2024 International Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2024 International Darts Open Betting Preview
The 2024 International Darts Open is the ninth renewal of the event, taking place at the SACHSENarena, Riesa, Germany.
This event has been dominated by one player in recent years. Gerwyn Price has won four of the last five International Darts Opens, and he is going for a hat trick of titles this weekend. Peter Wright won in 2017 and was runner up in 2022.
Michael van Gerwen is a two time runner up, as is Kim Huybrechts. Michael Smith won the very first International Darts Open in 2015 and he was a semi-finalist in 2020. It seems some players have taken a liking to this tournament and venue.
Lukes Dominating ET
The first two Euro Tour events in 2023 have been won by Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. Luke Littler did not qualify for this event.
Gerwyn Price has been a semi-finalist in both of this year’s Euro Tour events, so he will be keen to improve on that, secure his place in the finals and be able to withdraw from a few Euro Tour events in order to manage his schedule better.
Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson have withdrawn from the event. That means Stephen Bunting is elevated to the fifteenth seed and Joe Cullen sixteenth. Lee Evans and Dylan Slevin have been called up and go into the first round draw.
2024 International Darts Open: The Seeds
1 Dave Chisnall
Winner of PC6 three weeks ago, but since then he lost three of his next five matches and put in a few duff performances. So far on this year’s Euro Tour, Chizzy has played three and lost two.
2 Luke Humphries
Runner up on Tuesday, losing to Danny Noppert in PC8. Humphries has won seven of his last ten matches and was the winner of the German Darts Grand Prix two weeks ago. To my eyes, Humphries looks a bit off. He looks a bit tired.
3 Gerwyn Price
Price hasn’t picked up a trophy since winning PC26 at the start of last November, but he continues to play like he should be winning every week. He lost in the first round of PC7 on Monday but hit three ton plus averages in PC8, losing to eventual winner, Danny Noppert in the fourth round.
The Iceman remains one of the very heaviest scorers in the game, and does so consistently, but his doubling can let him down. When he gets to doubles going, he is very hard to beat.
The fact that he hasn’t won a title for six months will be frustrating him, but maybe a return to a venue were he has been so successful will get him over the line. He has lost five of his last ten matches and it will be interesting to see if this event and venue can give him the boost needed to really compete.
Price averaged 103 in defeat to Michael Smith on Thursday night. That was his seventh ton plus average in his last ten matches, and he only won five. There is nothing wrong with his game, but his head is away with the fairies.
4 Damon Heta
Continues to do what Heta does, win plenty of matches, bank plenty of money, but doesn’t win as many titles as he should. He picked up PC4 in February and has a 72% win rate in 2024, winning six of his last ten. He won four matches in this week’s Players Championship, hitting a couple of ton plus averages. As always, you have to expect a decent run, but he is expensive to back for tournament wins.
5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Reached the semi-final here last year. That was when he was playing well and reaching the business end of events on a regular basis. Injuries in the latter part of the year meant he was off the radar for six months or so, but there are signs that he is getting back to some sort of form.
Dirk was runner up in PC6 a few weeks ago, but only won two matches in this week’s Players Championship events. He has lost both his opening matches on the Euro Tour in 2024.
6 Josh Rock
After a long spell out of form, Rock has suddenly found his A-game. He was runner up to Chris Dobey on Monday before reaching the fourth round on Tuesday. He wasn’t completely convincing at times, but winning eight of his last ten matches will have been a big confidence boost. Rock reached the quarter finals in ET2 and maybe he can have another good run.
7 Rob Cross
Finally has hit a poor run of form. It has all gone wrong in the PL and since Cross lost the final of ET1 a month ago, he has lost five of his last ten matches and is hard to fancy.
8 Jonny Clayton
Won three matches earlier this week but one ton average apart, his scoring was weak. The Ferret is playing with a bit more confidence than he was in the second half of 2023, but he is way off his best form.
9 Danny Noppert
Won PC 8 on Tuesday, his fifth Players Championship title. He has won eight of his last ten matches and in the German Darts Grand Prix, he hit three ton plus averages but still lost 2-6 to Luke Humphries in the quarter final. Hasn’t yet won on the Euro Tour.
10 Michael Smith
Went out in the second round of both PC7 and PC8 at the start of the week. Smith is not playing with enough consistency to think he is going to win a title right now. He beat Price on Thursday night but followed that up with a 4-6 defeat to MVG and a 89 average.
11 Ross Smith
Continues to play well and is having some good runs. He reached the semi-finals of PC5, PC6 and on Monday, PC7. Smudger has won seven of his last ten matches and should be expected to have a bit of a run this weekend, but while he has won the European Championship, he has never reached the final of a Euro Tour event. He will need to be perfect to do so, or at least have some luck.
12 Krzysztof Ratajski
Remains in poor form, losing seven of his last ten matches.
13 Ryan Searle
Has won six of his last ten matches and is playing OK, but not like he was in the first two months of the year. Searle reached the third round in Germany last time out, and the quarter final in Belgium, but he isn’t a player I back on the Euro Tour.
14 Ricardo Pietreczko
Hit a 108 average in the first round of PC7 on Monday but lost in the second round. He lost in the first round on Tuesday. Overall, Pietreczko has lost six of his last ten matches and is hard to fancy.
15 Stephen Bunting
For the second Euro Tour event of the year, Bunting has got a free pass into the top 16 seeds and straight into the second round. He didn’t make the most of it last time, losing 2-6 to Wattimena in his opening match. Bunting has won five of his last ten matches and that reflects some inconsistency that has crept into his game recently.
16 Joe Cullen
Cullen has also lost five of his last ten and is not playing with any great consistency. Five of his last ten matches have seen sub 91 averages He played nicely in the first two rounds in the German Darts Grand Prix, but they averaged 84 vs. MVG and lost 0-6. Hard to fancy Cullen having a deep run as a result.
Best of the Unseeded Players
The new qualifying system is making a difference. The higher quality of first round players is making life tougher for the seeds. In Germany three weeks ago, we had the unseeded Martin Schindler making the semi-final in ET2.
ET 1 saw the unseeded Luke Littler winning the title in Belgium. That said, Littler was hardly your average qualifier. There are quite a few in-form players coming in at the first round stage, and they have the chance to have a match to get acclimatised, before their second round match vs. a seed on Saturday.
Nathan Aspinall
A loss to MVG on Thursday means The Asp has lost five of his last ten matches. Another top player yet to win a Euro Tour title.
Chris Dobey
Won PC7 on Monday and only a 5-6 loss to Luke Humphries on Tuesday ended a ten match winning run for Dobey. PC7 was only his third PDC title, so maybe expecting another so soon is a bit optimistic? It may well be, but he will be feeling very confident, and he has got a pretty nice draw.
Martin Schindler
Semi-finalist at the German Darts Grand Prix. Schindy has home advantage and he has been playing some impressive darts, if not with the best consistency. Another good run would be no surprise and I can see him getting into the final days play.
Daryl Gurney
Superchin’s return to the top level is a bit like Incy Wincy Spiders progress. It isn’t happening at a rapid rate, but the momentum is there. He has improved his doubling to a good level and his results are showing much better runs in tournaments.
Daryl had struggled to string more than one or two wins together, but now he is having decent runs, making a semi-final in PC6 and the quarter final in PC7 earlier this week. He made the fourth round on Tuesday and has won seven of his last ten matches.
Gurney has a seasonal win rate of 68%, his highest since 2017, and he did pretty well back then.
Gian Van Veen
Starting to look close to his best again. Gian reached the semi-final of PC8 on Tuesday, losing 6-7 to Luke Humphries. He has won seven of his last ten matches and he keeps coming up against players playing worldie stuff.
He lost in the second round in ET2, despite averaging 108, but he has won a few ugly matches, which is important. Van Veen faces Barney in the first round, who he beat 6-5 in the first round three weeks ago and if he wins that, he faces Rob Cross in the second. He is 3-1 vs. Cross. There is a path into the second day.
Luke Woodhouse
The third Luke and he too is playing some good stuff. Woody reached the semi-final of PC7 on Monday and while he may not have the firepower to go really deep, he should get the chance to play Bunting on Saturday. However, with a 1-9 H2H record with Bunting, it may be his third second round exit in a row on the ET.
Ritchie Edhouse
He isn’t going to win it, but Edhouse is playing well, winning seven of his last twelve matches and hitting three big ton plus averages. He lacks the consistency necessary to have a deep run, but I fancy him to make the second round and he could give Michael Smith a fright, having taken him to a deciding leg on four occasions.
Selections
Who has got the most juice in the tank? The Premier League players are starting to feel the pace. The travelling is taking a toll and I am going to rule out all the PL players out on that basis.
From the first quarter, Chisnall or Noppert make the most appeal to make the semi-final. All three are decent odds but Noppert, with another title under his belt already this week, looks a good enough price.
2024 International Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point e/w Danny Noppert to win @ 34.00 generally available
There is one stand out candidate from the second quarter and that is Chris Dobey. He has reached just one Euro Tour final, but he is in great form, winning ten of his last eleven matches. He has a decent draw and hopefully he can have a big tournament.
2024 International Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point e/w Chris Dobey to win @ 21.00 with Boylesports
The third quarter has no less than three premier league players. If they are feeling a little burnt out, that leaves an opportunity for some else to crash the party. Gian van Veen is in good form and he is going to win something sometime, sooner rather than later hopefully.
2024 International Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point Gian Van Veen to win @ 51.00 with SpreadEx
The fourth quarter has Gerwyn Price as the top seed and with his excellent tournament record he has to be a strong consideration. He hits ton plus averages in his sleep, but he keeps coming up dry. I will take a chance on Josh Rock. The Northern Irishman has found some good form after a poor spell. It is a tough quarter, but his odds are acceptable.
