2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Preview – JP
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Preview
James Punt has already posted his outright preview and tips, see it here. His 2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday preview is below.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday
These matches are short and sweet, and not the greatest of betting mediums, so I will not be going mad, but hopefully we can do better than last year. It is hard to talk about the players’ current form as most won’t have played competitively for a while.
I’m really looking at H2H records or any good reason to support or oppose a player, without the vital guide of recent form. This should be treated as a bit of a learning weekend as the 2026 season starts to get going.
Chris Dobey vs. Jermaine Wattimena
Dobey is the 1.83 favourite, with Wattimena 2.10. Their H2H record is 7-3 to Wattimena. The Machine Gun won their last two in September and October last year and is 3-0 on stage.
I have just got fed up losing money on Dobey when he plays on stage. Wattimena is a much-improved player in the last 18 months or so, while Dobey is the same player he has been for years. Very talented but diminished on stage.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: 1 point Jermaine Wattimena to win @ 2.10 with Livescorebet, BET365, Betfair
Gary Anderson vs. Niels Zonneveld
Zonneveld came through the qualifiers yesterday, so that will have got some of the January rust off. I would have my doubts as to whether Anderson has even picked up a dart since losing the World Championship semi-final a few weeks ago.
Anderson lost in the first round here last year, but he did average a ton in doing so. Mind you, last year he wasn’t safely up at number six in the rankings, and he may have been trying a bit harder.
Their H2H record is 2-1 to Anderson and he is the 1.40 favourite. I couldn’t back him at those odds, in this format, and his recent record here is not great. Zonneveld played OK yesterday, but nothing special. He is 3.25 to win, but the odds are not good enough on either player. No bet.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: No Bet
James Wade vs. Madars Razma
This is much like the match above. Razma came through the qualifiers yesterday but while he was good against Cor Dekker, averaging 97, his other wins over Doets and Ratajski were low quality grinds.
Wade went out of the World Championship in the second round, so he has not played for six weeks or so.
Their H2H record is 4-2 to Wade and he is the 1.44 favourite, with Razma 3.00. I can see nothing of interest here. No bet.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: No bet
Nathan Aspinall vs. Shane McGuirk
The Asp has at least been playing some ‘competitive darts’, if you can really call the World Series competitive. He played six and won four, and he did beat Luke Humphries in one match. He was scoring pretty well, losing only to Van Veen and Van Gerwen.
McGuirk is making his major debut on the PDC but is a former WDF World Champion. He came through the qualifiers yesterday and played well enough, but Aspinall should be able to justify odds of 1.33, albeit with the proviso that it is not a great format for favourites.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: 0.5 point Aspinall to win 3-1 @ 3.50 with Betfred, Bresbet
Jonny Clayton vs. Wessel Nijman
This is an interesting one. Clayton may not have played competitively since losing his World Championship quarter final on New Year’s Day, but with his beloved Premier League starting next week, I expect he will have been practicing hard and should be well prepared. He won this in 2021, the same year as he won the PL, was a semi-finalist in 2022 and runner up in last year’s new format. He takes it seriously and always has done.
Clayton wasn’t playing well at the end of 2025 but still picked up a big cheque at Ally Pally. That said, he had lost seven of his last eight matches going into the World Championship and was only workmanlike when he got there.
Nijman came through the qualifiers yesterday and played some good stuff, hitting a couple of ton plus averages. The big question is, can he do it on the TV stage? He really hasn’t impressed on the TV stages very often.
H2H
Their H2H record is 2-1 to Clayton, but they have never met on TV before. Their only stage match was a 6-5 win for Clayton on the euro tour last year.
Nijman is being backed and is the marginal 1.98 favourite, with Clayton 2.00. I am not surprised the market can’t separate them.
A lot depends on Clayton’s form. He will have to be playing better than he was at the end of 2025, but he has played well here before, and he should be ready. Their last match produced no maximums in a 6-0 win for Nijman, but in their previous two, they hit seventeen 180s from twenty legs.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: 1 point over 6.5 180s @ 1.95 with Hills
Gerwyn Price vs. James Hurrell
Price is 4-0 vs. Hurrell and is the 1.30 favourite to make it 5-0. All four were Players Championship matches, so this is their first time on TV.
Hurrell had a 99.74 average in his first knockout round in yesterday’s qualifiers and followed it up with a 111.61, before a more modest 89.19 to beat Alan Soutar and qualify for the first round.
Price played in both World Series events and reached the semi-finals of both. He was a bit hot and cold but said that he hadn’t picked up a dart since the World Championships.
Price is the 1.30 favourite to win, Hurrell 4.00. Hillbilly played enough good stuff yesterday to think he can get something on the scoreboard.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: 0.5 point Gerwyn Price to win 3-1 @ 3.40 with Betfred, SpreadEx
Michael van Gerwen vs. Damon Heta
MVG has won eight of his last ten matches and is seven from eight in 2026. Heta has not played competitively since losing his 3rd round match at Ally Pally a month ago. He didn’t play well to win his first two and Heta has been out of form since early October when he lost the final of PC30.
MVG is 10-6 with Heta but they only played once in 2025 and before that in late 2023.
MVG is the 1.40 favourite, Heta 3.25. I can’t argue with those odds. No bet.
2026 Winmau World Masters Thursday Tip: No bet
Gian van Veen vs. Ryan Joyce
Van Veen has the advantage of having some World Series matches under his belt in 2025, winning four from six, and being runner up in Bahrain.
These two have met three times before, all easy wins for Van Veen, 10-2, 6-2 and 10-5. All were on stage and two on TV.
Joyce hasn’t been in great form, losing five of his last ten matches and while he can out double most players, he is up against the player with the best checkout rate in the last twelve months.
Van Veen is the 1.29 favourite, Joyce 4.33. Van Veen is 3.05 for a 3-0 win, but as we are on him to make the final, I am happy to sit this one out. No bet.
