2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Preview & Tips – JP
2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Preview & Tips
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Tips. He is in red hot form at the moment. Three winners from three bets on Wednesday, let’s hope for a repeat tonight. Check out his match previews below.
Stowe Buntz vs. Andrew Gilding
The Stowe Buntz show rolls into the knockout phase. It must be said that he is dining out on a superb performance against Peter Wright in his first match. Buntz was very good, averaging 102, and Wright was very poor.
Since then, Buntz has averaged 88 in both his subsequent matches, beating Bunting 5-3 and losing 4-5 to Chisnall. He is proving to be resilient at the very least, but sub 90 averages should be punished at this stage of a Major Championship.
Andrew Gilding is cashing in nicely in the big ones this season. Winner of the UK Open and quarter finalist at the Grand Prix. He has lost five of his last ten matches and hit four sub 90 averages. His form is patchy and he is not banker material.
Goldfinger Fav
Gilding is the 1.44 favourite with Buntz the 2.95 outsider. Understandable odds as Gilding is the PDC Pro and Major winner, but he isn’t really playing like one.
Buntz will have little experience (none) of playing a best of 19 leg match on TV, but he has taken to the stage well so far. However, this is a different game now. He has to be resilient at the very least and do it for a long time.
I am not really interested in Gilding’s odds of 1.44. He is not a great player but he should beat Buntz. Will he thrash him? Could he thrash him? Somebody will, but will it be Gilding? I don’t know. No bet.
2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Tip: No bet
Danny Noppert vs. Stephen Bunting
Danny Noppert won all three of his group matches, but he was far from convincing. Two sub 90 averages and ten legs dropped against fairly ordinary opponents.
He has won ten of his last eleven matches, so he’ll be feeling confident that he can win with his C game, but he can’t keep on getting away with modest performances. Six of his last eleven matches saw sub 90 averages.
Stephen Bunting lost out on topping Group E on leg difference to Buntz, which was annoying. He was a good price to win that group and should have done so. He has been one of the better players in the tournament scoring in the mid to high 90’s in all three matches.
Noppert A Bunting Bogeyman?
The Bullet has won eight of his last ten matches and had just one sub 90 average in those ten. That match was a 3-6 loss to Danny Noppert. That was his fifth loss in seven matches against Noppert and Bunting last beat the Dutchman in April 2019.
Noppert has won their last four in a row. That included a 10-9 win at this year’s Masters. He also won their other best of 19 leg 10-7 in the 2018 Players Championship finals.
My initial feeling about this match was a good bet on Bunting. He is the more consistent performer right now, but that H2H record stopped me in my tracks.
Lacks Resilience
Bunting is not the most mentally resilient of players and will that poor H2H record, and recent defeat to Noppert, be enough to knock him out of his stride? That his only recent sub 90 average came against Noppert suggests so. Is that enough for me to back Noppert? Not in his current patchy form.
Bunting is the 1.73 favourite with Noppert 2.20. Both their long format TV matches have gone beyond 16 legs, and another long match would come as no surprise.
2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Tip: 1 point Over 16.5 legs @ 2.00 with Betfair
Michael van Gerwen vs. Damon Heta
Heta is a very lucky boy to be in the knockout phase. Beau Greaves missed a match dart to beat him and he was outplayed for most of that game. He required three big three figure checkouts to win legs. So it was either brilliant, battling belligerence or he got lucky.
Heta needed deciding legs to beat Pietreczko and Greaves, and he lost his other group match to a middling Nathan Aspinall.
Michael van Gerwen will have pricked up his ears when Gerwyn Price got knocked out last night. Suddenly he sees his chances of winning another major getting a lot better. His motivation will increase. But he will have to play better darts.
MVG Not At Best
MVG has won seven of his last ten matches but he is far from playing his best. He started brightly with a 101 average and a 5-1 win over Sherrock, but it was a 94 to beat Cross 5-4 and just 90 when beating Kleermaker in the deciding leg of the final group match.
Heta has won eight of his last ten matches and has played well enough in most. He has won five of his fourteen matches against MVG, and three of their last four.
MVG is worth taking on and odds of 3.50 are good enough to have a play on Heta to win.
2023 Thursday Grand Slam of Darts Tip: 1 point Damon Heta to win @ 3.50 with Ladbrokes, Betfred, Fitzdares
nathan Aspinall vs. Rob Cross
Both players lost one of their group stage matches. Cross lost a deciding leg to MVG and Aspinall lost to Pietreczko in his final group match.
Aspinall was already through but it was a bizarre match, with Pietreczko in a complete huff because the crowd had been beastly to him the day before. Whether that dragged Aspinall down or not is hard to say, but an average of 82.7 from the Asp was worrying, trying or not.
Lost 7 of Last 10
Aspinall has lost seven of his last ten matches and it is hard to get a proper grip on his form. At times it seems he isn’t that interested. Not wanting to play in the Players Championship events and then downing tools against Pietreczko is not exactly professional.
That said, he played well enough in the first two group matches, Beating Beau Greaves 5-4 and Damon Heta 5-2. None of his opponents averaged more than 91, but he lost one and narrowly won another.
Consistent Cross
Rob Cross is in great form, winning seven of his last ten matches, but it is his consistency which is impressive. Nine of his last ten matches have seen 96+ averages, with a low of 92. He has been playing like that for a month now, so it is not just a temporary uptick in form.
Their H2H record is 6-5 to Cross and he won their only match in 2023 8-6 in a World Series final. Cross is 4-3 on TV and won their only first to 10 leg match 10-8 back in 2018.
Cross is the 1.71 favourite and he is worth backing -1.5 legs.
