2024 World Series Darts Finals Betting Preview

Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 World Series Darts Finals outright preview. He fired in a flurry of winners at the German Darts Championship, hopefully his excellent form continues.

2024 World Series Darts Finals

This will be the tenth World Series of Darts Finals and the winner will pocket a not insignificant £80,000. It is non-ranking prizemoney, but a nice lift for somebody.

There is a field of 32 players and the top eight players on this year World Series OOM are seeded, but everyone starts in the first round. There are the next twelve players from the OOM, joined by four PDC OOM qualifiers and the final eight players came through the tour card holder qualifying event a couple of weeks ago.

Andrew Gilding got a late call up as Nathan Aspinall has withdrawn to complete his recovery from his elbow injury (he will be back at the Players Championships next week). It looks a decent line up, which has not always been the case for this event.

Past winners are MVG (x5), Price (x2), Clayton and Wade. There is no Wade in the field this year and MVG is the defending champion. Only one of the past nine World Series Finals has been won by a player not seeded in the top four. That was James Wade in 2018. The number 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeded players have won it twice each.

The 2024 World Series Darts Finals Seeds

1 Luke Littler 

Winner of two titles in the World Series and top of the OOM. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches. There are a few so-so performances in his game right now, but his usual standard is a ton plus.

2 Gerwyn Price 

Has won this twice in the last four years but he seems disinterested in darts right now. He has been struggling with a health issue. He has won two World Series titles this season, so he clearly likes his exhibition stuff, but he has lost four of his last ten matches, and his last three in a row.

If a return to a venue where he has enjoyed success in the past sparks his interest, he may be in with a chance, but his competitive nature is just not there right now.

3 Rob Cross 

Comes here on the back of taking a month off. He had lost six of his last ten matches before the break, and it is hard to say how he will go this weekend. Others make more appeal.

4 Luke Humphries 

Like Cross, Humphries took time off after the last of the World Series events, but he returned to action at last weekend’s Flanders Darts Trophy. He played great but was surprisingly beaten by Riccardo Pietreczko 4-7 in the semi-final. Humphries averaged over 100 across his four matches in Belgium and he’ll take that after a few weeks off.

5 Michael van Gerwen

Returned to action late last month having taken time out for dental surgery. He has averaged over 95 in eleven of his twelve matches since coming back. There is a good deal of consistency in his game but he is losing a lot of matches at the business end of tournaments these days. I suspect his confidence is not great.

6 Michael Smith 

Another player who has not played for a month. Before his break he had lost six of his last ten matches and had been playing with no consistency.

7 Peter Wright 

Snakebite returned to the winner’s circle when he won the German Darts Championship two weeks ago, beating Luke Littler in the final. He comes here as arguably the most in-form player in the field, winning nine of his last ten matches.

His scoring is not up there with the two Lukes, or MVG, but his confidence will be through the roof after a long time in the doldrums. He is a two time runner up and reached the semi-final last year. One to consider, and I didn’t expect to be writing that a few weeks ago.

8 Dimitri van den Bergh 

His form has tailed off again. He won PC12 back in June, out of the blue really, but has lost 50% of his matches since. Most recently he has lost six of his last ten and is struggling for consistency.

Best of the Rest

Dave Chisnall 

This definitely is not a major and as such, Chisnall can be considered. He is in great form, having won the European Darts Open in June and last weekend’s Flanders Darts Trophy. Sandwiched in between was a semi-final in the German Darts Championship.

He has won eight of his last ten matches and he should be feeling very confident. What is not to like is that he just doesn’t do it in the big events. In his long career he has reached four ranked major finals and lost the lot.

In the non-ranking major televised events, of which this is one, he has reached two finals and lost both. As far as this event goes, he has reached two semi-finals, but gone no further. In my book, he is just not a payer to back outright, outside of the Euro Tour, where he finds winning easy. Bizarre.

Chris Dobey 

Hollywood has definitely made a step forward in the last year or two. He was always a good player, and now is a very good player. But so is Dave Chisnall, and I wonder if there is a common thread here. Two very good players who score heavily, make the game look so easy at times, but Dobey’s tournament win column is short.

Chizzy at least wins plenty in Europe. Dobey does at least have a non-ranking TV title to his credit, the 2023 Masters. However, if you were backing Dobey to win, week in week out, you’d have gone broke a long time ago.

His current form is very good, winning eight of his last ten matches. He won another Players Championship title last month, his second of the year, and was a semi-finalist in Belgium last weekend. He has to be considered given his current form, but don’t bet the farm on him.

Wessel Nijman 

A player at the other end of the experience spectrum to Chizzy and Dobey. He could be the Dutch Littler, indeed he has a winning H2H record against Littler, 6-2. He gave Littler a good run for his money in the final of PC15 in July, losing 6-8.

Nijman has won seven of his last ten matches, played some good stuff, but like so many of the young players coming through, consistency will be the last part of the jigsaw. It would be very optimistic to think he could win the title, but he has a very good draw, and a good run, on home soil, is not out of the question.

Cameron Menzies 

Arguably the most improved player of the last 12 months or so. A figure of fun for years, his was a talent going to waste, but now, as Fallon Sharrock’s beau, Menzies has become a serious player.

His seasonal win rate is 72%, he was runner up to Dobey in the final of PC19 last month and he has won eight of his last ten matches. He is scoring well and consistently. His seasonal average is 96.6 and he has been playing a bit over that in recent weeks.

He is not yet winning titles, however, and how his head would hold up in a big TV match is an unknown, but as far as form goes, he has to be on the short list.

Daryl Gurney 

Almost there. Superchin has been on the comeback trail for a while now, getting a lot of plaudits for how he was playing, but he wasn’t putting together many decent runs. He has been doing so of late, a few doors are being knocked on.

When he was hitting the big time in 2017, he knocked on plenty before one opened, and suddenly he had two majors under his belt and was world number three. Gurney has won seven of his last ten. He was runner up in PC11 in June, a semi-finalist in PC 19 last month and a semi-finalist at the German Darts Championship at the start of the month. He does have a stinking draw, however.

Dirk van Duijvenbode 

Another player who is almost there. Dirk is coming back from injury, still not fully fit, but his game is getting stronger and he is showing the kind of form that made him one of the most exciting players in the game. He was never a serial title winner and that side of the game, the mental side, is a weakness.

He has won seven of his last ten matches and still lacks the kind of consistency required to win tournaments, but he will be a dangerous opponent. Dirk plays Gurney in the first round, which is a tough draw for both players. He was runner up here in 2022 and has home soil advantage.

The Draw

1st Quarter

Luke Littler is the even money favourite to win the quarter. It is not a straightforward task for him, however. He faces the very dangerous Ross Smith in round one, and their H2H is 1-1. The other contender in this quarter is Chris Dobey, but while Dobey is another dangerous opponent, Littler won their only match 7-2. I’d still have Littler to make the semi-final.

2nd Quarter 

Luke Humphries is the 2.15 favourite to win this quarter. There is a lot of talent in it, including MVG, Danny Noppert, Damon Heta, Jonny Clayton and Gian van Veen. However, Humphries is the best player in the group and is in better form than the rest.

3rd Quarter 

The Quarter of Death, without a doubt. Picking a winner here looks to be verging on the impossible. Gerwyn Price is the 3.25 favourite, but the other players in the quarter are the in-form Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Daryl Gurney and Cameron Menzies. So many good players in form. It is a shame they are all grouped together. The one I do not fancy is the favourite.

4th Quarter 

The opposite of the Quarter of Death. Rob Cross is the 2.75 favourite and Michael Smith 3.00 second favourite, despite both coming here after a long break. They are joined by the hot young Dutchman, Wessel Nijman, who looks to be an interesting contender. The others make little appeal. Jose de Sousa is in poor form, Simon Whitlock is past his best, and Keane Barry who lacks the consistency to be able to fancy his chances.

2024 World Series Darts Finals: Ante Post Selections

While there is a decent field, and some interesting contenders form wise, the draw has left it as a pretty ugly looking proposition. The two best players, Littler and Humphries, cannot meet in the final. Most of the interesting outsiders all meet in the third quarter and only one could make the final. As such, I will only have two outright bets, and small stakes only.

Humphries remains the best player in the world in my book, maybe not by much, but his draw is reasonable compared to the other leading contenders.

2024 World Series Darts Finals Tip: 1 point Luke Humphries to win @ 4.00 generally available

Wessel Nijman’s consistency may count against him but his talent is good enough to be fully competitive in this quarter. The big names are coming in rusty and were in poor form before their holidays and there are two very out of form players in De Sousa and Whitlock, with Gilding, Barry and Doets making up the eight. He is definitely not without a chance.

2024 World Series Darts Finals Tip: 1 point Wessel Nijman to win the 4th Quarter @ 6.00 generally available

-JamesPunt