2025 PC Finals R1 Preview and Tips – JP
2025 PC Finals R1 Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2025 PC Finals R1 preview. James has already posted his outright preview and tips, click here to see them.
2025 PC Finals R1
The first day’s play at the Players Championship finals is a confusing blur of 32 matches across two stages and two sessions. I will try to find some matches that offer some value.
Afternoon Session
Dave Chisnall vs. Ryan Joyce
Ryan Joyce has some good memories of playing in the Players Championship Finals. He was a semi-finalist in 2023 and a quarter finalist last year. He hasn’t lost a first round match since 2020. Joyce has won six of his last ten matches but isn’t at his best.
Dave Chisnall has been out of form for well over a year now. He has lost five of his last ten matches and his consistency is very poor. In his last ten, he has hit two sub 80 averages, three sub-90’s and just two over 95. Chizzy has only won a single match in a TV Major in 2025, beating Ricky Evans 10-9 at the UK Open. He hasn’t lost any by much, but he must be very frustrated.
Their H2H record is 7-5 to Ryan Joyce and he has won their last four in a row, going back to March last year, three of which required a deciding leg.
Joyce is the 1.73 favourite, Chisnall 2.20
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.91 generally available
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 0.5 point Ryan Joyce to win 6-5 @ 7.00 with Unibet, Livescorebet
Mike de Decker vs. Cam Crabtree
Cam Crabtree has been putting in some good displays and his progress at senior level in 2026 will be worth watching. He got a taste for the big TV events in last week’s Grand Slam of Darts. He gave Jonny Clayton a bit of a thrashing in his first match, narrowly lost to Danny Noppert in the second round, before a disappointing performance against Luks Wenig.
The young man looked like he enjoyed himself, and his recent form is pretty good. He has won six of his last ten matches and been reasonably consistent. He has played De Decker twice and won twice, both on the floor.
Mike de Decker is a Major champion but since winning last year’s Grand Prix, he reached the quarter final here, but has not done much else. As 2025 has gone on, he has become less competitive, and more inconsistent.
De Decker has lost five of his last ten matches. Seven saw sub 93 averages, and he is vulnerable to a decent performance against him.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point Cam Crabtree to win @ 2.00 generally available
Niels Zonneveld vs. Nick Kenny
Single Z has played in four previous Players Championship Finals and won three first round matches. He has played well and taken some big scalps here.
In 2020 he beat James Wade 6-3 in round one, in 2021 he lost 3-6 to Dave Chisnall but averaged 98.05, in 2023 he reached the third round and beat Daryl Gurney 6-3 and averaged 100.85 in round one and beat Jonny Clayton in round two.
Last year he reached the third round again, averaging 97.57 in a 6-3 win over William O’Connor, before beating Aspinall 6-3 in round two. Zonneveld has won five of his last ten matches and has been playing some decent stuff.
Nick Kenny made his debut last year and lost 5-6 to Michael Smith. He has lost seven of his last ten matches. Six saw sub 90 averages and while he does have a good A game he hasn’t been showing much of it recently. He is 3-2 against Zonneveld but the Dutchman is the better player and in better form with more TV experience.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point Niels Zonneveld to win -1.5 legs @ 1.83 with Betfred
Danny Noppert vs. Ricky Evans
Noppert is in good form, winning seven of his last ten matches and hitting six ton plus averages. He has never lost a first round match in this event in his previous six appearances.
Ricky Evans has played in eight Players Championships and lost six first round matches, including the last five in a row. Rapid is in good form, winning seven of his last ten games, and he reached the quarter final of last week’s Grand Slam of Darts. He is loved up off the oche and in a happy place, which hasn’t been the case for a while.
Evans is not hitting big averages like Noppert but he is playing solid darts and he can be expected to win a few legs, but enough to beat Noppert?
H2H
Their H2H record is 4-4 and Noppert won their only match this year 6-4 in March. That was an absolute banger with Noppert averaging 104, Evans 105. Noppert was six from seven on his doubles and that clinched it. Noppert averaged 104 in their previous match in 2024. That was a 6-2 win and looking at their last four matches, Noppert has averaged 100.50 against Evans. Clearly, he enjoys the pace of play.
Noppert is the 1.44 favourite, Evans 2.90. I was thinking of backing Evans, but given Noppert’s form and his record against Evans, he is hard to oppose, very hard. When Noppert has beaten Evans, he has always covered a -1.5 leg handicap.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point Danny Noppert to win -1.5 legs @ 1.73 with Ladbrokes, BET365
Brendan Dolan vs. Daryl Gurney
A Northern Irish derby between two out of form players. Dolan has lost six of his last ten matches, Gurney seven. Superchin is scoring better on the whole but he is struggling, with just one average over 93 in his last ten.
Dolan has had five sub 90 averages in his last ten. I am not expecting fireworks. Indeed, this could be a bit of a grind. Their last seven best of eleven leg matches all were over 9.5 legs.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.00 with Hills, Boylesports
Evening Session
Martin Schindler vs. Michael Smith
Schindy played some nice stuff at the Grand Slam, including beating Stephen Bunting 5-4 and averaging 100.78. He made it out of the group stage for the first time but then lost 6-10 to Gerwyn Price. He has won six of his last ten matches and is playing OK.
Michael Smith made the quarter final at the Grand Slam, but did he really deserve it? He only averaged 88.88 in his group matches and wasn’t a lot better in an 8-16 loss to Luke Humphries. Cool Hand just switched off mid match and made it easy for Smith, before he switched on again.
Smith has won five of his last ten matches and only put in three good performances. He is on the comeback trail from injury and maybe the fact that he got as far as the quarter final will be a big mental boost, but it is his physical fitness that is the problem
Practice Required
Smith didn’t look to be suffering from any ailments in terms of something affecting his throw, but his standard of play is not what it was. He needs to be back practicing , for hours, every day. If he can’t do that, he is going to struggle.
Their H2H record is 11-1 to Smith but they have not played since June 2024. Four of their last five matches have required a deciding leg, or set.
Schindler is the 1.73 favourite, Smith 2.30. Neither player has a particularly good record here and this could be a bit of a grind for both.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.91 with SpreadEx
Ryan Searle vs. Darren Beveridge
I don’t know what is going on with Ryan Searle but he has had one of his quiet spells. He has played just five matches in the last six weeks and lost four. He didn’t play in the last Players Championship event of the year and didn’t attend the Grand Slam qualifier.
Searle lost in the first round here last year and since then he has played eight TV matches and lost five. He has had some tough draws, but he has had some real thrashings. There was a 0-10 against Humphries, a 2-10 against Littler, and the last time we saw him, it was a 2-10 loss to Van Veen. Getting drawn against Darren Beveridge should help him get a fair crack of the whip, but what is his form?
Out Of Form
Beveridge has lost six of his last ten matches and isn’t playing well. He took some big scalps in September, including beating Wessell Nijman on the Euro Tour and after that he reached the quarter final of PC28. In that, he beat Noppert, Joyce, and Van Veen before losing 4-6 to Ryan Searle.
That was a purple patch and he has dropped off since then, but it shows that he could be dangerous. He can be backed at 3.10 to win but I will go for an overs match. Searle has played eight first round matches here and six were over 9.5 legs, including his last four, as did their only H2H clash.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.25 with Betfair
Stephen Bunting vs. Ritchie Edhouse
Bunting is the 1.29 favourite, Edhouse 3.95. Bunting has a 14-2 H2H record against Edhouse and he really should win, but I am going to back Edhouse.
Bunting has been a model of consistency in 2025, and he still is, but he has lost eight of his last ten matches. He is hitting nice averages but losing. That might just be getting into his head.
This is the time of year to be playing well and winning lots of money, but Bunting lost in the first round of the European Championship and lost all three group matches at last week’s Grand Slam.
Huge Average
Ritchie Edhouse has won six of his last ten matches and in his last, hit a 112.57 average, but lost 2-5 to Nijman in a Grand Slam qualifier. In the previous round he averaged 95.90 in a 5-3 win over Huybrechts. Two decent matches doesn’t mean he is in good form, but it is a reminder that he can play.
Bunting has lost four of his last five first round matches here and that might be in his head as well. His confidence must be very fragile and that has to give Edhouse some hope. It is likely to be a good value loser, but in an evening session very low on interesting match ups, it is at least something. A small angle.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point Ritchie Edhouse to win @ 3.95 with Livescorebet
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Madars Razma
This is another match up where we have a short priced favourite who is going through a spell of losing matches. Dirk has lost five of his last six matches despite not playing as bad as that sounds. He has lost to some good players but his last two were to Tricole and Paxton.
Dirk is a bit of a huffer, he doesn’t take defeat well and he can get into a bit of a downward spiral, gets a bit negative. He lost the final of the German Darts Championship and remains without a title on the Euro Tour. Since that loss, he has played five and lost four.
Poor Season
Razma has not had a good season, losing 52% of his matches. He has lost five of his last ten matches and was doing his winning against journeymen. Razmatazz is an experienced player, has a good A game and a 5-3 H2H record vs Van Duijvenbode. He is a deliberate player who will not give Dirk the pace of play that he likes. They last met at the World Championship last December and Madars won that 3-1.
If Razma can get his eye in on the treble 19, he can give Dirk a hard time and maybe get him into a negative mind set. A good value loser? Probably, but the odds are generous enough to test the water.
2025 PC Finals R1 Tip: 1 point Madars Razma to win @ 3.25 with SpreadEx
Gian van Veen vs. Luke Humphries
The big match of the day. A re-run of the European Championship final which Van Veen won 11-10, but it could have gone either way. Van Veen has won eight of his last ten matches and is in very good form. He dropped his guard against Lisa Ashton in the Grand Slam and losing four legs meant he went out in the group stage at the Grand Slam.
Humphries has won this title for the last two years and despite nearly failing to qualify, he is second favourite to win it again this year. Humphries has now lost the last three Major finals in a row, one of them to Gian van Veen. He will be looking for revenge. Cool Hand has won seven of his last ten matches and is in great form.
H2H Close
While Humphries has won this for the last two years, Van Veen has only won one match here in three visits. Their H2H record is 4-3 to Humphries, but Van Veen has won their last three matches, all in 2025, and the last two on TV.
You might think, given that H2H record in 2025 and the fact that Van Veen can live with Humphries’ heavy scoring, that the Dutchman might be the favourite, but he is the 2.30 outsider. Humphries is the 1.73 favourite.
To back Van Veen, or have an overs bet? It has the look of a match that should go to a deciding leg and either player can win it, so overs it is.
