2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Preview – JP
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday match previews. Wissel Nijman and Ritchie Edhouse both delivered for us last night at tasty odds, hopefully our good run continues.
Josh Rock vs. Franz Rötzsch
Franz Rötzsch managed to beat Haupai Puha 6-4 yesterday. It wasn’t a great match, but he showed a bit of grit to come from 2-4 down to win. An 85.93 average isn’t going to bother Rock too much. That was a fair representation of the German’s game, and while he can play better, he can play worse.
Rock isn’t at the top of his game. His form has slipped a bit lately and he has lost six of his last ten. One of his losses was to Haupai Puha, which is an interesting bit of form. That said, he will be too good for Rötzsch.
Rock is the 1.22 favourite and he should justify those odds. No bets.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: No Bet
Daryl Gurney vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode
Superchin was far from super in his 6-3 win over Van den Bergh yesterday, but a win is a win and he has another great chance to progress to round three. Gurney only averaged 88.30 yesterday and he is a lot better than that. Hopefully that sloppy performance will act as a kick up the arse.
Dirk will be hoping that Gurney plays as poorly as he did yesterday, but even then, Gurney may win. The Aubergenius is a player who’s fortunes have waxed and waned to great degrees over the years. Right now, his game is in a waning phase. He has lost eight of his last ten matches but occasionally he shows us the old Dirk, so this is no free pass for Gurney.
These two last met in the semi-final of PC6 back in March and Dirk won 7-6. Time for some revenge for Gurney who is very motivated to get his place in the World Cup back.
Gurney is the 1.67 favourite, Van Duijvenbode 2.30. That recent semi-final was the first time these two have needed a deciding leg in their previous seven matches.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point Daryl Gurney to win -1.5 legs @ 2.10 with Livescorebet, Betfred
Ryan Searle vs. Jermaine Wattimena
Wattimena has made a few changes to his game and it is paying off. He is no longer the most overrated player in darts and is now a player to consider for backing. He is not going to win things but he will win more matches.
Wattimena has won five of his last ten matches and made short work of the in-form Brendan Dolan yesterday. It was a 6-1 win and a 101 average.
Ryan Searle has lost five of his last ten matches also. He has lost his last two Euro Tour last 32 round matches, both 5-6. He averaged 102 in one and 99 in the other, so, he was playing very well but just came up against players who pipped him. Scoring wise, there is nothing wrong with his game.
Their H2H record is 2-1 to Wattimena. The first two matches were back in 2018 and the most recent was a 5-6 win for Wattimena last year. They have never met on stage before.
If this was the old Wattimena, I’d be all over Searle, but now, you have to give the Dutchman more respect. Searle is the 1.53 favourite with Wattimena 2.75. Searle deserves to be favourite, but by that margin? Maybe not.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Betfair, Betvictor
Ross Smith vs. Luke Woodhouse
I was glad to have swerved the Woodhouse vs. Joyce match yesterday. Joyce is in great form and he was tempting, but Woodhouse is playing near the top of his game as well. He won that match 6-5 and he has won six of his last ten.
Woodhouse is not going to win too many awards for his consistency, but his A game is good. If he could stop beating himself up, he would be a lot better.
Ross Smith is having a lot of success on the Euro Tour this season, and he may well win one before the year is out. He has reached a final, a semi-final and a quarter final in the last three events. Smith has won six of his last ten matches, but has lost three of his last four, so his form is hard to nail down.
Smith is the 1.62 favourite, Woodhouse 2.50. Their H2H record is 4-3 to Smith. They last met in ET4 and Smith won 6-2. Most of their matches have been quite one sided but this one makes no appeal betting wise. No bet.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: No bet
Damon Heta vs. Gian Van Veen
Heta is not in great form, losing five of his last ten matches. He is normally a heavy scorer but in his last seven matches, his highest average is just 93 and something isn’t right.
Gian van Veen was very nearly carrying the Punt pound again this weekend, but I gave him a break, so no doubt he will go far now. He has won seven of his last ten matches and he has been playing a lot of darts in the last week.
Van Veen played three Development tour events, winning one and runner up in another, along with the two Players Championship events in Germany on Monday and Tuesday. His consistency isn’t quite there but he remains a real threat to anyone.
Their H2H record is 4-2 to Heta but the two wins for Gian were 6-0 and 6-1. Heta is the 1.73 favourite with Van Veen 2.20. Given their recent form, I have to be with Van Veen for this one.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point Gian van Veen to win @ 2.20 with BET365, Hills
Joe Cullen vs. James Wade
James Wade averaged 99.92 in a 6-2 win over Niels Zonneveld yesterday. He has been putting in some good performances recently, but he has lost seven of his last ten. Along with some very good stuff, there have been four sub 90 averages and I can’t get involved with that sort of inconsistency. And he is playing Joe Cullen, whose own form is not much different. No bet.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: No Bet
Rob Cross vs. Maik Kuivenhoven
Kuivenhoven beat a local qualifier 6-0 yesterday. He averaged 92 and it was a nice clean kill with little fuss. He has won five of his last ten matches and he is an OK player, not a tournament winner kind of player, but he does tend to struggle against the big boys, of which Cross is one.
Cross has won five of his last ten matches. He was finally eliminated from the Premier League on Thursday, so his mind is free to concentrate on winning more matches. He is one of the most consistent, heavy scoring players out there, but his win rate in 2024 is just 24%. It must do his head in.
Their H2H record is 2-1 to Cross and their last match was on the Euro Tour last year, which Cross won 6-2. Kuivenhoven was poor that day and he may win a leg or two more, but Cross should win.
Cross is the 1.40 favourite but he can be backed at 1.62 on the handicap.
2024 Baltic Sea Darts Saturday Tip: 1 point Rob Cross to win -1.5 legs @ 1.62 with Betfred, BET365
Ricardo Pietreczko vs. Moritz Hilger
Hilger beat Matthew Dennant 6-2 yesterday in a match where both averaged 79. Pietreczko isn’t playing well, losing seven of his last ten matches. His last five matches saw a highest average of 90.66 and a low of 74.31. He is very lucky to have got the softest of second round draws.
Hilger might give Pietreczko a bit of a game if Pikachu keeps on playing to a sub 90 average. Hilger is 1.67 getting +3.5 legs and I’ll skip on this one.
