Saturday Evening International Darts Tips – JP
Saturday Evening International Darts Open Tips
As they say, form is temporary and class is permanent and James Punt fired in four winners this afternoon at odds of 3.75, 2.15, 3.75 and 2.00. He is back in action again tonight, check out his Saturday Evening International Darts Open tips and preview below.
Mensur Suljovic vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
Dancing Dimitri waltzed to a 6-2 win over Martin Lukeman in the first round, averaging 101.4. He won his six legs with three 15 dart legs, two 13s and an 11 dart leg, 66.7% on his doubles and three maximums. Very tidy. Van den Bergh has won eight of his last ten matches and has a 5-4 H2H record against Suljovic.
Mensur has won six of his last ten, but he is averaging just 92.4 in 2022. His game has been on the slide for a couple of years now while Van den Bergh is still in the ascendancy.
Dimitri is the 1.41 favourite, but I’ll take him to win with a handicap.
Saturday Evening International Darts Tips: 1 point Van den Bergh to win -1.5 legs at 1.67 with Betfred, SpreadEx
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Nico Kurz
Kurz beat fellow German Gabriel Clemens 6-3 last night. It wasn’t a great match. Kurz won it with a 12 dart leg but the previous leg took him 26 and there was a 19 and 17 dart leg, so a very mixed bag. He now faces an out of form Van Duijvenbode.
The Aubergenius has lost six of his last ten matches, has a 2022 win rate of just 37% and is averaging 93.5. That might still be enough to beat Kurz who has only played two euro tour second round matches and lost both, 6-2 and 6-2 to James Wade and Glen Durrant respectively. Dirk has only played eight matches this year and lost five of them. Even at that poor level, he is averaging five points more than Kurz, albeit that Kurz is only playing Development tour with lower standards.
Dirk is the 1.44 favourite and he couldn’t have hoped for a better opening round opponent. Yes, he is facing a German in Germany, but Dirk is experienced enough to handle that. Kurz will win legs, he hit five tons yesterday and had three legs of 15 or fewer and against an out of form Dutchman he is unlikely to get steam rolled.
Saturday Evening International Darts Tips: 1 point Nico Kurz to win +2.5 legs @ 1.80 with SpreadEx
Joe Cullen vs. Madars Razma
Razzmatazz averaged 86 when beating Wayne Jones 6-4 in a very forgettable match. He was good on his doubles which is just as well as he would have lost otherwise. He now faces the man of the moment and defending champion, Joe Cullen, a player with who he has a winning H2H record against, 4-3. Razma has won six of his last ten matches and is averaging 90.1 in 2022.
Joe Cullen has happy memories of the last time he was here, beating MVG in the 2019 final. Since then he has won his first TV title and picked up five players championship titles, and is on the verge of the top 10. Cullen has won fourteen of his last fifteen matches having had back-to-back players championship titles two weeks ago. His win rate in 2022 is 84%.
Cullen is the 1.22 favourite and very hard to oppose, despite the H2H record. Rockstar’s amazing start to the season won’t last forever but he is on the crest of a wave right now and he should be too good for Razma.
Saturday Evening International Darts Tips: 1 point Joe Cullen to win -2.5 legs @ 1.66 with Unibet
Michael van Gerwen vs. Keane Barry
This will be the first time young Keane has faced the once Mighty Mike. Barry was impressive yesterday when beating Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 with a 95.8 average. He was better than his opponent for most of the match, winning the first four legs with 15,14, 12 and 14 dart legs, before he switched off and rather walked to a 6-2 win, but the first four were top class. He looks to be making a step up this year and will, hopefully, relish having a crack at MVG. Dynamite has won 75% of his matches in 2022 but many of those at Development Tour level.
Fear Factor Gone
Van Gerwen continues to score as well as ever, but he has lost the fear factor and now it is his opponents who are look forward for a chance to take him down. His 2022 win rate is down to a twelve year low of 62%, yet he is averaging 99.
The pressure is on MVG. He doesn’t need another kid coming along and beating him. Barry is not under any pressure other than winning enough money to keep his card, but that looks highly likely already.
MVG is the 1.25 favourite with Barry a 5.00 shot. Barry is 2.20 getting a +2.5 leg handicap but that means winning four legs and if he gets that close, MVG may well implode in any case.
Saturday Evening International Darts Tips: 0.5 point Keane Barry to win @ 5.00 with Ladbrokes
Gerwyn Price vs. Ritchie Edhouse
A rerun of their World Championship match which Price won 3-1 in sets, but Edhouse made a fist of it for a while, winning the first set and trying to out Gerwyn, Gerwyn. It didn’t work and he went down to his second defeat to the Iceman.
Edhouse put in one of his better performances when beating Ryan Searle 6-4 but Searle was extremely poor on his doubles and Edhouse only averaged 89.4 in the end, but he had legs with 15,12,13,14 and 11 darts, but just made hard work of things when 4-1 up. He will need to be just as sharp tonight if he is not to be beaten again by the world number one and he is not known for his consistency.
Price, a two time Champion here, has won eight of his last eight matches and is averaging 100 in 2022. He is looking like he is just about in peak form and that will be too much for Edhouse once again.
Price is the 1.15 favourite which is of no interest and it is hard to say how many legs Edhouse will be allowed to win. No bet.
Jonny Clayton vs. Krzysztof Kciuk
Kciuk played OK when beating, nay thrashing, Rob Cross 6-1 last night. Cross was poor and he was heavily beaten by a player who had four winning legs of 17 darts or more. Kciuk was very happy to have beaten a player of Cross’ standing, but he was facing a C game and that is unlikely to be the case here. These two have met just once with Clayton winning 6-3 last year.
Clayton is not at his best right now, but his A game is never far away and even his B game will be too much for Kciuk. He has won 66% of his games in 2022 and is averaging 97.
The Ferret is the 1.14 favourite and much like the match above it is hard to see much value here. If Clayton was on fire, maybe a 6-0 score line would have been the punt, but Kciuk should get on the scoreboard. No bet.
Peter Wright vs. Luke Woodhouse
The third uncompetitive match in a row as the world number two and former International Darts Open winner, Peter Wright, takes on journeyman Luke Woodhouse. Woody beat Andy Boulton 6-2 and it was a good performance, averaging 95.4, 43% on the doubles and three winning legs of 15 or fewer. Their H2H record is 2-0 to Wright, both matches played back in 2018. This is a chance for Woodhouse to measure himself against a two time World Champion but he may not like the outcome.
Snakebite has won six of his last ten matches so is below his best, but he is averaging 99 in 2022 with a 79% win rate. He has hit a ton plus in five of his last ten, but also had two mid 80 averages in there as well. The crowd will be behind Wright and Woodhouse might find things tough unless Wright has one of his off nights.
Wright is the 1.18 favourite and this is another match best watched rather than betting on it.
Michael Smith vs. Simon Whitlock
The Wizard is another crowd favourite in Germany and he might need their help if he is to get the better of Smith. Bully Boy is not in good form. losing seven of his last ten. The hangover from losing the World Championship final is lingering and the Premier League is proving a real test of his character, and so far, he is failing that test.
Their H2H record is interesting, 9-7 to Smith and they last met on the Euro Tour last September and it was Whitlock who won 6-2. That meant that Smith has lost all four European Tour matches against Whitlock, and three of them very heavy defeats.
Out Of Form
The problem here is both players are not in great form. Only three wins from ten for Smith and four from ten for Whitlock. The Aussie beat local qualifier Dragutin Horvat 6-0 last night and while the German was terrible, Whitlock did a job on him, averaging 95.9 with 66% on the doubles and it was his doubling that will have pleased him as he had been struggling in that department.
The doubles are what might settle this match tonight so long as Whitlock can keep his scoring respectable and that hasn’t always been the case this year. Smith is his own worst enemy at times and if Whitlock can keep with him, he might just force the errors which have defined Smith’s career.
Michael Smith is the 1.34 favourite which is very short given his recent struggles to win. Whitlock is a 3.40 shot and 1.70 getting a 2.5 leg handicap. Given their euro tour H2H record, Whitlock deserves consideration here and he might just heap some more misery on a Smith lacking in confidence.
