker from the reserve list. Jose de Sousa is promoted to 16th seed and straight into the second round.
2023 International Darts Open: The Seeds
1 Michael van Gerwen
A rare Euro Tour event that MVG has not won (and he has won 35 of the previous 99 Euro Tour events). He was runner up in 2020 and as far as his tournament record goes, this is one of his worst venues.
MVG has been playing well, winning six of his last ten, but he was very poor when going down 5-6 to Jonny Clayton in last night’s PL quarter final. He averaged just 89 and his accuracy was completely off. Three of his recent defeats have come at the hands of Gerwyn Price, and while he isn’t scheduled to meet Price until the final, he would be hard to fancy. His draw is decent but MVG is only playing at around 90% and looks poor value at 3.00.
2 Damon Heta
Won two matches in Leverkusen last weekend but he has not won three in a row since last November. Heta has lost four of his last ten matches and is not near his best form.
3 Rob Cross
Looked in very good form last weekend, reaching the semi-final but going down in a deciding leg to Dirk van Duijvenbode. He has lost six of his last ten matches, but he may have turned a corner and he can be considered as a contender.
4 Dave Chisnall
I had high hopes for Chisnall last week, but he was very poor. He beat Jim Williams in the first round in a poor match but lost 1-6 to Danny Noppert. He only hit a single 180 across two matches. Chizzy was in great form the week before, but God knows what he’ll do this weekend. Very hard to call.
5 Nathan Aspinall
Has won five of his last ten matches, playing some great stuff, but with some disappointing performances thrown in. He is a three-time Euro Tour semi-finalist but never made a final, never mind winning a title. His draw looks to be relatively kind and if he can show a bit more consistency, who knows?
6 Michael Smith
Said that he was about 90% fit at last week’s European Darts Open after he picked up a bug at the UK Open. His form had certainly dipped as a result, and he has lost five of his last ten matches. He is still scoring well enough and looked in good nick last night, losing the final of PL9 4-6 to Jonny Clayton. A horrible draw makes things more difficult for him.
7 Dirk van Duijvenbode
We hit the bar last weekend with Dirk but at least he was an e/w selection, and he played very well to very nearly beat the in-form Gerwyn Price in the final. He has won seven of his last ten matches and his 2023 form sees a 79% win rate. He is one of the form players and remains very much one to follow.
8 Peter Wright
Snakebite has not been engaged with playing darts right now. Until his off oche woes are resolved, it is likely he will continue to struggle. He had lost seven of his last ten matches going into last night’s Premier League and lost again, 3-6 to Gerwyn Price.
I did notice that he was in full Snakebite regalia, painted bonce and all. A sign that ‘Team Wright’ is back in action? He started last night’s game playing well, but as soon as Price came back at him, he folded quickly.
9 Joe Cullen
The defending champion comes here in poor form, losing six of his last ten matches with half of those ten seeing sub 90 averages.
10 Danny Noppert
Reached the semi-final last weekend after a quiet time since winning PC2 in February. He did get a fairly easy ride opponent wise and its likely he’ll find someone too good for him at some stage.
11 Gerwyn Price
Will have been delighted to have won last weekend. That all but ensures his place in the European Championship finals and he can afford to skip the Euro Tour until after the end of the Premier League and keep his schedule light if he feels the need to.
He is in great form, winning nine of his last ten, and after a bit of a title drought, he looks poised to pick up more titles. He is in a very tough quarter of the draw, but the way he is playing, he is the man to beat.
12 Martin Schindler
Schindler has lost four of last five matches and was poor last weekend, losing 0-6 to Willy O’Connor. His scoring has been underwhelming for a while, and while he got to the semi-final of PC5 a few weeks ago, he only averaged 90.2.
13 Jonny Clayton
In poor form, his scoring is slipping and his confidence looks low. Hard to fancy. But then he goes and wins last night’s PL. I didn’t see that one coming and I suspect neither did he. The return of The Ferret?
Well, Price followed up his PL victory with a win in Europe last weekend, but he is playing a lot better than Clayton. His confidence will have got a welcome boost and it will be interesting to see if he has turned a corner, but he has lost five of his last ten matches and this will be a lot harder to win.
14 Josh Rock
Reached another Euro Tour quarter-final last weekend but despite a good performance against Brendan Dolan, he wasn’t great overall. He has won seven of his last ten matches and another good run is not out of the question. He only hit a single 180 across his three matches last weekend, which is not a good sign.
15 Dimitri van den Bergh
Blowing hot and cold at the moment. He has won six of his last ten matches but he is heading in the right direction. More of a dangerous opponent than a likely looking winner. He was poor last night in the PL, averaging 87 in a 3-6 to Michael Smith.
16 Jose de Sousa
It is a Brucie Bonus for The Special One, getting elevated into the seeded group of players and a guaranteed £2500 ranking money. Whether he can progress any further is up for debate. His 2023 win rate is under 50% and his scoring has fallen off the cliff. He has lost seven of his last ten matches, and he lost his opening match against Ted Evetts 0-6 last weekend.
Best of the Non-Seeded Players
Andrew Gilding
The 2023 UK Open champion returns to a stage after his life changing win at the start of the month. He has only played six matches since and lost four. There will have been a lot of mental let down but it will be interesting to see how he gets on back on a stage for the first time since his big win. He was a Euro Tour finalist last year so we can’t rule out another good run. He has been given a hard draw, facing Daryl Gurney in the first round, and if he gets through that, Dave Chisnall awaits.
Brendan Dolan
Has only reached one Euro Tour final and that was back in 2013, but Dolan has won seven of his last ten matches and is an awkward opponent at the very least.
Daryl Gurney
Superchin has qualified for the first seven Euro Tour events and would like to start making the most of the opportunities. His win rate suggests he can, 69% in 2023. His doubling has been patchy and that looks to be the last the last part of the puzzle to fall into place.
Frustration is the enemy of good form, and he just needs a break to get him going. A decent draw would be a welcome change. Needless to say, he hasn’t got one. He faces Andrew Gilding tonight and if he wins that, Dave Chisnall. He has a close H2H record vs. Chizzy and Gurney could have a decent run, if he can beat Gilding.
Kim Huybrechts
Something of a tournament specialist back in the day, reaching the semi-final in 2015 and the final for the following two years. He is not the player he was back then, but he won PC3 last month, so do not rule out a good run from a player who is in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches.
Ross Smith
Another title winner in 2023. Smith won PC5 and had two more quarter finals already in 2023. Narrowly lost to runner up Dirk van Duijvenbode last weekend and do not be surprised to see him in the mix again this weekend. He has got the draw from hell but he is playing well, winning eight of his last ten matches and has a 2023 win rate of 76%.
2023 International Darts Open: The Draw
The top quarter now has MVG as the top seed, joined by De Sousa, Wright and Cullen as the other seed. There is only one likely semi-finalist from that lot. Of the unseeded players, Kim Huybrechts looks like he could make the third round and face MVG.
The second quarter has Chisnall, Clayton, Aspinall and Schindler as the four seeds. Chizzy was very poor last weekend but had been playing some excellent stuff before that. Aspinall is another possible semi-finalist, but Schindler makes no appeal. Clayton’s win last night confuses matters.
Non Seeded
The non-seeded players are interesting. UK Open winner Andrew Gilding plays Gurney in the first round, with the winner to play Chisnall. It must be said, another stinker of a draw for Superchin, but if he could make the third round, things could be looking up. Raymond van Barneveld faces Stephen Burton and the winner of that will fancy their chances against an out of form Schindler.
The third quarter will have a player whose first name begins with a D reaching the semi-final. The four seeds are Dimitri van den Bergh, Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert. A likely third round clash between Dirk and Danny could be the key match, but Dimitri cannot be ruled out as he has a good record over Dirk.
Tough Bottom Quarter
The bottom quarter is tough, this weekend’s group of death. The four seeds are Rob Cross, Josh Rock, Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price. Of the unseeded players, Ross Smith should be Price’s opponent in round two. Michael Smith gets the winner of the Rydz vs. De Decker tie and that is tricky.
Rob Cross is a dangerous opponent as is Josh Rock. Price is playing great, but he will not be happy to see that he is drawn to face Ross Smith in round 2. Smudger has a 4-2 H2H record over Price, so the three-time champion faces a real test in his opening match.
MVG Too Short
Sometimes you can look at the draw, and a few players stand out, but this week it is hard to see any good things for a path to the semi-finals. Michael van Gerwen is one, but he has lost his last two matches against Kim Huybrechts and it would be no surprise to see that as a third round tie. Van Gerwen is the 4.00 favourite but it is getting on for a year since his last ET win and while he has decent draw, his odds are a bit short.
Gerwyn Price is the man to beat. He has the toughest draw of all, but he is playing well enough to think that he can beat all comers. That said, he will need to be on it from the first dart, but that is exactly what he has been doing.
Dirk van Duijvenbode missed his chance to beat Price in last weekend’s final. He looked severely pissed off (he wasn’t alone) and it will be interesting to see if he bounces back this weekend, or has that knocked his confidence? He is a bigger price than he was this time last week and remains very backable.
Ross Smith was on the short list but then he got drawn to face Price in the second round. That is a bad draw for both players but Smith is a 51.00 shot and so tempting.
