2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon Preview – JP
2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon Preview
Another tough day at the office for James Punt on Friday but at least our last remaining outright bet Cam Menzies got through. Hopefully we can get back amongst the winners today. Check out his 2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon preview and tips below.
A Struggle So Far
I am not getting this tournament at all. Ultimately, it is still two people playing darts, but it has no great rhythm. Four bets and four losers so far, and two outright bets down in round 1. There are always a couple of tournaments like this every year, and being so early in the season explains much of it.
We now enter the second round and the matches are longer, with the winner being the first to win four sets, and it will be interesting to see if this makes any difference. I will persevere and treat this weekend as a learning experience. Hopefully the longer matches will start to normalise things. Panic stations will not be quite as fast to reach.
William O’Connor vs. Danny Noppert
O’Connor dumped out one of our outright bets in the first round. Rob Cross outscored O’Connor, averaging 103 to O’Connor’s 99, but Cross seemed a bit confused by the whole thing.
Doing the right thing at the right time is very important in short formats, and in this best of three legs to win the set format, it is vital. You can be the better player and still lose by a seemingly big margin. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say who is going to do the right thing at the right time, in advance.
One missed double can cost a player not just a leg, but a whole set. A big checkout can win a set and taking your chances at the first opportunity is worth much gold. Maybe the longer matches will move matches towards being a bit more ‘normal’?
O’Connor has now played four matches in this format. He won three of the ultra-brutal first to two sets matches in the preliminary rounds, and beating Cross 3-1 in the first round proper.
Smith Win
Danny Noppert came in at the first round stage and he beat Michael Smith 3-1. Smith was struggling with what I thought was a cut hand, but he took to social media afterwards to say that it is arthritis in his wrist, and a shoulder strain. He still averaged 97, so it is hard to say to want extent that played in Noppert’s win.
Their H2H record is 6-3 to Noppert, which is pretty much what you would expect. Noppert is a more consistent performer, while O’Connor can be just as good, but not as often. Maybe this format helps a player like O’Connor more than the steady Eddie types? O’Connor won their last match 6-0, and he has won two of their last three, so he will think that he is in with a chance here.
O’Connor won five of his six legs in 15 darts or less, so it was a good performance, even if Cross underachieved. Noppert won seven legs and four were 16 legs or more, so it was O’Connor who played the better darts in the first round.
Danny Noppert is the 1.55 favourite, O’Connor 2.75. I will take my chances with O’Connor.
2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon Tip: 1 point William O’Connor to win @ 2.75 with Livescorebet
Damon Heta vs. Gerwyn Price
Price holds a commanding H2H record over Heta at 14-5. Price won their first eight matches. Their last eleven saw six wins for Price and five for Heta, so Heta has overcome that hoodoo, but in 2024, it was 3-1 to Price.
Heta beat Ross Smith 3-1 in the first round, but it is fair to say that Smith blew it on the outer ring. He missed seventeen doubles and ended up with a checkout rate of just 19%. That is going to cost you in any format, but in this rat-a-tat quickfire format, even more so. Heta didn’t play great stuff and of his six winning legs, four were 17 darts and one 19. He was allowed to win with pretty ordinary form.
Gerwyn Price dismissed Florian Hempel 3-0 and five of his legs were won in fourteen darts or less, that is top form. He didn’t hit a single 180 but he was solid on the doubles and when he hits those, he is hard to beat.
We cannot say that Price is back, but he is hitting the doubles better so far in 2025. Three of his eight matches this year have seen checkout rates of under 33%, so there is still room for improvement.
Price is the 1.80 favourite and those are backable odds.
2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon Tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win @ 1.80 generally available
Stephen Bunting vs. Peter Wright
Bunting was lucky to get through the first round. He was 0-2 down and on the ropes, but Willie Borland just got tight and couldn’t seize the moment. On the plus side, Bunting was able to stick in and turn it around. The old Bunting could never have done that.
Bunting averaged 95 and he played OK, but he wasn’t in top form, with just two legs under fifteen darts. His doubling was good, however, checking out at 54% which helped him take the chances presented.
Wright heads the H2H stats 18-13. Bunting won their last match, the World Championship quarter final, 5-2. He also beat Wright here last year with a thumping 10-2 win. Wright won a couple of Euro Tour matches against Bunting last year, both requiring a deciding leg.
Classy Opener
Peter Wright beat Kevin Doets 3-2 in his first round match, and it was a high class affair. Wright averaged 101, Doets 97. Wright was just that bit better on the doubles. He was fifteen darts or less in six of his seven legs won.
Bunting is the 1.50 favourite, but he will have to up his game if Wright keeps playing like he did on Thursday night. That is the big question. We have to expect Bunting to be at the very least, solid. Wright needs his A game, and that has not been seen with any great regularity for a couple of years.
Bunting deserves to be favourite but I am prepared to give Snakebite more of a chance than his odds of 3.00 suggest. Hopefully he can win a couple of sets.
2025 World Masters Saturday Afternoon Tip: 1 point over 5.5 sets @ 1.73 with BET365
Luke Humphries vs. Josh Rock
Rock is 3-2 against Humphries and he won their only TV match 5-3 in the 2022 Grand Slam. Rocky played well enough to beat Jermaine Wattimena 3-1 in the first round. The Dutchman was a bit disappointing but he didn’t play badly, just not his best.
Rock averaged 98 and it seems that he has taken getting married and changing equipment in his stride. He was allowed to win a couple of sets with legs of 19 and 18 darts, and another 18 and 17. He was mustard in the other with 11 and 13. Needless to say, he will need to be a bit more clinical today.
Humphries beat Joe Cullen 3-1 in the first round. He averaged 98.62, checked out at 39% and hit a couple of 180s. Cullen was poor on the doubles and that allowed Humphries to win a set he should have lost. He won one leg in twenty one darts but on the whole, his game was good.
This has the makings of a good match, a close match, if both players can continue in the same vein. Historically, their matches have not been particularly close. They have never had a deciding leg and their two closest matches were a 5-3 and 8-5, both wins for Rock, one being a Players Championship final, Rock’s first senior PDC title in 2022.
Humphries is the 1.50 favourite, Rock 3.00. I expect Humphries to win, maybe by a two set margin?
