2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tips

Check out James Punt’s 2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday tips below. He fired in four winners from six bets yesterday, hopefully there’s more to come.

First Round

Four out of six last night and if Daniel Klose had hit one of his four darts to win his fourth leg, it would have been better. Most of the first round matches went to script, with just Big Boris Krcmar upsetting the formbook, beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4, but is that really a surprise?

Today is the day when the seeds join the action and looks like we have a full complement of players in attendance.

Danny Noppert vs. Wessel Nijman

Nijman made hard work of beating local qualifier Paul Kronhe. Nijman was the better player but the match went to a deciding leg which the Dutchman won with a very tidy thirteen darter. Nijman has won just four of his last ten matches and I guess his confidence is not great.

He has been putting in a lot of poor performances. In ET1 he beat a local qualifier 6-5 and then lost 5-6 to Jonny Clayton. Could we see something similar?

Danny Noppert is not in good form, he has lost seven of his last ten matches and is playing with no great consistency. He is either right on it, or rubbish. That makes him, and any match he is in, a very risky proposition.

Their H2H record is 2-1 to Noppert and he is the marginal 2.00 outsider, with Nijman 1.91. This has no bet written all over it.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No Bet

James Wade vs. Ross Smith

Wade is in good form, winning seven of his last ten matches. He reached the semi-final in Belgium a couple of weeks ago, was runner up in the UK Open just before that and reached the quarter final of PC6 eleven days ago. He did not play in the two Players Championship events earlier this week.

Ross Smith beat Michael Unterbuchner 6-1 yesterday and averaged 106.44. It was the best performance of the day and of course, he will struggle to match it today. Smudger has won seven of his last ten matches and playing with a good deal of consistency.

Their H2H record is 7-3 to Wade, but more importantly, Smith has won three of their last four, including a 6-1 win in PC1 earlier this year. Smith’s great strength is his 180 hitting. He is ranked 4th for 180s per leg over the last twelve months at 0.36. Over his last six matches he is 0.47. That is a good barometer of his form.

Smith is the 1.73 favourite, Wade 2.20.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Ross Smith to win @ 1.73 with Livescorebet, Betfred, Hills

Rob Cross vs. Andrew Gilding

Gilding had an easy job beating Callan Rydz 6-2 yesterday. Rydz was not at the races and when he is in that mood, he beats himself. Gilding has won six of his last ten matches, but half of those matches saw a sub 90 average.

Rob ‘impossible to call’ Cross has won five of his last ten matches, but he is playing against the top players most of the time. His seasonal average is 97.47 and he does play to it quite consistently, which makes it all the more puzzling as to why his win rate is 62%. It is a reasonably good win rate, but not up there with the best, and it should be higher given his scoring.

Cross is 4-2 with Gilding and he has won their last three and won them easily. He can clearly handle the weirdness of Gilding.

Cross is the 1.44 favourite, Gilding 3.00. I don’t bet on Rob Cross matches anymore as he just inflicts pain upon me. His 170 checkout against Price on Thursday night was a case in point. If I was having a bet, it would be on Cross to cover a -2.5 leg handicap.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No Bet

Damon Heta vs. Cameron Menzies

Menzies beat Alan Soutar in the Scottish Derby yesterday. It was a strange match, with Soutar looking the better player, hitting five 180s and a 170 checkout out, but Menzies won 6-2. Both players averaged 99, but Menzies was better on the doubles with a 66% checkout rate. Menzies has won five of his last ten matches and consistency is not his trademark.

Dodgy Damon Heta carries on picking up nice cheques by winning 70% of his matches and losing in quarter finals. He has lost three already in 2025. In that sense, he is very consistent. He played six matches in this week’s Players Championship events and had three sub 90 averages.

Their H2H record is 3-2 to Heta. They have taken turns at beating each other, and if that sequence continues, it is Menzies’ turn. Heta is the 1.62 favourite, Menzies 2.38. The value lies with Menzies but he is not banker material. He can throw the towel in too easily for my liking.

Heta won seven of his thirteen second round matches last year and he makes no appeal at the odds. No bet.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No Bet

Chris Dobey vs. Jermaine Wattimena

Dobey ended his losing run in the Premier League on Thursday night, but it was a poor match between two players who were as tight as a drum. Stephen Bunting is in the dumps and withdrew from this event to lick his wounds. Dobey has only won three of his last ten matches and he is very low on confidence.

Wattimena was not well yesterday, full of the cold, and he was going straight back to bed after beating Marko Kantele 6-2. It was only an 87 average and even an out of form Dobey can live with that.

Dobey is there for the taking, but Wattimena is not in full health. Dobey makes no appeal at 1.67. Wattimena is 2.30 and if he was fully fit, he would be a strong bet to improve on his 4-1 H2H record against Dobey. They met on the Euro Tour once last year, and Wattimena won that 6-0.

I will just have to hope that Wattimena has taken his medicine and is feeling a bit better today.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Jermaine Wattimena to win @ 2.30 with Hills

Michael Smith vs. Ricardo Pietreczko

Pietreczko was struggling against Klose last night, but he found second gear when it was 3-3 and ran out the 6-3 winner. It wasn’t a great performance, but good enough to beat a modest opponent. Pikachu has lost seven of his last ten matches and this looks to be a good draw for Smith.

Michael Smith has been struggling with various injuries but he is getting physio for his shoulder and cortisone injections for his arthritic wrists. Not great for a darts player.

Smith has lost six of his last ten matches and he is far from his best, in fact he is some way off his B game.

Two out of form players doesn’t make for a great match. Smith is the 1.62 favourite, Pietreczko 2.50. I am happy to sit this one out.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No Bet

Gian van Veen vs. Josh Rock

Van Veen was not great in his 6-5 win over Conor Scutt last night. Since he won PC6, Van Veen has not been great, he was certainly playing a lot better a couple of weeks ago.

Josh Rock is not having a great 2025 and he is getting frustrated by his lack of success. He has lost six of his last ten matches and is very inconsistent. He did make the semi-final of the UK Open but won just three matches since. He played well against Boris Krčmar in ET1 but lost 3-6.

Their H2H record is 6-1 to Van Veen and maybe that will give Gian the confidence to relax and let the darts flow,

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Gian van Veen to win @ 1.73 generally available

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Ryan Joyce

After winning PC5 Joe Cullen was ranting on that he was ranked 22nd in the World but there was no way that there were twenty one players who are better than him. Well we found one last night as Ryan Searle beat him 6-0. Cullen was very poor and Joyce won to nil with a 90 average.

Van den Bergh is out of form and this could be a good draw for Joyce, who is not in great form himself, but he is steady enough to accept gifts. Van den Bergh has lost eight of his last ten matches and he only seems to find any sort of form when playing on TV. Eight of his last ten matches have seen sub 90 averages and three were sub 80.

2025 European Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Ryan Joyce to win -1.5 legs @ 2.25 with Betfair

-JamesPunt