2023 Masters Darts Saturday Afternoon Tips – JP
2023 Masters Darts Saturday Preview and Tips
It wasn’t the perfect start for our darting expert James Punt on Friday, but it wasn’t bad. He finished up with three winners overall and he is hoping for an even better showing this afternoon. His 2023 Masters Darts Saturday match previews and tips are below.
Danny Noppert vs. Stephen Bunting
Bunting averaged 93.66 in his 6-5 win over Nathan Aspinall last night. He was better than that for most of the match but Aspinall did his usual thing of trying to win from behind, 0-4 down and levelled it at 5-5 before Bunting nicked it. Bunting opened up with three sub 14 dart legs in the first four legs and was possibly guilty of stepping off the gas a bit.
Noppert won seven of his last ten matches before the break and he has become a very steady, high-level performer these days. Starting his 2023 campaign as first up in an afternoon game isn’t ideal but he has a professional attitude and should be well prepared, but possibly a bit rusty, as we saw with quite a few players last night.
Noppert edges h2h
Their H2H record is 3-2 to Noppert. They haven’t met since 2020 and Noppert has improved quite a bit since then. They have met once on TV with Noppert winning that one 10-7 in 2019.
Will playing last night give Bunting a bit of a head start here? It could do, but these are best of 19 leg matches now which should allow both players to get into the game. There isn’t much between them scoring wise, Noppert is a bit better on the doubles and that may be the difference today.
Noppert is the 1.75 favourite with Bunting 2.20. I’ll go for a close match.
2023 Masters Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 1.80 with Boylesports, Betvictor
Rob Cross vs. Gary Anderson
Anderson is back! He has been practicing with Ryan Searle and others and says that he is taking it seriously this year. Have we heard that before? He averaged 92 when beating a disappointing Dimitri van den Bergh last night and it was a reasonable performance, notable for him hitting six maximums, which helped. He was only 25% on his doubles, which is of more importance, and he was lucky that Dimitri was even worse in that department.
Cross is the first of the players who was away playing in the World Series events so he won’t have the same kind of rust in his game. He was runner up in the Players Championship finals and reached the last 16 at the World Championships. He is cutting a frustrated figure again, playing well but not quite getting it done on TV.
Their H2H record is a massive 14-3 to Anderson. Cross did beat Anderson last time they met at the Players Championship finals, a narrow 6-5 win, and on TV it is 7-2 to Anderson.
Cross is not a fan of this event, and he has lost five of his seven matches here. Will he be more enthused this year? Hard to say, but my money is on Anderson.
2023 Masters Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point Gary Anderson to win @ 2.20 generally available
Jonny Clayton vs. James Wade
The Ferret is the opposite of Cross when it comes to this event. He has only played in four but he won it in 2021 and was a semi-finalist last year. In total he has played 11 and won 8. He was another of the players to have played in the two World Series events and he played well enough but lost in both to Gerwyn Price, which is becoming a bit of a bad habit.
James Wade was the player of the night last night. He averaged 98.8 when beating Rydz 6-2. It was a James Wade masterclass in doubling with a 75% checkout rate and when he plays like that he is hard to beat.
Steady Clayton
Their H2H record is 14-10 to Clayton and on TV 8-4. They played each other here in 2021 and Clayton won 10-9. Clayton isn’t quite the player he was in 2021 but he is a steady player and Wade will need to be somewhere close to where he was last night.
Another 10-9 scoreline would be no surprise, but to which player? The market has Clayton as the 1.53 favourite and Wade 2.63. That is a bit dismissive about Wades chances despite Clayton’s good H2H record and good tournament record. Wade is a past winner as well after all.
2023 Masters Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 1.85 with Ladbrokes
2023 Masters Darts Saturday Tip: 0.5 point Clayton to win 10-9 @ 10.00 with Betfair
Luke Humphries vs. Chris Dobey
Humphries played OK in the World Series events but only won his two first round matches against players he was always going to beat. We are used to him having good runs in the TV tournaments these days and he was in great form on the floor and stage in the second half of last year.
He dominated the Euro tour either side of the summer break, winning four titles and more recently he was a quarter finalist in the European Championship, a semi-finalist at the Grand Slam and Players Championship finals, before reaching the last 16 at Ally Pally. That first TV title has remained elusive, however, and this event offers him a good chance to put that right.
Dobey Played Well
Dobey played well to beat his mate Joe Cullen 6-4 last night, averaging 96.89. That is what he should be doing and after making the quarter finals of the World Championships, he might be feeling a bit more confident, something that is key to him winning more matches. The game is there, the head not always.
Both have won six of their last ten matches but Humphries is the more consistent of the two. Their H2H record is close, 6-5 to Humphries and on TV 1-1. They haven’t played many longer format matches, the longest was in the 2021 World Championship which ended 4 sets to 3 for Humphries.
Humphries is the better player but Dobey is always a dangerous opponent, especially when in form, which he is. Humphries is the 1.73 favourite and Dobey 2.20. I can’t argue with those odds, but I’ll take a chance on another close match. Over the last two years, the second round scores have seen 62.5% having 17 legs or more.
