Saturday German Darts Championship Preview – JP
Saturday German Darts Championship Preview
James Punt is back in action this afternoon and there are more betting opportunities than yesterday. Check out his Saturday German Darts Championship tips below.
Rob Cross vs. Gian van Veen
Van Veen was in decent nick when beating James Wilson 6-4 last night. It was a proper game in which Wilson played his part, making Van Veen work for the win. In the end he averaged 94.12, hit five 180’s but missed ten doubles. He has won six of his last ten matches and won his only match against Cross, 6-2 back in March.
Rob Cross isn’t in great form having lost six of his last ten matches and only one of his last six. That doesn’t bode well, but he had been in decent form not so long ago.
Cross is the 1.80 favourite and Van Veen 2.20. The money is going down on Van Veen which is fair enough given Cross’ recent lapse in form. I am happy just to hope that he can get through to the next round and that he sharpens up his doubles. No bet.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: No Bet
Ryan Searle vs. Martin Lukeman
Lukeman beat Madars Razma 6-5 yesterday. We had him to win by 1.5 or more and it was his poor doubling that let him down. Fifteen missed doubles meant that the match went down to the wire rather than being wrapped up in good time.
His scoring was decent and if he can get his doubles sorted out, he has a good chance to progress. He has now won eight of his last ten matches and one of those was a 6-4 win against Searle. Lukeman averaged 106.96 in that one.
Ryan Searle has won six of his last ten matches but when it comes to the Euro Tour, he has played nineteen and won nine, and he has lost six of his last ten.
Their H2H record is 3-3 and this looks to be a very open match. Searle is the 1.54 favourite, which is way too short given their H2H record, Lukeman’s recent form and Searle’s relatively poor form on the Euro Tour.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: 1 point Martin Lukeman to win @ 2.70 with Ladbrokes
Danny Noppert vs. Jules van Dongen
We are on Noppert outright and he is up against a dangerous opponent here. Van Dongen has been playing well lately and his 6-2 win over Patrik Kovacs was another good performance. He averaged 94.27 but he was another player who wasn’t great on the doubles, missing eleven.
Danny Noppert is in great form, winning eight of his last ten and he picked up his fourth PDC title in Players Championship 22 a couple of weeks ago. He was playing very consistently with six 95+ averages and a low of 92.6. He should be able to apply pressure to Van Dongen.
Off the oche, these two are good friends which is a situation which I dislike when betting on a match. Noppert is the 1.50 favourite and Van Dongen 2.88. You can make a case for van Dongen in a first to six leg match, but Noppert is the better player, in good form and hopefully he can progress to the final day.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: No bet
Damon Heta vs. Darryl Pilgrim
This will be interesting. Pilgrim was very impressive when beating Jeff Smith 6-1 yesterday. Smith wasn’t at the races, but Pilgrim just steam rolled him, averaging 102.88, hitting three maximums and was 50% on his doubles. It was the best performance of the first round, by some margin.
He doesn’t have a tour card but he is having a good season with two Modus Super Series titles, a Challenger Tour title and Players Championship quarter final. His last nine matches have all been at senior level and he won seven of them.
Big Averages
He has been hitting some massive averages in the Modus series, including averages of 122, 118 (back to back), 107 and 103. He had been doing similar things on the Challenge Tour and the one thing he has is massive firepower. He has also hit three sub 90 averages in his last ten matches, so the consistency is not quite there.
Damon Heta is the nearly man of the 2023 Euro Tour. The number two seed, courtesy of winning a lot of matches, but he is yet to make a final this season. He did win ET13 this time last year, but that was in Gibraltar.
His recent form is six wins from his last ten matches. He won PC16 in the summer and seems to make quarter and semi-finals for fun. He does lose far too many of them, but he gets there.
There is no H2H form to go on. Heta is the 1.48 favourite with Pilgrim 2.75. Heta has only lost two of his opening matches on this year’s Euro Tour, but I’m happy to take a chance on Pilgrim. He has nothing to lose and is in great form.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: 1 point Darryl Pilgrim to win @ 2.75 with Hills, Betvictor, BET365
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. George Killington
Killington survived a number of match darts by Scott Waites to win his first ever Euro Tour match yesterday. He was outscored but Waites was another player for whom the double segment of the board was a no go area. It was the theme of the day yesterday. It wasn’t a great performance that won it for Killington, but he inherited the victory and was very happy to do so.
Dirk van Duijvenbode is cutting a frustrated figure these days. Losing two finals has hurt him mentally and especially the manner of his defeat to Humphries in the final of ET10. He just couldn’t hit a double when he had the match in the palm of his hand and lost it 7-8.
Since then he has made a Euro Tour quarter final and a Players Championship quarter final, but he is better than that, or was. His recent form sees six wins from his last ten but the fire in him has dimmed.
This match should be well within his grasp, however, and he has won five of their previous six meetings. Killington’s only win came in a 33-4 Development tour match in 2014. Dirk’s firepower should be too much for Killington.
Van Duijvenbode is the 1.29 favourite but I’ll have speculative bet on a 6-3 win. Two of their four best of eleven leg matches have ended with that score, including their only match this year.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: 0.5 point Dirk van Duijvenbode to win 6-3 @ 5.50 with Betfred, Skybet
Josh Rock vs. Stephen Bunting
Rock has lost six of his last ten matches, while Bunting is in great nick winning seven of his last ten. He struggled on the doubles a bit in last night’s laboured 6-5 win over Jeffery de Graff, but it was a decent enough performance.
Rock has lost six of his last seven matches and his confidence will have taken a knock for it. His scoring has dropped off somewhat but it is his doubling which has been costing him.
Rock is the 1.80 favourite despite his recent form, Bunting is 2.10 and the odds should be the other way round in my opinion.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: 1 point Stephen Bunting to win @ 2.10 with Ladbrokes, Boylesports
Jonny Clayton vs. Nico Kurz
Kurz was our only winner form five bets yesterday, but at least he was a good price. He has been around for a few years now, but he has only recently decided to give professional darts a proper go, having spent time getting a degree and sorting out an alternative career should it not work out.
Expect improvement form him and that improvement was on display yesterday. He beat Dylan Slevin 6-2 and while Slevin wasn’t great, Kurz was very clinical, took his chances and ran out an easy 6-2 winner. This will be tougher, but Kurz can give Clayton something to think about.
Ferret Improving
Jonny Clayton has won seven of his last ten matches and looks close to his best form. His consistency is improving as is his scoring. It isn’t quite there, but he did take quite a bit of time away from the dart board after the death of his father, so he is just getting back to it full time now.
Clayton is the 1.18 favourite with Kurz 5.80. Those are dismissive odds about Kurz, especially as the sellout crowd will be on his side. Hopefully Clayton wins, he is our number one selection, but he could have to work a lot harder than the odds suggest.
Saturday German Darts Championship Tip: 1 point Nico Kurz to win + 2.5 legs @ 2.30 with SportingIndex
Ross Smith vs. Daryl Gurney
Superchin beat Vincent van der Voort 6-2 last night. He averaged 95, hit three maximums and was 50% on his doubles. A very good performance but he looked a bit flat to me, at least early on in the match. He was helped by Van der Voort getting huffy and throwing his darts away.
Gurney has won seven of his last ten matches and his game is heading in the right direction. His win rate is the highest that it has been since 2017 and his seasonal average is touching 95, again getting back to where it was when he was winning majors. He has started to string more wins together and the confidence is returning.
Smith Not In Form
Ross Smith was expecting to have the weekend off but here he is, in the second round of a Euro Tour event without throwing a dart. He also gets the £2k as ranking money as he is not technically a seeded player.
Smudger is not in great form, losing five of his last ten matches and that is down to poor consistency. He is going from his A game to his B game and even his C game far too often. You really don’t know what you are going to get.
Their H2H record is 4-3 to Daryl and in 2023 1-1. Smith beat Gurney 6-4 in ET 9 back in May and Gurney was the 6-5 winner in PC21 last month. Most of their H2H form is over five years ago, so I can only say that they are evenly matched and a close match looks to be expected.
Smith is the 1.80 favourite, Gurney 2.20. The odds look a little generous for a Gurney win, but not massively. I’ll take a chance on a reasonably close match.
