2026 Belgian Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2026 Belgian Darts Open Betting Preview
James Punt got back on track at the PL last night, landing two winners from three bets. We have more darting action this weekend on the Euro Tour, James’ 2026 Belgian Darts Open betting preview and tips are below.
2026 Belgian Darts Open
This will be the fifth Belgian Darts Open. The first was in 2022, which saw Dave Chisnall beat Andrew Gilding in the final 8-6. It was the same scoreline the following year, with MVG beating Luke Humphries. In 2024 Luke Littler beat Rob Cross 8-7 and he defended his title with an 8-5 win over Mike de Decker.
The event is highly regarded by the players for having ‘a good crowd’. Not hostile to any non-Belgians and they enjoy the darts as much as the drink. Even Luke Littler likes the Belgians. We had the first Belgian Premier League Night in 2025, which was won by Gerwyn Price, beating MVG in the final.
We also have the Flanders Darts Trophy, held in Antwerp. The first of those was in 2024, won by Dave Chisnall and in 2025, Luke Littler.
Full Complement?
Will we get a full complement of the big names? The PL players are always a doubt. Littler has already won a title, and as such he really doesn’t need to play in any more Euro Tour events. However, he does go well in Belgium and might decide to play in this one, and go for the hat-trick of Belgian Darts Trophy titles.
Thursday night’s PL venue is Dublin, and it is a fairly easy journey from Dublin to Brussels and then a short onward journey to Wiess. No excuses that it is a hard venue to get to.
Before the draw was made on Thursday, we had three withdrawals. Gerwyn Price, and that was no surprise give his comments about needing a rest. Gian Van Veen is in hospital with his gallstone problems, and no surprise, Gary ‘part time’ Anderson has withdrawn. As of 8.30am Friday, there is no news of any further withdrawals.
That means we have Damon Heta promoted to 14th seed, Jermaine Wattimena to 15th and Mike de Decker to 16th, so we will have at least one home player in round two. Those called up from the reserve list are Ricky Evans, Ian White and Mickey Mansell.
2026 Belgian Darts Open: The Seeds
1 Luke Littler
Going for a hat-trick of Belgian Darts Trophy titles. Littler has won three of his four tournaments played in Belgium, so maybe he is a fan of strong beer, waffles, frites and mayonnaise. Let’s face it, who isn’t?
He has won nine of his last ten matches, and comes here on the back of winning Night 7 in Dublin last night. Littler has only ever played in fourteen Euro Tour events and won five. He has won three of his last six Euro Tour tournaments and remember that in 2023, Littler had to play in the first round, and was playing in the PL on Thursday night. That was some undertaking. A very strong favourite.
2 Luke Humphries
In a bit of a slump. Struggling with his doubling, Humphries is trying an equipment tweak to help. He did reach the final of Night 6 in the PL, but lost his radar and lost 1-6 to Jonny Clayton, thanks to being just 12.5% on his checkouts. Humphries didn’t play in Germany last weekend, but maybe he could do with a bit more match practice. His doubling still looks very fragile.
In last night’s PL Humphries hit two ton plus averages (there is nothing wrong with his scoring), beat Clayton 6-3, but lost 1-6 to Gerwyn Price. He had been 3-0 up against Clayton but he missed a few doubles, and suddenly it was 3-3. Clayton missed a double to go 4-3, but after that Humphries recovered to win the match. The wheels on his wagon wobbled, but didn’t quite fall off.
Humphries was simply outplayed by Price in the semi-final, but it was only 33% for Luke on the doubles.
3 Michael van Gerwen
The 2023 champion, MVG lost 2-6 to Niels Zonneveld in last weekend’s second round, and went through three consecutive quarter finals losses in the PL.
After a bright start to 2026, MVG has found winning more difficult. That was the case in last night’s PL. MVG played Littler in the semi-final, having gotten a bye, and played a bizarre match. He was sloppy to start with but then we saw some absolute vintage MVG. That only brought out the best in Littler, both hit 170 checkouts, but it was Littler who won 6-5.
MVG has lost seven of his last ten matches, but he has played some very good darts, he just finds winning hard.
4 Jonny Clayton
Won Night 6 in the PL, while hopping about on one leg, due to an attack of gout. Not surprisingly, The Ferret pulled out of last weekend’s European Darts Trophy. He should be fine after a week’s medication and rest. Clayton suffered his first pointless night at the PL last night but has won seven of his last ten matches.
Clayton has enjoyed his trips to Belgium. He was a semi-finalist here in 2022 and reached the quarter final on his last three visits. 2026 could see another good run. It would do him good to produce the goods outside of the PL, but there are better players in the field.
5 Stephen Bunting
Was right to be pissed off in his 5-6 loss to Niko Springer in last weekend’s European Darts Trophy. The Saturday night crowds in Germany are toxic and Bunting bore the brunt of the whistling. It is unlikely that he will have the same problem in Belgium.
His recent form isn’t great, but he has back-to-back quarter finals here. Bunting has lost five of his last ten matches but he is playing well enough to have a decent run.
6 James Wade
Runner up in the UK Open, Wade took last weekend off. He had lost his opening Euro Tour match of the season with a 0-6 loss to Menzies in Poland. Wade reached the semi-final here last year and after a bit of a rest, he could enjoy another good run. That said, his last Euro Tour final was back in 2028.
7 Josh Rock
Made the quarter final in last week’s Euro Tour event, but he wasn’t very impressive in doing so. His PL campaign continues to be a nightmare and his confidence looks to be suffering, even away from the PL. It becomes harder to separate the PL from the rest of his agenda.
Rock was terrible again last night but he didn’t make it easy for himself with his Rangers shenanigans back in Glasgow. These things can follow players around. At least it will not be an issue in Belgium, but he is hard to recommend.
8 Danny Noppert
You all know what I am going to say about Danny Noppert. Not tournament winner potential. Played another great losing match last weekend, averaging 98.14 in a 5-6 loss to Gerwyn Price in the third round.
9 Ryan Searle
Has lost five of his last ten matches and has only played 19 matches in 2026. Searle was out in round two in ET1 and only went one round better in Germany last weekend. He is playing some good stuff, but just not with enough consistency to expect a deep run. He was a quarter finalist here in 2024 but didn’t get past the third round in his other three appearances.
10 Chris Dobey
Has won six of his last ten matches and is playing a lot of good darts. He was a semi-finalist in ET1 but was out in the third-round last weekend. Dobey has played ten stage matches in 2026 and lost four.
He has only ever won one floor title and was runner up in another. Dobey has never got past the second round here in four attempts. It is a bit ironic that his nickname is ‘Hollywood’ when he seems to suffer from stage fright.
11 Nathan Aspinall
Didn’t defend his European Darts Trophy title last weekend. Before that, The Asp had lost six of his last ten matches but he is not playing as badly as that sounds. Hard to say what his form is really like.
12 Michael Schindler
I thought his form was picking up after a few good performances, but he lost 4-6 to Richard Veenstra in last week’s second round. That made it six defeats from his last ten matches. His win rate in 2026 is just 36% and he can’t be fancied to do much this weekend.
13 Ross Smith
Has won eight of his last ten matches, but on the stage in 2026, Smudger has played six and lost three. To be fair, two of those defeats were to Luke Littler. There are some positive signs in his game and I can’t rule him out of having a good run.
14 Damon Heta
Reached the semi-final last week, which was a big uptick in form, especially in Europe. Confidence is a big part of a player’s game and he will feel a whole lot better about himself. Heta reached an ET final last year and won one of these back in 2022, so he can have big runs. Getting a leg up into the second round will have pleased him.
15 Jermaine Wattimena
Has lost five of his last ten matches but averaged 99.19 and 98.64 in his two matches last weekend. Nine of his last ten best of eleven leg matches have been over 9.5 legs, so he is battling, but not full of confidence. Could win few matches with a good draw or go home early.
16 Mike de Decker
Runner up to Luke Littler last year and will have the very fair home crowd on his side. De Decker has won just four of his last six matches. He has played some good stuff, some average stuff and some tripe. Not the form of a player to make another final.
2026 Belgian Darts Open: Best of the Rest
Last week we went with three unseeded players and had a decent run with Dirk van Duijvenbode, but he fell in the quarter finals. Krzysztof Ratajaski was just poor in a 1-6 loss to Van Veen.
I got a bit excited by Kevin Doets hitting a 117.12 average in round one, but he had shot his bolt too early and went out in the third round to Damon Heta. Doets has been hitting some big numbers, but he needs to start putting proper runs together and develop a strong B game, rather than flashy one offs.
Of course, it was the unseeded Wessel Nijman who went on to win his first Euro Tour title, beating Gerwyn Price 8-3 in the final. It was a poor final, both players underperformed, but Price was worse. Maybe we can see another big run from outside the top 16 seeds?
Wessel Nijman
Will be on cloud nine after making his stage Breakthrough. Nijman had already won a Players Championship title in 2026 and has won three of the last nine floor events. Getting his first stage win gets that monkey off his back.
Could he do it again just seven days later? He has won nine of his last ten matches and has an 84% win rate in 2026, which suggests he could. He has hit seven ton plus averages in his last ten matches and there is only one other player who can match him right now.
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gave us a run for our money last weekend. I had forgotten how stressful it is when Dirk is carrying your money. He looks like he could implode at any minute and eventually he did. Just 14% on his doubles when losing the quarter final to Price.
My worry is always about what goes on in his head, especially at the business end of events. His game is getting there, but will his head ever get there?
Niels Zonneveld
Reached his second Euro Tour semi-final last weekend. He beat three fellow Dutchmen, that day. MVG, Wattimena, and Veenstra, before it was one Dutchman too far, and he lost 1-7 to Nijman.
He has a throw that doesn’t inspire confidence, but his win rate in 2026 is 68%. He has had two quarter finals on the floor this season and while his consistency isn’t the best, his confidence is growing.
I can’t really see any of the other unseeded players having a big run this weekend.
2026 Belgian Darts Open: The Draw
First Quarter
The first thing to catch my eye here is that Boris Kcrmar will play, and very likely beat, Raymond Van Barneveld in round one. He would then play Luke Littler in round two, and that would be worth the ticket price alone.
They have played twice and it is 1-1. Both were floor matches in 2024 and both ended 6-4. Littler is a better stage player, but I would have to say, so is Big Boris. Boris has ended some big names’ Euro Tour events early doors, and he will love a pop at Littler.
The other seeds are Mike De Decker and he too will hope that Boris can beat Littler, because he can’t. Littler is 9-0 vs. De Decker. Danny Noppert is likely to face the dangerous Luke Woodhouse in his opening match. Ryan Searle is the other seed but he is hard to fancy.
As usual it is hard to see past Littler, but I will entertain the fantasy that Krčmar could upset the formbook. In which case Noppert/Woodhouse could provide the semi-finalist from Q1. Noppert is unlikely to go all the way, ditto Woodhouse.
Second Quarter
Jonny Clayton is the top seed here but is very likely to face Wessel Nijman in round two. The Ferret is 3-1 vs. Nijman, but the young Dutchman will have his tail up after winning last weekend. Ross Smith and Stephen Bunting are possibles for a good run, but I don’t fancy the other seed, Martin Schindler.
It is a tricky quarter, but I go for Nijman to strike while the iron is hot.
Third Quarter
Luke Humphries is the top seed, but can his doubling stand up across a possible five matches? I am not so sure it can. He looks set to play Dirk van Duijvenbode in round two, and Dirk has been showing some decent form lately, but he has lost his last eight matches against Humphries. The three other seeds are Rock, Wattimena and Dobey.
Dobey can’t be backed outright. Wattimena isn’t playing well enough to be backed, and Rock is…a bit hard to call. His PL struggles are hard to ignore, but he is playing better outside of it.
Humphries is 5-3 vs. Rock, but has won their last four in a row. Humphries is 13-8 with Dobey and has won seven of their last nine.
Springer Surprise?
As much as I fear that Humphries’ doubling will let him down at some point, he is the most likely to make the semi-final. For a real outsider, why not Niko Springer? He made two finals from his nine Euro Tour events in 2025 and won one.
He made the quarter final last weekend, playing four matches which all went to a deciding leg, and I suspect he will have taken a lot of confidence from that. His two Euro finals both came outside of Germany, and here we are in Belgium.
Fourth Quarter
The Group of Death? It is certainly packed with big names.
Michael van Gerwen is the top seed and will face the winner of THE grudge match of the first round. Michael Smith vs. Mickey Mansell. They played each other in a Euro Tour qualifier in February, which Mansell won 6-3. Smith was livid with Mansell’s pace of play and gamesmanship and let the world know about it.
Mansell retorted with a quip along the lines of that he should have been a boxer, as he knocked out two World Champions that day. Smith was so miffed, he packed up and went home, failing to enter the second Euro Tour qualifier of the day. Smith will be looking for vengeance, while Mansell now knows what buttons to push. Regardless of who wins, MVG should have the beating of either.
Other Seeds
The other seeds are Damon Heta, fresh from his return to form and a semi-final last weekend, James Wade UK Open runner up, and three-time Euro Tour winner, Nathan Aspinall.
Heta has a decent record against MVG and with his confidence restored he could have another run. Heta is likely to face Daryl Gurney in round two, and the Aussie is 7-0 with Superchin. James Wade is in great form, but he isn’t a Euro Tour specialist. Aspinall now is, but where was he last week, not defending his title?
I have to go with Heta, and I didn’t expect to be doing that a couple of weeks ago.
2026 Belgian Darts Open: Selections
Luke Littler is going for the hat-trick, and I fear the rest are playing for second place. His best odds are 2.50 and there is still a sniff of value in there, but not enough for me, this time.
I will give the top quarter a miss as far as an outright selection goes. Maybe Big Boris can shake things up, but even then, finding the winner of this quarter is tough.
From the second quarter I have to go for Wessel Nijman. Yes, going back to back would be unusual, but look at his floor form. When he is hot, he gets on a roll. The odds are more than acceptable.
2026 Belgian Darts Open Tip: 0.5 point e/w Wessel Nijman to win @ 26.00 with Ladbrokes, Bresbet
From the third quarter, Luke Humphries is the most likely to make the semi-final, but with question marks over his doubling, I will have a small bet at big odds on Niko Springer.
2026 Belgian Darts Open Tip: 0.25 point e/w, Niko Springer to win @ 201.00 with Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Skybet
The fourth quarter is fiendishly difficult to call, but I will go with Heta and hope that his good run last weekend has lit his fuse.
