Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2) Tips

This afternoon’s session was a decent one with four winners overall. Check out James Punt’s Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2) tips below.

Jonny Clayton vs. Adam Gawlas

Gawlas had a good win over Boris Krcmar last night. Krcmar averaged 97 but the young Czech player very nearly matched him with a 96.9. He won all six legs with 15 darts or less and that is hard to beat. The question is, can he keep that up?

He will need to because Clayton’s 12 month average is 97, his average, not his best. The Ferret, 2021 Premier League winner, is one of the top three or four players in the world and has been playing at the top of his form for the best part of a year. This is not a purple patch, it is his new level.

They have met just once, earlier this year and Clayton won 6-3. Both players averaged 96 that day so Clayton will know what Gawlas can do.

Clayton is the 1.18 favourite and while he should win comfortably enough, the odds are of no interest.

Joe Cullen vs. Geert de Vos

Cullen, the number one seed, is a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment. He was in excellent form earlier in the year, winning two players championships, but he has lost six of his last ten matches. There were still some good performances in those ten but he had become unpredictable. There was something off the oche which was distracting him. If that is still the case, I do not know.

De Voss was a 6-2 winner in the battle of the Geerts yesterday, but he was massively helped by Nentjes missing thirteen doubles. De Vos was winning legs with 20+ darts and that will not do, even if Cullen is not at his best.

Cullen is the 1.29 favourite to win their first meeting and he should do so. He is the better player and a proven Euro tour winner. As a betting heat, it makes no appeal.

Damon Heta vs. Simon Whitlock

An all Aussie battle and a sign of the times that it is Heta who is the seeded player. The World Cup teammates have a 2-2 H2H record, Heta has won seven of his last ten matches, as has Whitlock who beat Darren Webster 6-4 last night, averaging 98.2 and 54% on doubles. The question here is can Whitlock keep that up? His recent form has not been a picture of consistency.

Damon Heta will have been hit hard by the passing of Kyle Anderson, so getting his game head on may be difficult, it is just very hard to tell. We will know more after this match but given that he is the 1.73 favourite it makes the game less attractive from a betting point of view. Whitlock is a 2.25 shot, not big enough for a speculative punt.

Their previous two best of 11 matches have ended 6-4 and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see something similar. Both players are big 180 hitters and if they get going we could see a good number of maximums.

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 1 point over 5.50 180’S @ 2.10 with SpreadEx

Jose de Sousa vs. Joe Murnan

Only their second meeting with De Sousa winning their first 6-2. He averages nearly eight points more than Murnan who is a bit of a journeyman pro. He can piss on a favourites chips now and then and he has won six of his last ten matches, including a narrow 6-5 win over a local qualifier last night. Murnan played some good stuff with five legs of 15 or fewer darts, but he kept letting his opponents back into the game. Vegso only averaged 80.5 and missed match darts. Playing De Sousa is going to be much, much harder.

The Special One has won six of his last ten but his scoring power is likely to be far too good for Murnan to live with. De Sousa is the 1.17 favourite and it is not a question if De Sousa wins, but by what margin.

6-2 is the favourite in the correct score markets, but if Murnan can keep banging in 15 or better dart legs, he will win legs and he may make this harder than we think. He had some good performances in the last players championship and while he isn’t a top player, he is no mug.

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 1 point over 8.5 legs @ 1.80 with Hills

Michael van Gerwen vs. Daryl Gurney

When Gurney was rising up the rankings and just breaking into the top 16, he got rewarded by getting drawn against MVG a lot, and that was the Beast MVG. Now he has slipped down the rankings he is meeting him again, but this time it is MVG, world number three, mere mortal.

Their last match wasn’t televised, not even streamed because it was a classic, with Superchin winning 6-5, averaging 108 to Van Gerwen’s 112.

MVG has won six of his last ten matches, Gurney seven. Their H2H record is 23-1-8 to MVG but in their last ten matches, it is 5-5 and in fact it is 6-5 to Gurney if you go back to eleventh last match, the final of the 2018 Players Championship Finals which Superchin famously won 11-9.

Both players have lost some form since then, but both can turn it on. Gurney enjoys the big matches, playing the big names and being the underdog. He won his first round match vs. Vincent van der Voort 6-2 last night averaging 99.1 with five legs of 15 or fewer darts. It was a good performance and a repeat of that will be hard for MVG to handle.

Van Gerwen is still one of the top players but just not as confident as he used to be. He is the 1.40 favourite, Gurney 3.00 and it is the Northern Irishman who makes more appeal.

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 1 point Daryl Gurney to win @ 3.10 with Ladbrokes

Gerwyn Price vs. Richard Veenstra

Veenstra beat an out of form Keegan Brown 6-4 yesterday, both players averaging 84. Needless to say, that is not going to bother Gerwyn Price. The Iceman, with a crowd to get him going, could run riot here. Veenstra can run hot and hit big averages, but not often enough and he is more usually a sub ninety man. The last time he played with the PDC big boys in the 2019 Grand Slam of Darts, he lost all three matches and won just three legs.

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -3.5 legs @ 2.20 with BET365

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 0.5 point Price to win 6-0 @ 10.00 with Boylesports

Peter Wright vs. Florian Hempel

Snakebite will be a fan favourite and having lost just one of his last fourteen matches, he is the 1.15 favourite to win another.

Hempel was good in spells during his 6-5 win over Jake Jones. He did struggle to put a fairly poor Jones down and Jones was allowed to win five legs all with over 16 darts. Peter Wright will jump all over that. That said Wright can be a slow starter and this is just a bit of a tune up. No bet.

Michael Smith vs. John Michael

A bit of a mismatch, one of a number tonight, to close proceedings. Michael got his win over Steve Beaton, in what turned out to be a close match. It ended up 6-5 with both players averaging in the high nineties.

That should serve as a warning to Smith but, a bit like Bradley Brooks this afternoon, putting back-to-back performances together is the problem for Michael. His hot streaks usually consist of a few legs rather than matches.

They have only met once and Smith won it, a Euro Tour match in 2015, 6-1. Will we see a repeat? Why not.

Hungarian Darts Trophy Saturday(2): 0.5 point Smith to win 6-1 @ 5.50 with Unibet, Boylesports

-JamesPunt