2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open Betting Preview
Luke Littler was crowned PL Champion last night and ensured we ended up with a couple of decent ante-post winners. Check out James Punt’s 2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open outright betting preview below.
Last Week
The International Darts Open last weekend wasn’t the best betting wise, nor as a spectacle. There were a lot of poor performances and nobody really stood out. Maybe Ryan Searle was the best, most consistent player, but it was a final low on quality, with Ross Smith eventually winning the title. Rob Cross showed some good form as well.
It was another win for a seeded player and the sixth runners up spot for a seed. Ross Smith is the seventh different winner from the seven Euro Tour events in 2026. We were missing a lot of the top players, even more so than has become the norm in 2026.
Perhaps we will see the big guns returning after the PL is finished, and the Euro Tour needs them back. Some of the tournaments are becoming much diminished events, and from a punting point of view, the odds for the lively outsiders are shrinking, dramatically.
Weakened Field
It’s another weak field in terms of the top-rated players. There will be none of the PL finalists (Littler, Humphries, Clayton or Price), no Josh Rock and, of course, Gary Anderson won’t be here. At least Nathan Aspinall makes his Euro Tour return and Rob Cross gets another call up from the reserve list. Also getting late call ups are Van den Bergh, Christian Kist and Cristo Reyes. All the replacements come in at the first-round stage.
Last week we had the number 12 seed winning, so maybe there is a chance for another of the less fancied players to get the win.
This will be the fourth edition of the Baltic Sea Darts Open, and we have had three different winners. Dave Chisnall in 2023, Rob Cross in 2024 and last year saw Gerwyn Price beating Gary Anderson.
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open: The Seeds
1 Gian van Veen
Continues to struggle for form. He has lost five of his last ten matches. He played well in his first two matches last weekend, but then played poorly in the quarter final, averaging 88.38 in a 3-6 loss to Ryean Searle, but at least he got past the second-round stage.
2 James Wade
Hasn’t got past the semi-final stage since 2018 and lost his quarter final last week to Cameron Menzies. Wade did play well in his three matches and has won seven of his last ten matches, but it has been a long time between drinks.
3 Stephen Bunting
Hasn’t got beyond the third round since the first Euro Tour event of the season. He has never got beyond the third round here either. Bunting has been playing some excellent darts, but they deserted him last weekend when he lost 2-6 to Rob Cross, averaging 85.95.
Last year, Bunting finished last in the league stage of the PL. Ten days later he reached the quarter final of ET8, followed that by winning a World Series event, won PC18 shortly after that, was runner up in another World Series event, and runner up in PC20.
He just went Bunting Mental, having deep runs in many tournaments after the PL was behind him. Bunting is one to keep an eye on in the coming weeks and months.
4 Danny Noppert
Maybe he will be inspired by Ross Smith finally picking up his first Euro Tour title last week? Noppert finds winning titles very difficult and for that reason, I can’t recommend him as a value selection, regardless of his form, but this is as weak a field as he will play in all year, so it is a chance to prove me wrong.
5 Ryan Searle
Reached his second Euro Tour final last weekend, after a run of twenty-one events which yielded just two quarter finals. It certainly went against his poor run of form in Europe. Searle had hit some big averages in PC17 & PC18, and in Riesa last week he hit three 98+ averages, but the final only saw 90.11. He did say that he has been putting in more practice, so maybe he can have another good run.
6 Chris Dobey
A first fence faller in the last two Euro Tour events (losing both to Kim Huybrechts). Dobey has lost six of his last ten matches. He really should be doing better and Kim Huybrechts isn’t playing this weekend, which helps.
Dobey was a semi-finalist here last year, but he is hard to back in stage events. He will be upset that Newcastle have sold their star striker and might be on suicide watch.
7 Nathan Aspinall
Has skipped the last two Euro Tour events and skipped a lot of Players Championships. The Asp hasn’t played for six weeks and has only played 37 matches in 2026. He did win ET4, but it is impossible to say what kind of form he will be in.
Aspinall won three Euro Tour titles in 2025 and has won three of his last ten Euro Tour events. His fitness is always a problem and I have no idea of what to expect, but he is under no pressure, having already won on the Euro Tour this season.
8 Ross Smith
Finally got his first Euro title last weekend. That was his fifth final and his second in the last three Euro Tour events. Could he be the first repeat Euro Tour winner of 2026? His performances last weekend were very inconsistent and he might not get away with it again, but in a modest field, he has to be fancied.
9 Martin Schindler
Had back-to-back Euro Tour quarter finals going into last week’s International Darts Open, but he fell at the third round stage. Schindler is a two-time quarter finalist here and while is has lost five of his last ten matches, his A-game has been on display recently and if he can just get a some consistency, he could have another good run.
10 Jermaine Wattimena
Yet to get past the third round on the Euro Tour in 2026. He has won seven of his last ten matches but is lacking consistency.
11 Mike de Decker
Turning up for more punishment. It is now nine straight 2nd round defeats for De Decker and overall, he has lost seven of his last ten matches.
12 Wessel Nijman
Has won six of his last ten matches. He let a big lead slip to James Wade last weekend, and while he is still playing well, losing three of his last four matches is a concern. That said, he could go on and win anything he plays in.
13 Damon Heta
Has won six of his last ten matches and is hitting a lot of steady mid 90 averages, but he is finding winning matches tricky. His seasonal win rate is just 49% and he has lost five of his last seven Euro Tour matches. At least he gets promoted to seeded status this weekend.
14 Luke Woodhouse
Won PC18 last week but failed to fire in his opener last weekend, losing 5-6 to Kevin Doets in a poor match. Maybe he was still coming down the mountain after his big win, and he should still be feeling good about his game.
His Euro Tour form does need a kick up the bum as he has only got past the third-round stage once. Starting in round two is a big help.
15 Daryl Gurney
Got to the semi-final in Austria but lost his first-round match last weekend. He just hasn’t got the firepower, or consistency he once had, but he plays in enough events to keep on getting into the Majors. He has lost five of his last ten matches and isn’t playing well.
16 Dave Chisnall
Gone at the game. Lucky to get a leg up to seeded status. Is likely to play Joe Cullen in round two, and he could get a result in that, but I doubt it. Chizzy has lost six of his last seven matches, hitting five sub 90s and a sub 80.
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open: Best of the Rest
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Playing great darts but losing. Dirk has lost his last three first round matches with averages of 94.66, 100.19 and 99.18. Deserves a break…and he needs a break.
Kevin Doets
A bit disappointing last weekend but has won seven of his last ten matches, has won a lot of matches in 2026 and has reached a Euro Tour final and semi-final already in 2026. Still on my shortlist.
Andrew Gilding
Went into last weekend’s event in top form but lost 4-6 to Bradley Brooks in round one. Goldfinger has been in good form for a while now and has reached a couple of quarter finals on the Euro Tour in 2026.
Justin Hood
We haven’t heard much from one of the stars of the 2026 World Championships, but Hood has been playing some good stuff. He has won seven of his last ten matches and hit eight 95+ averages.
Hood did reach a Players Championship final in mid-April and he is back in that sort of form. His A-game is right up there with the best.
Hood has only ever played three matches on the Euro Tour matches, and he averaged over 95 in all three, but won just one. It would be asking a lot for him to have a really deep run, but he will be a dangerous opponent, and nobody expected him to reach the quarter final at Ally Pally.
Rob Cross
Reached his second Euro Tour semi-final of 2026 last weekend and that should give Cross a welcome confidence boost. That is really the only thing missing from his game.
Back-to-back semi-finals tells me he is feeling better about his game. He has played well, and beaten good players. He has only ever won two Euro Tour titles, but one of them was here in 2024. In a weak field, a more confident Cross could be a factor.
2026 Baltic Sea Darts Open: The Draw
First Quarter
Van Veen is top seed, and joined by Chisnall, Ross Smith and Schindler in the second-round. Ross Smith is the form player in a weak looking quarter. None of the first-round players are of any interest.
Second Quarter
Noppert, Heta, Searle and Nijman are the seeds. Searle will be feeling better after making the final last weekend but he is scheduled to face Nijman in round 3 and is 0-6 vs. the Dutchman. Noppert plays the winner of Reyes vs. O’Connor and that is going to be a tricky opener for Noppy. I have to stick with Nijman in this quarter, but as the 7.00 favourite, his odds are hardly value.
Third Quarter
A very tough quarter with the likes of Wade, Doets and Aspinall all making some appeal, but I will throw a bigger priced outsider into the mix. Justin Hood has been showing some good form and proclaims to be a better stage player than a floor player, he just doesn’t get the chance to show it very often. In a relatively weak field, the outsiders, even those coming in at the first-round stage, can be considered.
Fourth Quarter
This is the tough one. I quite fancy Cross to go well, and I quite fancy Bunting to go well, but if Cross can beat Menzies in round 1, he plays Bunting, who he beat last weekend, in round two. Menzies is the fly in Crosses ointment. The top half also has Woodhouse, who plays the winner of Gilding vs. de Zwaan.
In the bottom half of the quarter has Chris Dobey and Mike de Decker as the two seeds. It looks a good draw for Dobey, but can he take advantage? Cross, or Bunting for me.
Selections
With so many of the big guns absent this weekend, I am going to take a chance with a couple of unseeded players, which goes against the trend in 2026, but rules are there to be broken.
