2023 Saturday World Grand-Prix Darts Preview – JP
2023 Saturday World Grand-Prix Match Previews
James Punt roared back to form last night with two winners from two tips. He is hoping to continue in the same vein on semi-finals night. Check out his 2023 Saturday World Grand-Prix previews and betting picks below.
Michael Smith vs. Gerwyn Price
A match fit for a major final. Two World Champions going toe to toe should be a feast for the eyes.
Smith has put his previous record in this event behind him, but let’s be honest, he has had an easy ride to get here. Beating Rydz, Dolan and Gilding hasn’t been a stretch for him and he has yet to drop a set.
Bully Boy said that he was looking forward to playing Price as he will get the pace of play he needs to play his best. He might change his mind if Price is throwing bombs at him. Smith has played in seventeen major semi-finals and won ten.
This will be Gerwyn Price’s fourth straight Grand Prix semi-final in a row and he has won two. It is a very good tournament record and shows that he is perfectly at home with the format, which can’t be said about many players.
Like Smith, Price is yet to drop a set and he won at a canter against Schindler last night, dropping just one leg.
Top Form
Both players are in great form, winning eight of their last ten matches. Smith is arguably the most naturally gifted player of his generation, Price the most competitive.
If it comes to a darting brawl, Price seems the better equipped to win. Smith reckons he will need to average well over a ton to compete so he is setting a very high bar for himself.
Their H2H record is very close, 24-21 to Smith. On TV (not including Premier League) it is 4-4 and in this event 2-1 to Price, all in the first round.
Iceman Fav
Price is the 1.67 favourite with Smith 2.38 We haven’t seen either player at their best so far and it is a hard one to call. The outright odds look about right, maybe a touch generous about Price. His is the better event record and under pressure, will Smith remember why he struggled in it for so long?
They have played each other nine times in 2023, mostly in the Premier League. Smith won five, but only their 8-6 scoreline in the World Series event in Bahrain was close. They had one ten leg match in the PL but otherwise the score has not been close.
All three of Price’s semi-finals have been over 5.5 sets and another looks to be a reasonable bet.
2023 Saturday World Grand-Prix Tip: 1 point over 5.5 sets @ 1.62 with SpreadEx
2023 Saturday World Grand-Prix Tip: 0.5 point Gerwyn Price to win 4-2 @ 5.00 generally available
Joe Cullen vs. Luke Humphries
Humphries finally brought something closer to his A game to the party last night, beating Peter Wright 3-2. He was 0-2 and heading for the exit when Wright missed three darts to win the match 3-1. Humphries completed the comeback by winning the deciding set 3-2.
It was a hard won match, and he dodged some bullets along the way. Humphries has played in five previous big TV semi-finals and lost the last four. He is a familiar face at this stage of the big events having reached the semi-final in four of his last eight TV events.
It is a widely held belief that it is only a matter of time before he does go on and win his first major title, but he still has to do it and first of all he has to get past Joe Cullen.
Cullen isn’t quite in the same league. He has won a big TV event and has been a Premier League player and indeed the runner up. Rockstar can play at the elite level but maybe lacks the consistency to be a permanent fixture at the top end of the top 16. He has now moved up to number 10 but a win here won’t change that.
Cullen Playing Better
He has played better than Humphries so far and he played well again to come back from 1-2 down to Chris Dobey to win a close match 3-2. Cullen has played in five major TV semi-finals and won two, the 2022 Masters semi-final and the 2022 Premier League final.
His nose was put out of joint by then not getting a pick for this year’s Premier League and it is fair to say that both of these players probably deserved a pick rather than Chris Dobey, who did get one. A win here and either player can stake an even stronger claim for a 2024 PL pick.
Humphries Has Recent Edge
Their H2H record is 5-4 to Joe Cullen but Humphries has the better recent record, winning four of their last six and he also won their only TV match 10-3 in last year’s Players Championship finals.
Their game stats say that Humphries is the better player, he is a heavier scorer, has a better checkout rate, better first nine average, but the differences are not huge.
So far this week? I would say that Cullen has been the better player and if he can keep his game going, he can win. Humphries was more like himself last night and he could be coming to the boil at the right time.
Humphries is the 1.58 favourite with Cullen 2.70. The semi-finals are best of 7 sets so the pressure, the level of panic if losing a set, is less than what they have experienced so far. However, the double in format is still something of a leveller.
It is a hard call. I do think that Humphries has the greater potential, is the better player, but so far this week my vote goes to Cullen. At the odds, he is just about worth backing.
