2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday Night Preview – JP
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday Night Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night match previews. He fired in a nice 2.60 winner this afternoon, fingers crossed it is the first of many this weekend.
Baltic Sea Darts Open
This is an evening session filled with very tricky matches. There is one good looking betting opportunity, right at the end of the night.
Madars Razma vs. Chris Dobey
Their H2H record says 4-3 to Dobey, which suggests that this is a contest. However, their last match was back in 2020. Dobey is a better player these days, Razma, maybe not.
In terms of recent form, Razma has won seven of his last ten matches. That is a fairly sharp uptick as he had been really struggling. His scoring hasn’t been great in 2024, averaging just 89.5.
Dobey, on the other hand, is averaging 97.3 in 2024 and has won six of his last ten matches. Eight of those saw 96+ averages and he is playing at a high level, consistently.
Dobey is the 1.29 favourite and it is hard to see him losing to Razma on current form. He is 1.85 with a -2.5 leg handicap and in a first to six leg match, that is cutting it fine. No bet.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night Tip: No Bet
Gian Van Veen vs. Kevin Troppmann
Van Veen hasn’t had the easiest of first round draws in 2024, so this local qualifier will seem like light relief. However, their H2H record is 2-1 to Troppmann. That should serve as a warning to Van Veen.
Van Veen averages 93.84 in 2024, Troppmann 81.61. It should be a no-contest and that is reflected in odds of 1.08. All three of their Development tour matches have been close, two requiring a deciding leg. It seems he had the ability to drag van Veen down to his level.
I came close to having poke on Troppmann doing so again. I can’t see a win, but he might get three legs on the board. Odds of 2.25 for over 8.5 legs is just a bit too short, however. No bet.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night Tip: No Bet
Daryl Gurney vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
We are on Gurney outright so hopefully, he gets the job done here. He will be aware that Brendan Dolan lost his first round match this afternoon so this tournament is now a great chance to close the gap in the World Cup race.
Gurney is the 1.83 favourite. He is in better form, but he has lost his last four matches against Dimitri, the last being back in 2022. Overall, Gurney is 6-4. No bet.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night Tip: No Bet
Ritchie Edhouse vs. Nathan Aspinall
Another of our outright selections, Ritchie Edhouse, faces a tricky opener, but he is playing great and feeling confident against anyone.
Aspinall has that long trip from Leeds to Kiel to get here today and that has to count against him. He has skipped the last two Euro Tour events and perhaps the race to get from the PL venues to play the next day, in remote locations in Europe was one reason.
He lost in the first round of ET1, had an easy ride in ET2, but survived match darts against him in the first round of ET3.
Different Edhouse
Edhouse is 2-4 against Aspinall, but Aspinall will be facing a very different Edhouse tonight. From journeyman pro to Euro Tour beast.
It will be difficult for Aspinall to pick himself up from losing 3-6 to Michael Smith last night, travelling to Kiel, and getting on his A game. His mind must also be on the fact that he has to play Smith again next Thursday, with the winner making the PL playoffs.
Edhouse has been good to us on the Euro Tour this season and he looks a decent price to get another win.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night Tip: 1 point Edhouse to win @ 2.63 with BET365
Luke Littler vs. Wessel Nijman
The Boy Wonder, Luke Littler, has won two of his three Euro Tour tournaments, not just matches, but titles. He is the 5.50 second favourite to win this title, so he will be a stick on to win this surely? He is the 1.36 favourite, but the value lies with Nijman.
The Dutch youngster is only starting out at senior level, as of course is Littler. It is Littler who has got the darting world’s attention, and even the wider sporting audience’s attention. However, Nijman could turn out to be another Dutch master.
His A game is every bit as good as Littler’s, and Littler knows it. These two played on the Development tour last year. Littler finished second on the OOM, Nijman third, both behind Gian van Veen. But in their H2H matches, it was Nijman who won five of their six meetings.
Closely Matched
Littler has moved on to play exclusively at senior level while Nijman still plays both Pro Tour and Development tour. On the Pro Tour, Nijman averages 95.64, just shy of Littler’s 96.30. Nijman has the 12th highest average, Littler 7th. On the Development Tour, Nijman is ranked 1st with 94.00.
Clearly, Nijman is a heavy scorer and is ranked 5th for 180s per leg over the last 12 months, ahead of Littler in 7th place. He can punch every bit as hard as Littler. What he doesn’t have, is the consistency of Littler. That is what sets Littler apart from his Development tour rivals. He rarely deviates from a very high level.
It is clear that Littler deserves to be favourite, but favourites get beaten, and part of the joy of punting is finding a well-priced outsider who has a realistic chance of proving the market wrong.
Long Trip For Littler
What Littler has against him tonight is not only a very dangerous opponent who has a great H2H record against him, but the fact that he has had to make the trip from Leeds, where he was playing Premier League darts last night, to Kiel. He will be travelling for six or seven hours if everything goes to schedule.
In terms of recent form, Littler has won thirteen of his last fourteen matches. Seven PL matches won and six Euro Tour matches. He beat a hapless Peter Wright 6-1 last night but was surprisingly poor against MVG in the semi-final, losing 1-6.
Nijman In Form
Nijman has won seven of his last ten matches, half on the Development tour, but also seven of his last ten at senior level. He is still finding his feet at senior level and lacks much stage experience.
That counts against him, but I give him a chance of getting a result here. He is one of very few people who go into a match with Littler holding a comprehensive H2H record against him.
Littler has to contend with a long journey to get to the venue today, and he showed some ordinary form when facing Zoran Lerchbacher in the first round of the Austrian Darts Open. He won that match, and the tournament, but he was lucky to be playing a part timer that evening.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Friday night Tip: 1 point Wessel Nijman to win @ 3.80 with Unibet
In their previous six matches, Nijman has hit the most 180s in three, Littler one and the other two saw them hit the same number. Nijman does hit them at a slightly higher rate overall and he looks to be worth backing to hit the most 180s.
