2024 Masters Darts Friday Preview

Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 Masters Darts Friday preview. He has already posted his outright betting preview, you can check that out here. His free tips and analysis for Round 1 are below.

Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Ryan Searle

Dirk’s woes continued in the Dutch Darts Masters last week, losing 2-6 to Luke Littler and only managing an 82 average. He has now lost nine of his last ten matches.

Hopefully he gets his fitness back soon and can get back to practicing but right now, he just seems to be going through the motions, turning up to pick up the first round loser’s prize money. It seems to be a long term injury and on the back of his knee injury in the summer, 2023 was a year to forget for Dirk.

Early Riser

Searle, who is one to watch in the early part of the season, was playing OK at the end of 2023, winning six of his last ten matches. It would seem that Searle just has to go through the motions here and be wary of not slacking off too much.

Heavy Metal is the 1.33 favourite to win and while Van Duijvenbode is still able to win the odd leg, he is there for the taking.

These two met in two Players Championship finals in early 2023, with Dirk winning both and while he is 7-2 up, past form doesn’t count for much here. At least Searle can finally get a bit of revenge.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: 3 points Ryan Searle to win -2.5 legs @ 2.10 with Livescorebet, Betfair

Jonny Clayton vs. Krzysztof Ratajski

Neither player is in good form, both losing five of their last ten. Ratajski’s last match played was a 2-4 loss to Clayton at the World Championship. The Polish Eagle was playing some good stuff at the end of 2023, but with very little consistency.

Jonny Clayton has struggled since the death of his father and like Ratajski, consistency was not part of his game in the second half of 2023. It was consistency which was the bedrock of that magical year of 2021 and he needs to get his mojo back before he becomes a backable proposition.

Neither player makes any appeal. Clayton is the 1.80 favourite, Ratajski 2.10. An easy no bet for me.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: No bet

Dave Chisnall vs. Martin Schindler

Chizzy has enjoyed quite a bit of success in this event, reaching two finals, and he has won seven of his ten opening matches, including the last five in a row.

He ended 2023 by winning six of his last ten matches and while he picked up five titles, his TV form was poor. That said, he reached the last 16 at the Players Championship finals and the quarter finals of the World Championship, so he ended the season with a bit of wind in his sails.

Martin Schindler has played four matches here but won only the one. He ended 2023 winning just six of last ten matches, but he was playing better than that sounds, hitting seven 95+ averages.

Their H2H record is 3-2 to Chisnall but all three of their best of eleven leg matches went over 9.5 legs. Another reasonably close match would be no surprise.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.00 with Betfair

Damon Heta vs. Gabriel Clemens

Heta is the master of accumulating money without picking up as many titles as he should. He is now ranked 11th in the world but picked up just the one Players Championship title in 2023.

The Heat has won seven of his last ten matches, which is very much what he does for most of his seasons. He lost his Masters debut 5-6 to Ross Smith last year.

Gabriel Clemens reached a couple of major semi-finals last year but he has yet to win a title of any kind in the PDC. He ended 2023 winning six of his last ten matches and had been playing some nice stuff. Clemens has played in two previous Masters but failed to make the second round.

One of them is going to break their Masters duck. Heta is 5-2 with Clemens and he is the better player, more often.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: 1 point Damon Heta to win @ 1.73 with Betfair

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. James Wade

Van den Bergh was a player to oppose for most of 2023 but he showed a bit of form in the Netherlands last weekend, albeit that he lost 3-6 to Gerwyn Price, but the Belgian did average 102, his first ton since mid-October.

One Swallow does not a summer make, but when you have been losing as many games as he had done at the end of 2023 (3-7), it will have given him a bit of encouragement. One of his many defeats was to James Wade, a 6-10 loss in the Players Championship finals.

Wade A Two Time Finalist

James Wade has made two finals here, winning the title back in 2014 and runner up in 2019. He has dropped to 19th in the world rankings, his lowest since 2005. That will have been a big shock for a player who has been in the top 10 at year end of fourteen of the last fifteen years.

He had dropped out of the top 16 earlier in the season, but his run to the European Championship finals knocked him back in.

However, he was defending a lot of year end money and despite reaching the Grand Slam semi-finals and Players Championship quarter finals, his second round exit at the World Championship lost him a heap of money. He was defending semi-final prize money and that’s how the cookie crumbles.

I suspect Wade will be very keen to get back into that top 16 as a minimum, and while this is non ranking, he will be looking to get 2024 off to a good start. His form at the end of 2023 was strong, that early World Championship loss excepted. He may be a player to follow in the coming weeks and months.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: 1 point James Wade to win @ 1.83 with SpreadEx

Chris Dobey vs. Andrew Gilding

The defending champion, Chris Dobey had a very financially rewarding 2023, starting with picking up £65000 here. He finished 2022 with a World Championship quarter final and went on to finish in the same position in another three ranking majors.

Hollywood ended 2023 with another World Championship quarter final, so could he repeat the feat of backing that up by defending his title? Only MVG has ever done so, so he would be joining a very elite club. Ironically, he would play MVG should he beat Gilding tonight.

Dobey finished last season by winning six of his last ten, narrowly missing out a World Championship semi-final by throwing away a big lead against Rob Cross, going down 4-5. At least he has had time to get that out of his system as it was a bitter blow.

Form Tailed Off

Andrew Gilding had a great 2023 but his form at the tail end of it wasn’t great, losing seven of his last ten matches. Gilding has a very good H2H record against Dobey, winning six of their eight matches.

Perhaps Dobey just doesn’t cope with the pace of Goldfinger’s play. Dobey does like to get on with it and has been frustrated by slow players before.

Dobey is the 1.44 favourite, Gilding 3.15 and if Gilding were showing any sort of decent form, he would be a good bet. Chris Dobey has only ever inflicted one heavy defeat on Gilding and in the other seven matches, Gilding either won or covered a -1.5 leg handicap.

Gilding is 4.00 with a -1.5 leg handicap and while the form is mostly old and Dobey is the better player, I will have a small play on the unexpected.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: 0.5 point Andrew Gilding -1.5 legs to win @ 5.00 with BET365

Joe Cullen vs. Josh Rock

No H2H form to go as they have never met. Rock ended 2023 in better, if erratic form, winning six of his last ten matches and Cullen losing six of his last ten.

There is very little to go on here. Their recent form is cold and they have never played each other. The temptation is to go for a close match and over 9.5 legs, but at 1.91, the odds look about right. No bet.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: No Bet

Stephen Bunting vs. Ross Smith

Two big 180 hitters and they could close the night with some fireworks.

Ross Smith has hit the maximums at a rate of 0.38 per leg, a better rate than anyone else. Bunting is back in 20th on the list at 0.30.

With that sort of firepower I would expect Smith to be winning more titles but I have become accustomed to Bunting pulling up shy of the winning line over the years.

Bunting Leads H2H

Their H2H record makes good reading for Stephen Bunting. He is 8-3 against Smith and has won four of their last five. Bunting ended 2023 with seven wins from his last ten, Smith six from his last ten.

Smith was scoring well on the whole but just wasn’t capitalising on good scoring performances. Bunting was in great form in late 2023 after changing to a heavier dart. His problem is rarely with scoring, it is just his fear of winning holding him back.

Bunting is the marginal 1.88 favourite, with Smith a 2.00 shot.

Overs on the 180s is an obvious call, but at 1.91 for over 6.5, the bookies aren’t giving much away. I would think over 5.50 is nearer the mark, but that is just 1.44.

Over 9.5 legs at 2.10 is also tempting, but as we are on Bunting to reach the semi-final, I have enough invested in this tricky match as it is. No bet.

2024 Masters Darts Friday Tip: No Bet

-JamesPunt