Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship Tips – JP
Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship Preview
What a day of darts it was at the Ally Pally on Wednesday. Huge comebacks from De Sousa, Soutar and Smith, Anderson dumped out by Cullen and Mensur Suljovic putting it right up to MVG. James Punt got on the board with two nice winners in his evening preview, check out his Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship tips below.
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Ross Smith
Van Duijvenbode is in good form, winning seven of his last ten, with all seeing 93+ averages and four ton plus averages. He survived one match dart against Karel Sedlacek in the second round and he got a proper work out, just to remind him that it is hard to win here.
Dirk has won both of his third round matches here, 4-0 vs. Adam Hunt in 2021 and 4-3 against Ross Smith last year. He has seldom brought his A game to this stage apart from that 4-0 vs. Hunt when he averaged 104. He can get a bit tight, and this stage brings that out in him.
Much Improved
Ross Smith is a much-improved player in the last few months. He has always had a good A game, but he was very streaky and never kept it up for any length of time. His seasonal average has actually dropped in 2022, as has his win rate (to 56%), but in his last 50 matches, his win rate is 62% and since the start of October it is 73%.
He has found a sustained period of good form. He averaged 100.97 in his 3-1 win over Darius Labanauskas and has won six of his last ten matches, all with 90+ averages and six with 95+.
Dirk Edges H2H
Their H2H record is 3-2 to Dirk but they have not met since that third round match here last year. Two of those matches were back in 2013 and in their three matches since 2020, it is Ross who leads 2-1.
These two are ranked in the top 4 for 180s per leg, Duijvenbode 1st and Smith 4th. Hopefully they can smash them in and give us all a good show. The market has over 19.5 180s so it may need a close match to reach that, and it was 4-3 last year. They only manged 12 between them last year, despite the full number of sets being played. Smith only hit two at 0.06 per leg and I would be surprised if he had the same problem again.
Dirk van Duijvenbode is the 1.73 favourite, but I fancy Smith to be able to get the better of him. He can put pressure on the Dutchman and we know that Dirk gets tight up on that stage.
Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship tip: 1 point over 18.5 180s @ 1.80 with SpreadEx
Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship tip: 1 point Ross Smith to win @ 2.45 with Ladbrokes
Rob Cross vs. Merv King
Cross is in great form, winning seven of his last ten and hitting six 96+ averages. His three defeats were to Dirk van Duijvenbode, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen, and with the greatest of respect, Merv King does not fall into that bracket of player.
Their H2H record is surprisingly close at 5-5, and on TV 2-2. That is a surprise.
King just about beat Danny Baggish 3-2 in the second round, and he didn’t look well. He’s put on a lot of weight and was sweating up badly. He has lost five of his last ten matches and had five sub 90 averages. He has only played one match in his last 97 that was not a best of 11 legs and he lost it 4-10. He doesn’t have the physical capabilities for a long match.
Cross is the 1.25 favourite, and despite that H2H record, he deserves to be. He has won all three of his 3rd round matches here, albeit that he needed a deciding leg in two of them. King has played twelve 3rd round matches here and lost eight, half of them 2-4. Can he get two sets today? If so, they will likely be early in the match.
Thursday 2023 PDC World Championship tip: 0.5 point Rob Cross to win 4-2 @ 4.60 with Betfred
Dave Chisnall vs. Stephen Bunting
Chizzy has won six of his last ten matches and had six ton plus averages. He still lacks the consistency to win as many titles as his talent deserves but remains one of the heaviest scorers in the game. He has played eight third round matches here and won six.
Bunting is no slouch in the scoring department himself, only averaging a couple of points less than Chisnall. He also lacks consistency, and more so than Chisnall. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but had five sub 94 averages and just the one ton plus. The Bullet has played four third round ties here and won three.
Chisnall is the 1.40 favourite with Bunting 3.25. Their H2H record is 11-7 to Chisnall but it is Chisnall who has won their last eight in a row and he won both their matches in 2022 6-0. In their last three TV matches, Chizzy has won to nil. That is some scar tissue for Bunting to deal with.
