2026 Dutch Darts Championship O/R Preview – JP
2026 Dutch Darts Championship Betting Preview
James Punt finally landed a lovely outright winner at the Swiss Darts Trophy last weekend thanks to the Ferret Jonny Clayton at 14/1. Can we repeat the trick at ET15? Check out James’ 2026 Dutch Darts Championship Betting preview and tips below.
2026 Dutch Darts Championship
The final event of the 2026 Euro Tour season is the 2026 Dutch Darts Championship, which will take place at MECC Maastricht in Maastricht. Jonny Clayton is the defending champion, but we are at a different venue this time. MECC Maastricht last hosted the event in 2018.
We had some early withdrawals. Littler, Anderson and Rock did not enter. Wade and Doets withdrew before the draw. Schindler and Ratajski were promoted to seeded status, Sedlacek and De Graaf come in via the reserve list. The latest withdrawal on Thursday, before the draw was made, was the number 1 seed, Luke Humphries.
Late Call Ups
Daryl Gurney and Mike de Decker get late call ups. Gurney is £9k outside of the top 32 on the O.O.M. and would need to make the semi-finals this weekend if he is to make the European Championship Finals, while De Decker would need to win the lot. Neither are likely to happen.
This is the final chance for the likes of Sedlacek, Cullen, Michael Smith and Bialecki to win enough ranking money to make the top 32 on the European Championship O.O.M. Likewise, Bunting, Schindler and Huybrechts will be trying to hang on to their top 32 places.
2026 Dutch Darts Championship: The Seeds
1 Gian van Veen
Had another good run last weekend, losing in the semi-final to Jonny Clayton. Van Veen has won seven of his last ten matches. He will be getting a bit frustrated by knocking on so many doors but not getting a trophy. His last five tournaments have seen form figures of SF/SF/RU/QF/SF. Van Veen is either due a win, or he is turning into a nearly man.
2 Gerwyn Price
Has decided to turn up for only the sixth time in 2026. He may feel he needs a bit more match practice before next weekend’s European Championship Finals. There is nothing wrong with his game, but he is finding getting one over the line difficult. He has won eight of his last ten matches and should be in the mix again.
3 Jonny Clayton
The Ferret was a nice 15.00 winner for us last weekend. Clayton had been playing well, having multiple good runs, and he was able to turn that good form into a Euro Tour title, his fourth. Clayton won this title last year (at a different venue), and he was runner up in 2024.
Eight wins from his last ten matches tells us that he is bang in form. He has recent wins over Humphries, Littler, Nijman, Van Veen and Rob Cross, so he has been taking down some top players who are in good form. Given his recent form, and tournament form (albeit at a different venue), Clayton has to be in the frame again.
4 Michael van Gerwen
Needs to win this to avoid having his first blank on the Euro Tour since 2021, and there were only two events played in that year. MVG has lost six of his last ten matches and is hard to fancy.
5 Danny Noppert
The only Dutch player to have reached a final of the Dutch Darts Championship. He didn’t win it, obviously. Noppert has never won a Euro Tour title from 79 played. He has always got as far as the quarter final from his four appearances in this event.
All very Danny Noppert. Have a good run, don’t win the title, bank a nice cheque. Noppert has lost five of his last ten matches, but he has reached at least the quarter finals in six of the Euro Tour events in 2026.
6 Stephen Bunting
Has now lost seven of his last ten matches, and while he has played worse, his confidence is in the bin. Even when he plays well, he is losing and on the Euro Tour Bunting has played nineteen matches and won just seven in 2026. He is on the cusp of dropping out of the top 32 on the Euro Tour O.O.M and under pressure.
7 Wessel Nijman
Having a lean spell. Nijman has lost five of his last ten matches, but his scoring has been very strong. On the Euro Tour, since winning the Slovak Darts Open in June, Nijman has played eight matches and lost five. He needs something positive to happen to give his confidence a boost.
8 Ryan Searle
Another player not enjoying much success on the Euro Tour. He was runner up in the International Darts Open in May but outside of that, Searle has not got past the third round. His general form is poor, losing six of his last ten matches.
9 Ross Smith
Was on the wrong end of some seriously poor behaviour from Mensur Suljovic last week. We all know Suljovic is a bit of a knob and tries to put his opponents off with his very slow play, but encouraging the crowd to jeer Smith when he was throwing to win the match was unacceptable.
It will be interesting to see what punishment will be handed down, but I suspect he is going to regret his actions. He wouldn’t be missed in any case. Smith has won seven of his last ten matches and tops the Euro Tour O.O.M. Another good run is likely.
10 Chris Dobey
Has played poorly in his last two events, going out in the first round of the World Grand Prix and last weekend’s Swiss Darts Trophy. He has won six of his last ten matches and seems to have come off the boil after playing some great stuff last month. Hollywood has only ever reached one Euro Tour final and is not on the radar when it comes to outright bets.
11 Nathan Aspinall
Is having a good Euro Tour season in 2026. He won the German Darts Grand Prix in April and has reached a semi-final and four quarter finals since. Withdrew from last weekend’s event.
12 Jermaine Wattimena
A quarter finalist in ET9 and runner up on ET10. Since then, Wattimena won PC27 in September, but otherwise his form has cooled a bit. He has won six of his last ten matches and on the Euro Tour, lost four of his last six. When he is playing his A game, Wattimena can be backed as a value outsider, but he’s not quite there right now.
13 Luke Woodhouse
A player who has had a good 2026 but has just come off the boil a little. He is still playing some good stuff but not getting the same results. A bit of frustration looks to be creeping into his game. He has lost five of his last ten matches.
14 Martin Schindler
Continues to struggle to win matches. He has lost six of his last ten overall and on the Euro Tour, he has lost eight of his last ten matches. Schindler is 31st on the Euro Tour O.O.M and may still need to win a match to make next week’s European Championship Finals. Under pressure and lacking confidence.
15 Krzysztof Ratajski
In the same boat as Schindler form wise, but he is third on the O.O.M so doesn’t have any pressure on him. The Polish Eagle has lost seven of his last ten matches but on the Euro Tour, he has won twelve of his opening matches. It is harder to see a deep run, however.
16 Rob Cross
Getting a leg up to seeded status will make things a bit easier for Cross. He has been playing some very good darts but getting very little from it. Last weekend, for example, he averaged 106.68 against Jonny Clayton, but lost the match 4-6. His tournament average last weekend was 103.55.
Cross has lost six of his last ten matches, but he is playing way better than that sounds, but he must be getting frustrated. Having one less match to play might be a sign that his luck is changing.
Best of the Rest
Since the big guns, or more of them, have returned to the Euro Tour events, the unseeded players have had a harder time. Yes, last weekend saw just six of the sixteen seeded players reach the third round, but in the end, the top three seeds reached the semi-finals and the final was played between the number 1 and 3 seeds.
In the last three Euro Tours, the top three seeds have all won a title, and the first and second seeds have been runner up. The biggest ‘outsider’ was number twelve seed, Ross Smith (number 1 on the Euro Tour O.O.M.), who was runner up in ET13. I am not really looking for an unseeded player to cause an upset this weekend.
Niels Zonneveld
He was my outsider bet last weekend and he went out in round 1, but he didn’t do much wrong. He hit a ton average but ran into Bradley Brooks’ A game. Brooks also averaged 100, but he was better on the doubles. Zonneveld has won seven of his last ten matches and is still in very good form. He is also due a bit of luck.
Karel Sedláček
Has won ten of his last eleven matches, and he made the quarter final last weekend, on the back of winning PC30 before that. Clearly, he is in top form, but also under pressure to make the European Championship Finals. He now sits in 33rd place, just £2k behind Bunting in the final qualifying place.
As an unseeded player, any money Sedláček wins from the first match onwards, is added to his ranking money. The players that have prequalified from the two O.O.M’s have to win their first match before their prizemoney is added to their rankings.
If Sedláček wins his first round match he gets £2k, and ties Bunting. For Bunting, he has to win his second-round match before his money becomes ranking. The draw is going to be very interesting.
Michael Smith
He is £5k behind Bunting and needs to go at least one round further than he did last weekend and make the quarter finals. He has won six of his last ten matches, and played some good stuff last weekend, but does he have the consistency needed for a good run from the first round? Smith won this title back in 2022 but would seem unlikely to repeat the feat.
2026 Dutch Darts Championship: The Draw
First Quarter
Gian van Veen is now the number 1 seed. He is joined in the second round by Rob Cross, Ryan Searle and Ross Smith. The Quarter of Death? Without doubt.
Smith is the O.O.M. leader and in great form. Rob Cross is hitting some big averages but getting no luck. Ryan Searle shouldn’t be a factor given his form. Of the first-round entrants in this quarter we have Bialecki playing Daryl Gurney, with the winner playing Van Veen.
Dirk van Duijvenbode plays James Hurrell to see who plays Ryan Searle, and both would fancy their chances. Ryan Joyce will play Ross Smith in round two if he keeps up his very good first round record.
H2Hs
Van Veen has a 5-6 losing H2H record with Bialecki and is 0-2 at senior level. He also has a losing record vs. Ross Smith, and Rob Cross. He is 5-5 vs. Searle, and 4-5 vs. Van Duijvenbode. It is going to be hard work for Van Veen to make the semi-final.
Ross Smith is 7-1 vs. his likely second round opponent Ryan Joyce. He is 5-4 vs, Ryan Searle, but is 3-6 vs. Dirk. I expect Smith to win the quarter. He is due a bit of good fortune after the Suljovic incident last weekend, and he is on fire on the Euro Tour in 2026. He has made five of his last ten Euro Tour semi-finals.
Second Quarter
This looks wide open. MVG is the top seed in the quarter, but out of form and hard to support. The other seeds are Luke Woodhouse, Danny Noppert and Jermaine Wattimena. Three home players, and Woodhouse. A bit tough for Woodhouse.
Only one of the seeds has won more than five of their last ten matches, Jermaine Wattimena (6-4). What about the first-round entrants? I have to say, none of them stands out. O’Connor, Veenstra, Gilding, Hopp, Chisnall, Masalin, Huybrechts and Van Schie. Potential semi-finalists? It would be a brave bet, or foolish.
Reliable Noppert
Danny Noppert has a good record in this event. He was runner up in 2022 and a quarter finalist in the last two years. He has reached two semi-finals in 2026, but he has never won a Euro Tour title.
It is a motley bunch. MVG, Noppert and Wattimena have home advantage. Woodhouse has won a Euro Tour title in 2026 already but is going to be unpopular with the crowd. Wattimena is not in top form and has only ever made one Euro Tour semi-final.
Noppert or Woodhouse for me, with no great confidence. Noppert is 10-2 vs. Woodhouse and he won their last match, on the Euro Tour, 6-5 last month. But Noppert doesn’t win things.
Third Quarter
Gerwyn Price looks a good favourite to win the third quarter. He is hitting big averages, having deep runs all the time and is the best player in the group by some margin. The other seeds are Ratajski, Nijman and Dobey. Ratajski is out of form, Nijman is off the boil, and Dobey is dodgy.
The first-round entrants include dark horse Niels Zonneveld. What a shame he didn’t get drawn into the second quarter. It has to be Price for the quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Jonny Clayton is the form player and won last weekend’s Swiss Darts Trophy. I thought he might take the weekend off, but maybe he wants to strike while the iron is hot. The other seeds are the out of form Bunting and Schindler, along with Aspinall, and I fancy The Ferret vs. The Asp to be the quarter final.
There are some interesting players coming in at the first-round stage. The in-form and European Championship chasing Karel Sedlacek. Michael Smith, who is also dreaming of a late charge to Dortmund, and Cameron Menzies who can be anything.
Clayton beat Aspinall 6-4 in ET13 recently and The Ferret is at the top of his game right now.
2026 Dutch Darts Championship Selections
It is a strange draw. The first quarter is super competitive, the second wide open, the third looks good for Price, and it’s probably another Welshman in the fourth. Going back-to-back on the Euro Tour is rare these days, and I would have to take Price to come through the bottom half of the draw.
From the top half, Ross Smith makes some sense. But it depends on the odds. Price is the favourite and I will make him a win only bet.
