2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Preview – JP
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Preview
James Punt has already posted an outright preview, read that here. His 2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 betting preview is below.
Andrew Gilding vs. Matthew Dennant
Gilding is in poor form, losing seven of his last ten matches. On the Euro Tour, Gilding has won five of his eight first round matches but he can’t be coming into this feeling very confident. But has he got lucky with the draw?
Matthew Dennant doesn’t get to play in many Euro Tour events. He is into his tenth year on the Pro Tour but has played in only eight Euro Tour events in total. From those eight, he has won just two matches.
One of those was in the first round of ET4 in April when he beat Rowby-John Rodriguez. That was his second event of the 2025 Euro Tour and he lost his first-round match of ET1, 5-6 to Ricardo Pitreczko. Dennant’s recent form is also quite poor, losing six of his last ten matches.
H2H
Their H2H record, always important when Captain Weird is playing, is 4-2 to Gilding. All were on the floor and only one has been played in the last five years. That was a 6-4 win for Gilding last September.
Gilding is the 1.57 favourite, Dennant 2.75. Normally when I see an odds-on favourite who has lost seven of their last ten matches, I look to oppose them, but looking at Dennant’s form, it is hard to see anything to suggest that he is value at 2.74. He has hit six sub 90 averages and just one 95+.
It could be a low-quality grind and over 9.5 legs is 2.00, but there has to be better bets around. No bet.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Cameron Menzies vs. Nandor Pres
From the four previous Hungarian Darts Opens, of the sixteen local qualifiers that have played in the first round, only two have won a match, and one of those was when two of them got drawn together. Nandor Pres has a seasonal average of 78.32. He played in last year’s Swiss Darts Trophy and lost 0-6 to Andrew Gilding and that is his only Euro Tour experience.
Menzies has lost five of his last ten matches and his last saw an average of 66.85 in a 1-6 loss to Chris Dobey at last weekend’s World Series of Darts. I didn’t see that match, he must have been pissed or something, but half of his last ten matches have seen sub 90 averages, so he is not in good form.
Menzies should win this with ease and he is the 1.17 favourite. A good result for Nandor would be to get a leg or two on the board. I will take the chance that Menzies will not be on the pop and back him to cover a large handicap.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 1 point Menzies to win -3.5 legs @ 2.30 with Betvictor
Ryan Joyce vs. Ritchie Edhouse
While Joyce has been spending time in the gym, pumping iron, his darts have suffered. Maybe he needs a heavier dart? He has lost five of his last ten matches and his last five have all seen sub-90 averages and even one sub-80. That level was still good enough for him to get first round wins over Sedlacek and Pietreczko in the last two Euro Tours. He has won seven of his nine first round matches.
The European Champion, Ritchie Edhouse, is just inside the provisional cut off for this year’s European Championship, but he would like to win a match or two this weekend to make that more secure. He too has lost five of his last ten matches but he has been playing a little better than Joyce scoring wise. Edhouse has won five of his nine first round matches.
Their H2H record is VERY one sided with Joyce being 9-1 up against Edhouse. All were on the floor and Edhouse did win one of their two matches in 2024, ending a run of eight straight defeats.
Joyce is the 1.73 favourite, Edhouse 2.30. Generous if you consider Joyce’s H2H record, but he is not playing well. It looks like a bit of a coin toss and too risky for me to get involved. No bet.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Ricardo Pietreczko vs. Jim Williams
Another interesting matchup, but not necessarily a good betting heat. Pikachu has not been in good form for some time now. He has lost seven of his last ten matches and his highest average in those ten was 93.19 and he hit six sub 90 averages. He has played in ten Euro Tour events in 2024 and won his first eight first round matches but has lost the last two.
Pietreczko is comfortably into the provisional qualifying places for the European Championship. However, he is outside the cut off point for the Grand Prix. He has this weekend and next weekend’s Swiss Darts Trophy to pick up at least nine grand, which is a bit of a push given his recent form.
Part-Time
I am a bit surprised to see Jim Williams turn up for this weekend. He is a part-time player and has been known to qualify for Euro Tour events, but not to actually play in them. Williams has lost six of his last ten matches and averaged below 90 in nine of them, with a high of 90.02. He is a good player, but he just doesn’t play very many events. He has played just 54 matches all year, but he might just like Budapest.
Williams has qualified to play here twice and reached the third round in 2022 and the second round last year. He has won six of his last eleven Euro Tour first round matches, including four of his last five, but darts has been taking a back seat in his life in 2025.
Pietreczko is the 1.67 favourite, Williams 2.38 but I couldn’t back either player with stolen money. No bet.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Kim Huybrechts vs. Andreas Hyllgaardhus
Late call up, Kim Huybrechts, has landed himself a good draw against the Nordic Baltic qualifier, Andreas Hyllgaardhus. The Dane averages 77.46 and is making his Euro Tour debut.
Huybrechts is the 1.11 favourite, Hyllgaardhus 7.50. The Dane might get a leg or two on the scoreboard, but this holds no interest betting wise.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Luke Woodhouse vs. Andras Borbely
Woodhouse is an even bigger favourite than Huybrechts. Andras Borbely is a local qualifier and winner on the Hungarian Super League circuit. He played a Euro Tour match here back in 2022, losing 2-6 to Jeffrey de Zwaan, and he played in ET4 this year and lost 1-6 to Ryan Joyce, averaging just under 80 in both. At least he is not a Euro Tour virgin, but he is likely to get another thumping.
Woodhouse has lost five of his last ten matches and isn’t playing well. He has had some very easy first round draws and made a bit of a meal of some of them. He is a bit slow out of the blocks and I doubt he will win this to nil.
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 0.5 point Woodhouse to win 6-2 @ 4.20 with Betfred
Wessel Nijman vs. Darren Beveridge
Another mismatch. Beveridge has lost seven of his last ten matches, but he has hit a couple of ton plus averages in those ten, so he does have an A-game that can be dangerous. He has been scoring better than his win rate suggests, but with a seasonal win rate of just 45%, he finds winning hard. His Euro Tour record extends to just one match, a 2-6 loss to Keane Barry last year.
Nijman is heading for great things once he gets used to winning. He loses too many matches in deciding legs and there is a lack of sufficient self-confidence at times. He has won seven of his last ten matches and on the Euro Tour, he has played eleven first round matches and won nine. Five went to a deciding leg and seven were over 9.5 legs.
If Beveridge is not too nervous, he could make life difficult for the 1.30 favourite. They have played three times and Nijman has won them all, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-1.
Nijman has always averaged well over a ton against Beveridge. In Euro Tour first round matches in 2025, Nijman has only hit one ton plus average and he has had three sub 90s. Surely, he can’t keep on beating Beveridge up?
2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.25 with SpreadEx, Boylesports
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Tom Bissell
Dirk has lost five of his last ten matches but has won his last three Euro Tour first round matches. Tom Bissell has lost seven of his last ten matches and is very inconsistent. Half of those ten saw sub 90 averages, but he also had a couple of 98s.
Bissell has played in one previous Euro Tour match, losing that 3-6 to Pietreczko back in April.
These two have never met before but Dirk is the better player in all aspects and much more experienced. He is the 1.25 favourite, Bissell 4.33. The odds look about right. No bet.
