2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night Preview & Tips – JP
2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night Preview
Unfortunately we were out of luck with our only wager this afternoon. Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night preview.
Nathan Aspinall vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode
Dirk bust my 3 point bet last night, the start of a bad night at the office. It was a strange match with Ryan Searle. Heavy Metal went 2-0 up and looked in control but Dirk hit two crucial bullseyes to set up a couple of nice checkouts to square the match and that was enough to rattle Searle.
The two struggled to hold throw and it swung one way and then the other in a match low on quality. Dirk ended our hopes with a 121 checkout, finishing with another Bullseye to go 4-3 up.
Van Duijvenbode was over the moon to get the win but the reality was that he averaged 88.5 and it was three bullseyes which won the match for him. Now he faces an out form Nathan Aspinall but he will still have to improve if he is to make the quarter finals.
Aspinall Out Of Sorts
Aspinall has lost seven of his last ten matches and his only win in 2024 was a 6-5 against Lourence Ilagan in the Bahrain Masters. Back to back sub 90 averages in his last two matches were not great warmups for this weekend and he does look out of sorts.
I can’t think that Dirk has turned a corner after one scrappy win, and Aspinall still has a strong A-game, even if we are more likely to see something more mediocre. He has tweaked his darts, going back to a shorter point having gone to a longer point last year to help with his 180 hitting.
Aspinall is the 1.25 favourite and Dirk 4.33. Their H2H record is 7-3 to Aspinall, he has won their last four and six of their last seven. I imagine Aspinall will extend that record but the odds are of no interest.
2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night Tip: No Bet
Luke Humphries vs. Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries has lost three of his five matches since winning the World Championship. He has admitted to being darted out, tired after playing non-stop for a few months. He didn’t get much of a break after picking up the title and the life of the World Champion is a busy one.
His two wins were against Abdullah Saeed and Jermaine Wattimena, so he really has done nothing of note post Ally Pally. His last three matches have seen averages of 93.9, 92.8 and 93.3, consistent, but well below his 98.3 seasonal average in 2023.
Stephen Bunting was a rare plus for us last night, coming back from 2-5 down to win 6-5. He ended up with a 93.8 average, he hit five 180s but missed ten doubles. It was a decent season opener and his form of 2023 seems to be carrying on.
Lacklustre Luke
He now faces a more lacklustre Luke and he has to have a decent chance to make the quarter finals. Bunting has won seven of his last ten matches and while he hasn’t got close to achieving what Humphries has done, he was regarded as one of the form players of late 2023.
Their H2H record is 6-3 to Humphries but Bunting has won three of their last five, albeit that they have only met five times in three and a half years or so.
Humphries is the 1.40 favourite but the value has to be with Bunting at 3.25. The odds are good enough to have a play, even after a bad week so far.
2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night Tip: 1 point Stephen Bunting to win @ 3.25 with Boylesports
Michael van Gerwen vs. Chris Dobey
Chris Dobey has overcome his fear of MVG. He lost his first eleven matches against Mighty Mike but has won five of their last ten. Dobey is an improving player mentally, he always had the game but was suspect mentally. Some may say he still is, but he is getting more self-belief.
He had an easy, if uncomfortable 6-3 win over the struggling Andrew Gilding, but Dobey really hates that slow pace of play. He will get a quicker pace tonight, but he does have to face one of the best players in the world.
MVG has started 2024 in reasonable form, winning seven of his ten matches. His only duff match was the final of the Bahrain Masters against Littler when he averaged just 88, but he got his revenge last weekend, beating Littler 8-6 in the final of the Dutch Masters. He blew hot and cold against Michael Smith in the PL on Thursday night but his game is in decent shape.
MVG is the 1.55 favourite and the odds look about right. We are on him to win the title and that is enough interest for me. No bet.
2024 Masters Darts Saturday Night Tip: No Bet
Michael Smith vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
This match would have been a bit of a non-event at the end of last year such was the poor form of Van den Bergh. However, he has put in two reasonable performances back to back and he may have found his mojo.
He beat a hopeless James Wade last night but he did it with a 6-1 win. His average was only 90.65 but that was largely thanks to a leg where he couldn’t check out from 68 points with nine darts.
His overall checkout rate was just 28% but it was just a bizarre match of missed doubles all round. He averaged 102 in defeat to Price in the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend and it will be interesting to see if he can put in a good performance tonight.
Head Down
Smith has vowed to get his head down and work hard after a year of taking it easy in his World Champion year. He started well by winning the opening night of the PL on Thursday. He has won five of his seven matches in 2024 and hit back to back 98 averages on Thursday, despite having to put up with The PDC Whistler against Littler.
When Smith puts the work in, as he was famous for doing, he is a different proposition.
Their H2H record is 9-6 to Smith and he was 5-1 in 2023. Smith is the 1.44 favourite with Van den Bergh 2.88. There might a little value in Van den Bergh, but if Smith is firing in the high 90s again, he should be fine. No bet.
