2026 PDC World Championship Betting Preview – JP
2026 PDC World Championship Betting Preview
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, finally, Dartsmas is upon us and we are set for three weeks of top-class tungsten throwing at the home of darts, the Alexandra Palace. James Punt has a bumper betting preview with a number of value selections, find out who he is backing in the 2026 PDC World Championship below.
2026 PDC World Championship
The 3Third PDC World Championship kicks off on the 11th of December, at the Alexandra Palace, London. This year’s event is bigger! More players. We have an expanded field of 128 players which means four more days of darting action than we had last year. We also have more prize money. The players were due a rise as the prize fund had been frozen for seven years during a time of high inflation and that had cut its real value.
For this 2026 World Championship, the total prize fund has been increased from £2.5 million to £5 million. The winner will pick up a cool £1 million, up from £500,000.00. The runner up gets £400k, semi-finalists £200k all the way down to £15k for the first-round losers.
Tournament sponsors Paddy Power will pay £60k to any player hitting a nine dart leg. In addition to that, a random fan in the crowd will also receive £60k for any nine darter, as will Prostate Cancer UK.
2026 PDC World Championship Format
All matches are played in a sets format, with each set being the first to three legs. The first two rounds are best of five sets, the third and fourth rounds best of seven sets, the quarter finals best of nine sets, semi-finals best of eleven sets and the final best of eleven.
In the deciding set, the first player to win at least three legs and be leading by two or more will win the set and the match. If the set reaches a 5–5 tie without a winner, it will be decided by a sudden death leg.
What is different this year is that the top 32 seeds do not get a bye into the second round. Everyone has to play from the first round. This is important. The first two rounds are played in the shortest format in the tournament. The best of five sets. However, shortness is relative.
Banana Skins
It is not as brutal as, say the group stage matches at the Grand Slam, or the first to six legs in the European Championship, but it is the part of the tournament where shocks are most likely, and now the top seeds have to play two rounds in that format, not just the one. Two banana skins, not one.
The 128-player field is composed of the top 40 players on the two-year PDC Order of Merit after the 2025 Players Championship Finals, followed by the next 40 highest-ranked players on the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit.
The remaining 48 places go to various international qualifiers and PDC feeder series, such as the Women’s Series, Development tour and Challenge tour. There are also five players who came through the PDC Tour card holders’ qualifiers.
Tournament History
In such a big field drawn from 34 different countries, we do have a lot of no-hopers. Just making it to the Alexandra Palace is their dream. Only five different countries have produced a World Champion. An English player has won twenty-one titles, Dutch four, Scottish four, Canadian two and Welsh one.
Only thirteen different players have won the PDC World Championship and only eighteen different players have been runner up. It is a very exclusive club. Only six different players have won more than one World Championships. Phil Taylor won fourteen and Michael van Gerwen three. Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and John Part have all won twice.
Only three different players have successfully defended their title. Phil Taylor did it ten times, Adrian Lewis once and Gary Anderson once. He was the last player to do so in 2016. I think we may be due another name to be added to that list.
There have been sixteen nine dart legs in the history of the tournament. We had two last year and the most hit in any one year was in 2022, with three.
This year’s tournament will be the last for Master of Ceremonies, John McDonald and long-time referee, George Noble.
Past Finalists Profile
I have found looking at past winners and runners up to be a very effective way to dramatically narrow the search for the finalists.
There are effectively two eras of the PDC World Championship, the Phil Taylor era, and the post Taylor era. Phil Taylor was runner up to Dennis Priestley in the first PDC World Championship in 1994. Taylor then won the next eight in a row and a total of fourteen up until his last title in 2013.
Since Taylor’s last title, we have had eight different winners and seven different runners up. In the last five years, we have had five different winners. The trend has been towards a more open tournament, with more players in the frame to make the final. Even Michael van Gerwen in his pomp never dominated in the same way as Taylor did. MVG has won three titles and was runner up four times, including last year.
Post Taylor Era
For the purposes of this preview, I will look at the post Taylor era.
We have had twelve World Championships since Phil Taylor last won. In those twelve, ten of the winners were ranked in the top 4. The exceptions were Peter Wright in 2020 when he was ranked seventh, and Rob Cross in 2018 when he was ranked twentieth.
Looking at the list of winners and their rankings, none could really have been called a shock winner. Rob Cross may have been the twentieth seed, but he was the joint fifth favourite in the betting market.
In terms of the twelve runners up, nine were ranked in the Top 10. The exceptions were Peter Wright in 2014 when he was ranked fifteenth, Gary Anderson in 2021 when he was ranked thirteenth, and Luke Littler who was unseeded in 2024. Luke Littler is the exception. The only unseeded player to make the final and the longest priced. If I remember correctly, he was available at 67.00 pre-tournament.
Clearly, the emphasis is on the Top 10 players when looking for finalists, and top four ranked players when looking for the winner.
Semi-Finalists’ Profiles
With the ever-growing prospect of the domination of the sport by Luke Littler, and to a lesser degree Luke Humphries, I would suggest that the hunt for value bets in the outright markets may be found in picking the winner of the four quarters of the draw. Or at least, the three without Luke Littler in it.
Thirty-two of the last forty-eight semi-finalists have been ranked in the Top 10. That’s 67% that have been ranked in the top 10 of the PDC OOM. Once again, it is the Top 10 ranked players who are very likely to make the final four.
I will preview the leading players and others of interest. Players are listed in seeded order and are given with their tournament record and tournament odds.
1 Luke Littler – RU/W
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 1.95
I could probably stop here and have found the winner. Of the eight ranked PDC televised events in 2025, Littler has won six. He was also runner up in the Premier League and World Series of Darts Finals.
The Nuke has won his last thirteen matches in ranking TV events and he has lost just two matches from forty played. He lost 2-4 to Jonny Clayton at the World Masters quarter final and lost 7-10 to James Wade in the European Championship. That was held in Germany and Littler doesn’t like playing in Germany. Odds of 1.95 are arguably decent value, if a little dull.
2 Luke Humphries – QF/QF/1/QF/4/W/4
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 5.50
A solid tournament record. Humphries won the World Masters back in February and been runner up in the World Grand Prix, European Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. Humphries also won the Premier League.
He is one of the players who has beaten Littler in two Major finals and a Premier League final. He is 10-16 against Littler and is finding it harder to beat him now than was previously the case. Humphries has won seven of his last ten matches and is playing well.
3 Michael van Gerwen – 1/2/2/1/3/RU/W/SF/3/W/SF/W/RU/QF/3/RU/QF/RU
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 23.00
We have seen MVG’s game in decline for a while now, but his tournament record is still very impressive. His win rate in 2025 is just 54%. That win rate had fallen every year since 2016, but it fell off a cliff in 2025, down from 68%.
Van Gerwen has been going through a divorce and his game has suffered as a result. He has lost five of his last ten matches but he is not playing badly, he has just lost a lot of confidence.
4 Stephen Bunting – Q/2/1/1/2/4/SF/2/QF/4/SF
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 41.00
Bunting has a decent tournament record but he remains without a ranking TV title to his name. The Bullet has had a good season, winning twice on the Euro Tour, twice on the World Series and twice in the Players Championship, but his form has dropped off just as the big money events came up.
He has lost six of his last seven matches on TV. Bunting has lost eight of his last 10 matches overall and he must be very frustrated to have had a positive season but still failed to pick up a Major title.
5 Jonny Clayton – 2/1/2/3/3/4/QF/4/4
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 67.00
The Ferret is in much the same boat as Bunting. He reached the final of the World Masters in February and the semi-finals of the UK Open, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix.
Since then, he has lost in the first round of the European Championship, failed to get beyond the group stage at the Grand Slam and lost his first-round match at the Players Championship finals.
Overall, Clayton has lost seven of his last ten matches and while he wasn’t playing that badly, he was some way off how he was playing in the first half of the year. He has only ever got beyond the fourth round once, losing a quarter final in 2023. On the plus side, Clayton is in a decent part of the draw, and if he can find his A game, he could have another decent run.
6 Danny Noppert – 2/3/3/3/3/2/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 51.00
Deep Run Danny has picked up a lot of cash in 2025. He has reached four ranking Major semi-finals, but his problem is that he finds winning titles very hard. He was gifted the UK Open final in 2022, he has never won on the Euro Tour and only won one Players Championship title in the last two year.
And then there is the fact that he has never got beyond the third round at Ally Pally. However, he gets the benefit of being a top seed and his draw looks promising. There is a good path to the fourth round, where Josh Rock would be a logical choice as an opponent. He has lost his last four in a row to Rock, so he will hoping that is not the case.
7 James Wade – 1/1/3/QF/SF/QF/2/SF/SF/QF/2/QF/QF/1/4/3/3/SF/2/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 81.00
There have been two Major finals for James Wade in 2025 and two further quarter finals. He has had four Euro Tour semi-finals and won a Players Championship, so a successful year but ultimately, he struggles when he comes up against the really heavy hitters.
Wade has lost his opening match at Ally Pally for the last three years, beaten by Jim Williams, Matt Campbell and Jermaine Wattimena. He cannot afford a slow start and he faces two shorter format rounds this year. If he gets through those without slipping up his draw is reasonable. Gian Van Veen is the dangerman in that part of the draw, but Wade has won their last three matches in 2025.
8 Chris Dobey – 2/1/4/4/3/4/QF/QF/SF
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 81.00
Just like Stephen Bunting, Dobey is still in search of his first ranking Major. Unlike Bunting, Dobey has never won on the Euro Tour and all eight of his PDC titles have come on the floor, in Players Championships. Those are hard to win, arguably harder than winning a Euro Tour title, but Dobey can’t produce his best form on stage consistently enough to win a title. Maybe he doesn’t believe he can.
Dobey’s World Championship record is decent. The last three years have seen two quarter finals and semi-final. That is a lot of prizemoney and I dare say he looks forward to this event as a chance to get a big cheque and keep his ranking high. He has the game, but does he have the bottle? The evidence suggests he doesn’t.
Recent Form
His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches. Dobey reached the quarter final of the Players Championship finals and played well in a 5-10 defeat to Littler. No shame in that, but his 9-10 loss to Michael Smith in the second round of the Grand Slam was poor.
That is his game. From being brilliant to throwing a match away, there is just too much bad stuff just when he needs his good game.
Dobey is in the same quarter as Littler, and Price, two players who scare him. He has an easy opening match against the Chinese qualifier, but then a potential banana skin vs. Gilding or Crabtree. A good result for Dobey would be another quarter final, and he might get it, but if he then has to face Littler, that is likely to be that.
9 Gerwyn Price – 1/1/1/3/2/SF/W/QF/QF/3/QF
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 17.00
The 2021 World Champion has a decent record at Ally Pally since then, but he has lost the Major winning habit. Price has picked up five ranking Major titles but the last was the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts.
Since then, there have been two Major finals, three semi-finals and nine further quarter finals. He will have been buoyed by the fact that he reached the semi-finals of the two most recent Majors, the Grand Slam and Players Championship finals. He lost to Luke Humphries and Luke Littler respectively.
Price was considered as a player who could beat Littler on a regular basis, but that has changed. Littler has now beaten Price in their last seven consecutive matches. Most have been quite close, but the result has been the same.
Price is in the same quarter of the draw as Luke Littler. His path to a quarter-final meeting with (most probably) Littler, is quite tricky. He will meet some dangerous players along the way. I fear the another quarter final might be as far as he goes. Maybe in a different quarter he would be a decent bet to win that quarter, but Littler has got his number right now.
10 Gian Van Veen – 1/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 17.00
Van Veen has no tournament pedigree, yet. However, he is now a Major champion, and one of only three players to win one in 2025. He is one of the few players who does not have a losing H2H record with Littler. Currently they are 4-4 and in 2025 3-2 to Van Veen.
However, before we steam into him to win the title, we have to consider their TV matches. They have played three matches on TV and Littler won them all. That is the difference between the two. Van Veen is only starting his journey of winning titles, Littler does it in his sleep.
I guess we just have to consider Van Veen as a possible quarter winner, and maybe a finalist. Van Veen is in the third quarter and his path to the quarter final looks within his abilities. James Wade looks the most likely to play him in that. Wade has won their last three matches, all this year and once on TV, but it would be close.
We are now outside of that all-important top ten ranked players, but I will look at few of the next best.
11 Josh Rock – 4/2/3
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 17.00
Rock will be on a lot of people’s shortlists, as he has been for his first three visits to Ally Pally. Rock won the World Cup of Darts with Daryl Gurney in the summer, but in terms of individual titles, he has a World Youth Championship (Van Veen has two), a Euro Tour title and four Players Championship titles.
He has played well in this year’s Majors, reaching two semi-finals and two more quarter finals. He is starting to knock on the right doors.
Rock finds himself in the fourth quarter and unusually, he may have to beat two women if the is to make the fourth round. He plays Gemma Hayter in round one, and may well face Beau Greaves in round three, and he has lost to Beau in 2025, despite averaging 103.29 against her.
Rock is in the same quarter as MVG and Noppert but he can go into a match with either knowing he can win. He has to be a contender for the quarter.
12 Ross Smith – 1/2/1/2/3/3/3/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 111.00
Smudger is the kind of player who you might have thought would have had a decent run here at some stage, but he has never got beyond the third round. He has fared poorly in this year’s Majors winning just three matches from six events played. Smith has lost five of his last ten matches and he is easily opposed. I even have him pencilled in for a potential round one exit.
13 Martin Schindler – 1/1/1/3/3/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 151.00
Another player who hasn’t really got going at the Palace on the Hill. His form in the 2025 Majors has not been great but he did qualify for all eight ranking Majors, winning seven matches altogether. Schindler has won six of his last ten matches, but his scoring has not been good. His draw is ok, and he should make the third round, but he is no certainty to do so.
14 Gary Anderson – 2/RU/QF/3/3/W/W/RU/QF/SF/4/RU/SF/3/4/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 61.00
A five-time finalist and two-time winner, but the sands of time wait for no man. His last final here was in 2021, his last Major title was back in 2018. In 2025, he reached the quarter final of the World Grand Prix but he only beat Barney and Joe Cullen to get there.
He has played thirteen matches in the TV Majors in 2025 and lost eight. His most recent form saw him lose six of his last ten matches. He continues to be one of the heaviest scorers in the game, but the results just aren’t there. A good result would be making the fourth round, and I have my doubts that he will.
15 Nathan Aspinall – SF/SF/3/3/3/2/QF
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 41.00
The Asp has to enter the list of possible quarter winners. He is in good form and loves the big events. He was runner up at the recent Players Championship finals and won on the Euro Tour in October, his third Euro title of the year.
Aspinall is back winning things and another good run in a Major championship is on the cards. His problem is that he is in the top half of the third quarter and if it goes to form, he meets Luke Humphries in the fourth round, and Humphries has won their last six matches. He has beaten Humphries in big matches on TV, but Humphries would be favourite to win, should they meet.
16 Damon Heta – 2/1/3/3/4/3
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 226.00
Heta’s recent form makes him hard to fancy even having a half decent run. He has lost six of his last ten matches and in the TV Majors in 2025, he has played twelve matches and lost eight, and he has lost seven of his last eight on TV.
The Heat has a fairly good draw and there is a path to the fourth round, but he is so low on confidence, that Steve Lennon has a realistic chance of knocking him out in round one.
17 Rob Cross – W/4/2/2/4/4/SF/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 201.00
A good run here would go some way towards solving his financial woes, but it is very hard to see that happening. Cross has had a horrible season. His win rate is just 53%, he has lost seven of his last ten matches and in the 2025 Majors he has played just nine matches and lost six.
His confidence has left him and he has dropped out of the top 16 for the first time as a tour card holder. Cross is one of the top seeds that is in danger of an early exit rather than having the potential for a decent run.
18 Mike de Decker – 1/2/2/2/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 151.00
Winner of last year’s World Grand Prix and a quarter finalist in the Players Championship finals a few months later, but he has not kicked on in 2025. De Decker has lost five of his last ten matches and his record in this year’s TV Majors is played eight and lost six.
His record at Ally Pally is poor but as he has drawn the African qualifier in round one, he should at least make his fifth second round.
19 Jermaine Wattimena – 1/1/1/2/3/2/3/1/1/2/3
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 151.00
Wattimena has made plenty of visits to Ally Pally but not enjoyed much success. 2025 has been his breakthrough season, and he is a player of interest.
He finally got his first PDC title when he won PC23 in August and followed that up by winning PC 31 in October. We backed him to win his quarter at the recent Players Championship finals and he did just that, before going down very tamely to Aspinall in the semi-final.
The Machine Gun has been in great form in the second half of the year, having good runs on the Euro Tour and that success in Players Championship events. He can realistically have an eye on moving into the top 16 in the World rankings if he wins a few matches here.
Wattimena is in the top half of the fourth quarter and it is quite possible he will find himself playing MVG for a quarter final place. One to watch.
20 Ryan Searle – 4/3/4/4/3/3/3
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 151.00
Searle won two Players Championship titles in 2025, but outside of that, he hasn’t made any progress in 2025. His recent form saw just four wins from his last ten matches. His form in the Majors is played eleven and lost six.
Heavy Metal usually comes out swinging in round one and looks promising, but he has never kept it going for long. His draw is good and he really should make the fourth round, but he has never gone beyond that point, and I doubt it will be any different this year.
Overview
In the post-Taylor era, we have not had a winner ranked any higher than twentieth. I see no reason why that could change this year. That is reflected in the players’ odds once we get beyond fifteenth. In terms of the runners up, eleven from twelve have been ranked in the top fifteen, and again, I don’t see any reason for that to change.
In terms of semi-finalists, two thirds in the last twelve years have been ranked in the top 10. In the same period, we have had five players who came through from outside the top twenty in the rankings and into the last four. Scott Williams in 2024, Gabriel Clemens in 2023, Stephen Bunting in 2021, Nathan Aspinall in 2019, and Jamie Lewis in 2018.
Of those, Bunting had been a previous quarter finalist. Nathan Aspinall had shown some good form that year, winning a Players Championship title. Gabriel Clemens had made a Players Championship final and two Euro Tour quarter finals before he reached the semi-final here. Only Jamie Lewis and Scott Williams came from out of the blue.
I am not going to write up previews for the next twenty players in the rankings but will have a look at any players who have shown something in 2025 to suggest they may have a good run.
Wessell Nijman – 1/2
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 101.00
The other young Dutchman who is breaking through. Nijman won two of the last four Players Championships and reached at least the quarter final of the last five. He also had two Euro Tour semi-finals, but it has to be said that his Major form has been poor.
Nijman has played twelve matches and won just four. He is still learning the ropes Majors-wise, but there is no denying his ability and nobody will relish facing him. He has got a tough draw with a first round clash with the very handy Karel Sedlacek, and he would likely meet Luke Humphries in round three. Not a nice prospect for Humphries, but he is 4-0 against Nijman.
Beau Greaves – 1
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 101.00
Beau Greaves has played in just one PDC World Championship, losing 0-3 to William O’Connor. This time she comes as a more confident player and one who will be playing full time on the pro-tour next year.
Greaves didn’t take her place at Ally Pally for the last two years, feeling that she wasn’t confident playing the men on the biggest stage of all. Now, she has decided that the time is right to take the next step. There isn’t enough competition, or indeed prizemoney, in the Women’s Series or WDF events. Why not have a crack at the senior level?
She recently played in the Grand Slam and took both MVG and Gary Anderson to deciding legs, averaging a ton plus in both matches, before beating Nico Springer. I am not suggesting Beau will have a really deep run, but her opening match against Daryl Gurney is winnable. Maybe she can reach the third round?
Luke Woodhouse – 3/1/2/2/1/4
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: 301.0
2025 has been something of a breakthrough year for Woodhouse. He still hasn’t actually won a senior title but was runner up in the Swiss Darts Trophy at the end of September and was runner up in PC34 at the end of October.
His form in the Majors has been a bit disappointing, losing in the second round at the recent Players Championship finals and second round of the Grand Slam, but he did win all three group matches.
Woodhouse remains too inconsistent to expect a really deep run, but if he can beat Boris Koltsov in round one, and that is a tough one I can see him playing Dobey in round three.
There are plenty of other handy players, but they are not going to be winning a quarter.
2026 PDC World Championship: Quarter Betting
Each quarter of this mammoth event consists of thirty-two players, very much a tournament in itself. A player needs to win five matches to win the quarter and reach the semi-finals. The first two rounds are relatively short, best of five sets matches, the third and fourth are best of seven and the quarter finals best of nine.
First Quarter
Tournament favourite, Luke Littler, is the top seed and just 1.36 to win the First Quarter. Second favourite to win the quarter is Gerwyn Price at 6.50 and Chris Dobey is 13.00.
Dobey has reached three World Championship quarter finals and won one last year, beating Gerwen Price 5-3. Price never averaged more than 92.77 in any of his five matches and he was there for the taking. Dobey and Price are both in the bottom half of the quarter and could meet in round four.
There are two other players who have reached a World Championship quarter final in bottom half. Ryan Joyce and Krzysztof Ratajski. Joyce made the quarter final back in 2019 and he has made five Major quarter finals (including this year’s European Championship), winning two. His most recent form is OK, but a little too inconsistent to think he can have a deep run.
Joyce A Danger
Ratajski made his quarter final in 2021, but he was in good form that year making four Major quarter finals and winning one. However, since then he hasn’t really made any great impression in the Majors. Joyce and Ratajski should meet in the second round. Joyce has beaten Price in TV Major and if he is firing on the doubles, he is a dangerous opponent.
However, Littler has played in eleven TV Major quarter finals and won nine, including six this year and in both his appearances at Ally Pally. His odds are of no interest but opposing him looks like sheer folly.
Dobey has beaten Littler four times and once on TV, in the 2024 non-ranking World Series Finals. However, they last met a few weeks ago in the Players Championship finals quarter final and Littler won that 10-5, and Dobey played his A game.
Littler has beaten Price in their last seven matches, including the semi-final of the recent Players Championship finals,11-8. Price has given Littler some stern tests, but the results have become very one sided now.
Second Quarter
This is a very open looking quarter. Stephen Bunting is the 4.50 favourite. This is a player who has lost nine of his last eleven matches and his two wins came against Radek Szaganski and Ritchie Edhouse.
Bunting has played very well in defeat in some of those matches, but lose them he did. That can’t be great for his confidence. Bunting is one of those ‘best player never to win a Major’ characters. He did win the Masters, but that was when it was non-ranking.
The Bullet has reached four World Championship quarter finals and won two, including last year. He has played in eighteen ranking Major quarter finals and lost twelve, including two this year.
Form Fading
Bunting had been in very good form for most of the year, but in the last four Majors, he has only won two matches and he could be thinking that another year is going by without that ranking Major title coming his way. The crowd will be right behind him, with their ‘Let’s go Bunting Mental’ chants, but darts is game that needs mental fortitude, and maybe that is what Bunting is lacking right now.
Jonny Clayton is the 6.50 second favourite, and he too seems to have lost his best form. The Ferret was runner up in the newly ranking World Masters in February and then reached the semi-finals of the UK Open, the Matchplay and the Grand Prix.
In the last three Major he lost in the first round of the European Championship, failed to get out of the group stage at the Grand Slam and lost in the first round of the Players Championship finals. Clayton lost seven of his last ten matches and he just is not in the kind of form he was in earlier in the year. Clayton has only ever reached one quarter final at the World Championships, lost it back in 2023.
Struggling Smudger
Third favourite at 8.00 is Ross Smith. Smudger won PC29 on the 1st of October. That was just a few days after his mother’s passing. Since then, Smith has played seventeen matches and lost ten of them. There is no consistency in his game.
Since winning PC29, Smith has only won back to back matches once. He has never got beyond the third round at Ally Pally, and his Major form in 2025 has been poor.
We are then getting into players such as Martin Schindler, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Ryan Searle, Michael Smith and Dave Chisnall. Of those players only Michael Smith and Martin Schindler have won more than four of their last ten matches, and they have done so playing poorly. None make any appeal.
Going through all thirty two players in the quarter, only six players have won more than five of their last ten matches. Schindler and Michael Smith I have mentioned, and the others are Andy Baetens, Jose de Sousa, Keane Barry, Thibault Tricole and Motomu Sakai.
WDF Champ
Baetens is a former WDF World Champion but has done very little since joining the PDC. He came through the Netherlands and Belgian qualifiers, and he did play well. But outside of that, his win rate in 2025 is just 49% and before winning six matches in the qualifiers, he had lost seven of his last ten.
Jose De Sousa was a very good player and he played well to win three matches at the Tour Card holders’ qualifier, but his win rate in 2025 is 31%. Barry and Tricole have averaged under 90 in half of their last ten matches and Sakai has won eight of his last ten matches on the Asian tour, averaging anything between 95 and 78.
Ragged Bunch
This second quarter is, without doubt, the biggest collection of out of form players in the World Championship’s history. Of course, form, or lack of it, is relative. Stephen Bunting may have lost nine of his last eleven matches, but he averaged over 95 in seven of them.
His frustration was becoming palpable and if that state of mind persists, he is in bother, but he is arguably the best player in the quarter, despite losing so many matches. He does have some decent Ally Pally form, and he isn’t up against much in this quarter. I was very keen to find somebody to oppose him with, but no joy. He becomes a default selection.
Third Quarter
If the second quarter is bereft of backable players, the third quarter could be the quarter of death. Luke Humphries is the 1.95 favourite and he is joined in the top half of the quarter by the likes of Wessel Nijman and Nathan Aspinall. There also dangermen such as Karel Sedlacek, Mike de Decker and Jeffrey de Graaf in the top half. They are unlikely to have deep runs, but they could rain on somebody’s parade.
The bottom half of the quarter has Gian van Veen and James Wade as the leading lights, along with dangermen such as Ricky Evans, Cameron Menzies and Dimitri van den Bergh.
For me this is a toss-up between Van Veen and Humphries. Humphries has the tougher part of the draw and Van Veen is 4-4 against Humphries, but it is the Dutchman who has won their last four matches in a row. Van Veen is the 4.50 second favourite and gets the nod.
Fourth Quarter
This is another quarter with a number of players of interest. The top seed is Michael van Gerwen. A three-time world champion and four-time runner up, including last year. He has been runner up three times in the last six years and his last title came in 2019.
2025 has been a very tough year for Van Gerwen, on and off the oche. Extensive jaw surgery to fix his teeth early in the year, followed by a divorce later in the year.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that he has a win rate of just 54%. He did win one Euro Tour event in April and the non-ranking World Series of Darts finals. That was held in Amsterdam and with his daughter in attendance. He was up for it. A home crowd and proving to his kid that he was still the man. It was a unique set of circumstances that are not going to be repeated in London.
Still Scoring Well
Van Gerwen is still a top player in terms of his scoring ability. He is still ranked in the top ten for 3 dart average over the last twelve months. The problem is that he used to be number one and now he has eight players ahead of him.
MVG is the 4.33 second favourite to win the quarter. He has lost five of his last ten matches, but did reach the semi-final of the European Championship, so he cannot be dismissed easily, despite not being the player he was.
Rock Fav
The favourite is Josh Rock. The Northern Irish World Cup winner and while he still hasn’t won a ranking Major, he is getting closer. Two Major semi-finals in 2025 and two further quarter finals is putting him in the frame.
He comes here in good form having reached the quarter final of the Grand Slam and the Players Championship finals. He has won six of his last ten matches and is playing well.
However, while he does have the firepower to match the top players (he has the third highest 3 dart average) he doesn’t quite have the consistency yet. He is not far off though and is still improving.
Under The radar
Rock has played in three World Championships but not yet got past the fourth round. I would say he comes into this year’s event better prepared than he has before. There was a lot of hype about him before, but now all eyes are on Littler, and the bright young Dutchmenn, Van Veen and Nijman. Rock is just a little more under the radar than before. Rock is in a pretty tough quarter, but he has the talent to come through it.
Gary Anderson is another multiple World Champion, but his stage presence is not what it used to be. His last final was in 2021 and he hasn’t got past the fourth round in the last three years. His best result in a Major in 2025 was a quarter final.
In Decline
Anderson is still top ten for the 12 months 3 dart averages but, like MVG, is falling down the list. Anderson is no longer a stick on to the beat the ‘lesser players’. He faces Adam Hunt in round one, a player to whom he has lost his last two matches against. He could find Conor Scutt tricky in round two, and the rejuvenated Wattimena in round three might well be favourite to beat him.
The Flying Scotsman has lost six of his last ten matches and three of those defeats were to MVG, Noppert and Spring, three players in his quarter of the draw. Anderson is 8.50 to win the quarter.
Danny Noppert is 6.00 to win the quarter. He is a regular face in the later stage of tournaments these days. Of the last eighteen ranking Majors he has played in, Noppert has made six semi-finals. More importantly, he has made the semi-final in four of the last seven, all this year.
Ally Pally Record Poor
Noppert’s record at Ally Pally sees him failing to get beyond the third round from seven appearances. That is a concern. He has a good draw, a good path to a fourth-round match, most likely against Josh Rock, should things run to form. Rock has won their last four matches and would be favourite to win.
Jermaine Wattimena was a nice winner for us as a quarter winner in the Players Championship finals last month. He has won seven of his last ten matches and while he can do special things and hit huge averages, he needs to be more consistent. He has reached one Major final last year, but his record at Ally Pally is poor.
Wattimena has played here eleven times with his best results being three third rounds. The Machine Gun is something of a dark horse to win the quarter and in the top half of the quarter he should fear no one outside of MVG, against whom he is 1-8. He is 21.00 to win the quarter which are decent odds if you can get past his horrible tournament record.
Others To Consider
Other players to consider include Niko Springer, who has picked up a Euro Tour title in 2025. However, he has lost six of his last ten matches and has not made much impression in the Majors in his debut season as a tour card holder.
Daryl Gurney has been around the block a few times and won two Majors. His best result in the World Championship is a couple of quarter final appearances. The last being in 2021. That is the problem. His best form is behind him.
Superchin did reach the quarter finals of this year’s European Championship and the Players Championship finals, so he will be feeling a bit more confident, but he has lost six of his last ten matches and is not in great form. Gurney will face Beau Greaves in round one, a tough one for both players.
All things considered, I can’t disagree with the market which has Josh Rock as the 3.50 favourite to win the quarter.
2026 PDC World Championship Odds: Selections
Tournament winner
While I’m happy to risk some loose change on Dobey to win Littler’s quarter, it is hard to oppose him to win his second title. Odds of 2.00 are not unreasonable. He was 3.00 last year and he is a better player in 2025.
His win rate in the Majors in 2025 is six from eight. He was very unlikely to win the European Championship as it was held in Germany and the only other one he didn’t win was the World Masters, which may have come too soon after winning his first World Championship a couple of weeks earlier.
He has won 75% of the ranking Majors in 2025, his match win rate is 80% and the market says his chance of winning this is 50%.
Littler is one for the big hitters. I am looking to find match winners at 2.00 so the thought of getting 2.00 for winning seven is not my kind of bet, but I can’t suggest anyone who is more likely to win.
First Quarter
Looking back at last year, we were getting 1.67 for Luke Littler to win his quarter. He is now 2.00 to win the tournament, and 1.36 to win his quarter. It is hard to oppose him, but the value is getting thinner and thinner. I backed him to win the last two Majors but we were getting 3.00 or a little better. The longer format of the World Championship helps the better players, and he is the best player. But he can lose matches, he might get unwell.
There is a lot of flu going around this year and do not be surprised to hear that some players have turned up, not in the best of health. In the build up to these events, the big-name players are doing a lot of travelling to play in lucrative exhibitions, meeting and greeting a lot of people. Littler is no more liable to getting flu than anyone else, but when you are playing at very short odds, you have to consider it.
Last season we backed Chris Dobey to win his quarter at 6.50. However, he was in a much more open quarter and not in the same one as Littler, but he was in with Price.
With form figures of QF/QF/SF for his last three visits to Ally Pally, he is still of some interest at odds of 13.00. Just in case Littler has a dodgy kebab or gets the flu, I will have a minimum stake bet on Dobey.
2026 PDC World Championship Tip: 0.5 point Chris Dobey to win the First quarter @ 13.00 with SpreadEx, Betfred
Second Quarter
The quarter of poor form. It is hard to get excited about the chances of any of the players in this quarter. Stephen Bunting is the 4.50 favourite, despite losing seven of his last nine matches. However, he is in good company as all the other leading contenders are in poor form. At least Bunting has still been scoring well.
The players will have a at least a couple of weeks to practice, maybe do some exhibitions, speak to their sports psychologists if they use them, and generally get tuned up for the big one.
A bit of a break should have done Bunting some good. He played a very full schedule and he might have just run out of gas in the last couple of months. If he was in top form, Bunting would be a stick on to win this quarter, as it is, he is still worth a modest bet.
2026 PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Stephen Bunting to win the second Quarter @ 4.50 with Betfair, Skybet
Third Quarter
1 point Gian Van Veen to win the third quarter @ 4.50 with Betfred, Betfair, Skybet
Fourth Quarter
An interesting quarter. Wattimena makes some appeal at 21.00 but his tournament record is a worry. Josh Rock is the pick.
2026 PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Josh Rock to win the fourth Quarter @ 3.50 with SpreadEx
Side Markets
Name the Finalists
In the bottom half of the draw, I have gone for youth. We are seeing the coming of the next wave of top players and in Rock and Van Veen, two of the very best are contenders to win their quarters and play off for a place in the final. Van Veen is 6-4 vs. Rock, but Rock has won their last four in a row in 2025.
Van Veen is the Major winner, and back-to-back World Youth Champion. History says we should be looking at top 10 ranked players when looking for finalists and Van Veen is ranked tenth, Rock eleventh. It is a bit of a toss-up and both are 7.00, but I think Van Veen may just be a little better mentally prepared, having already got a big one over the line.
2026 PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Luke Littler to play Gian van Veen in the final @ 11.00 with Betfred, Betvictor, BET365
How Many 9 Dart Finishes
It seems to no longer be a case of will there be a nine-dart finish, but how many will there be. With players like Littler not only able, but willing, to try to hit one every match, and with the added bonus of the £60K for the player, for charity and for one lucky punter in the crowd, there is a greater incentive to go for the nine.
We had two last year, the first year of the Paddy Power bonus, and the first was by Christian Kist and the other by Damon Heta, which goes to show that even the journeyman players can do it. If the big boys get going, we may get a record.
