2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Preview & Tips – JP
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Preview
James Punt got off to a decent start this afternoon and he is back in action this evening. Check out his 2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 preview & tips below.
Michael Smith vs. Mario Vandenbogaerde
Michael Smith is playing with various injuries and ailments. His recent form has seen his 2025 average drop to under 93.00 and he has lost five of his last ten matches. Six of them saw averages of 91.00 or below. He has played in seven Euro Tour events in 2025 and won just five matches. Smith has only had to play in two first round matches and he won one.
Super Mario came through the local qualifiers and he has won two of his three first round matches on the Euro Tour this season. His recent form sees six wins from his last ten. But four of those were the local qualifiers. In the ‘real world’ he has been pretty ropey, losing seven of his last ten matches against the full-time pros.
Their H2H record is 2-1 to Smith, but significantly given Smith’s injury problems, Mario won their only match in 2025, 6-3 back in May.
Struggling For Form
Two players struggling for form is usually not my cup of tea. Smith is the 1.58 favourite, Mario 2.50 and being backed. Smith is easy to oppose and Mario will have the crowd on his side, but his form has been poor lately. Smith is under pressure to qualify for the Grand Prix and he needs every win he can as he is 3 places outside the top 16 Pro Tour OOM qualifiers. Out of form and under pressure.
I will take a chance on Super Mario and the home crowd getting him over the line. Smith likes a quick pace to his games, and he won’t get that here.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 1 point Mario Vandenbogaerde to win @ 2.50 generally available
Ryan Joyce vs. Ricardo Pietreczko
Joyce is a player to follow when he is in form. He has won seven of his last ten matches but isn’t showing much consistency. In those ten he has had a 114 average, and a 79. On the Euro Tour this season Joyce has played in six events and won fourteen matches. He was runner up in ET2, a quarter finalist in ET4 and a semi-finalist in ET5.
Pietreczko is two places and £2k outside of the final qualifying sport for the Grand Prix, so this is a big match for him. A win here would get him very close. His recent form sees just two wins from his last ten, and he is playing as badly as that sounds.
Their H2H record extends to just two matches and it is 1-1, both Euro Tour matches with Joyce winning the most recent one 6-1 last February. Like Smith, Pietreczko is under pressure and out of form.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 1 point Ryan Joyce to win @ 1.67 with Hills, BET365
Joe Cullen vs. Ian White
This would have been a big match not so long ago. Both players have won multiple Euro Tour titles. Cullen has three, but the last was in 2022. White has also won three but his last was back in 2019.
Cullen is a mercurial player these days. He can win things from out of the blue and then disappear off the radar for months. He was runner up in PC1 at the start of the season and won PC5 but has done very little since. Most recently he has won six of his last ten matches, and he won a place at the World Series finals via the Pro Tour qualifier earlier this week.
Return To Form?
A return to form? Hard to say. In the Players Championship events on Monday and Tuesday, he hit a 79.94 average to lose in the first round on Monday and hit 106.48 in the first round on Tuesday. Cullen has lost his last three first round matches on the Euro Tour in 2025 and won just two from six.
Ian White has won five of his last ten matches and he has a couple of high 90 averages, but mostly he has been averaging around 90 and that won’t get him very far. White has played two Euro Tour events in 2025 and won one match.
Cullen is the 1.80 favourite, White 2.00 and being backed, perhaps because White is 14-6 against Cullen. I will sit this one out.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Wessel Nijman vs. Karel Sedlacek
Nijman is in good form, winning eight of his last ten matches and playing with a good deal of consistency. He has played in all nine Euro Tour events so far and won eight of his first round matches.
Sedlacek has won seven of his last ten matches and he too is playing with a good deal of consistency. He has only played in one Euro Tour in 2025 and lost his first-round match 1-6 to Pietreczko, which was not good.
Their H2H record is 2-2, with Nijman winning the last two. Nijman is the 1.54 favourite, Sedlacek 2.75. The Czech is often an underrated outsider, but with Nijman in good form, I think the bookies have got this one about right. No bet.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Jeffrey de Graaf
The most recent first-time winner on the PDC Tour, Jeffrey de Graaf, will hope to do better than the other recent first-time winner, Jermaine Wattimena, who fell at the first fence this afternoon.
The Dutch born Swede is a very good player but he went into PC24 in pretty poor form, with just one win from his previous seven matches. He has lost both matches played since winning the title, so make of that what you will. This will be his first Euro Tour event of the season.
Dirk did his usual thing at the Players Championship events this week, hitting four ton plus averages but got no further than a quarter final on Tuesday. He has won seven of his nine first round matches on the Euro Tour this season.
Dirk is 4-2 against De Graaf and won their only match in the last five years with a 6-3 win in July.
Van Duijvenbode is the 1.40 favourite and De Graaf 3.40. This is another tough one to call. A recent Players Championship winner going off at 3.40 would seem like value most of the time, but I don’t think De Graaf has been anywhere near his best, despite winning a title. Dirk is rarely value at short odds. No bet.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: No Bet
Daryl Gurney vs. Callan Rydz
Callan Rydz’ matches are always interesting. He is a very good player, but he has more baggage than Heathrow airport. His weirdly coiffured head needs to be in the right place to allow him to play anywhere his best. His recent form sees just three wins from his last ten matches, and he has lost his last six Euro Tour matches in a row. That doesn’t sound good.
Daryl Gurney continues to blow hot and cold, threatening to have good runs but struggling to string wins together. He has won six of his last ten matches, beat Dirk van Duijvenbode with a 102 average on Tuesday, then lost his next match 4-6 to Alan Soutar and averaged 89. That sort of sums his form up. On the Euro Tour in 2025 he is 25th on the OOM and he has won four of his seven first round matches.
Rydz Unbeaten v Superchin
Their H2H record is a very surprising 6-0 to Callan Rydz. Four of those, including their last three, have gone to a deciding leg.
Superchin is the 1.62 favourite and Rydz 2.38. On recent form, Gurney looks reasonable value, but on the H2H record, Rydz makes sense to win 6-5.
Rydz has won just three of his last thirteen matches and his three wins were against players ranked outside the top 50 and two outside the top 70.
Surely Gurney is due a win, or will his Rydz 5-6 hoodoo come back to haunt him?
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 0.5 point Callan Rydz to win 6-5 @ 8.00 with Livescorebet, Betfair
Mike de Decker vs. Martin Lukeman
De Decker has lost five of his last ten matches and in those ten he has hit three ton plus averages and three sub 90. He is very inconsistent, so losing half his matches is no surprise. He has played seven first round matches and won six, including a 6-3 win over Martin Lukeman in ET2 back in March.
Lukeman has lost six of his last ten matches and hit four sub 90 averages. He is not in good form. Smash has lost two of his four first round matches on the Euro Tour in 2025 and he can’t be feeling very confident.
Their H2H record is 4-3 to Lukeman, but De Decker has won their last three in a row. Decker is the 1.50 favourite, Lukeman 2.75. De Decker made the final in his last appearance on home soil and I’ll take him to cover the handicap.
2025 Flanders Darts Trophy R1 Tip: 1 point De Decker to win -1.5 legs @ 1.83 with Betfred
Raymond van den Bergh vs. Xanti Van Den Bergh
Dimitri’s form is so bad that he is being out qualified by his wee brother. Xanti has a seasonal average of 77.81 and plays most of his darts on the Development Tour. He averaged 81.12 in his final qualifying match yesterday, his first 80+ average in his last thirteen matches. He is going to be out of his depth here.
RVB is in poor form, losing seven of his last ten matches and he can’t complain about getting a tough first round tie this weekend. Barney hit a 75.50 average in one of his last ten matches, one of seven sub 90 averages in his last ten.
Surely RVB, in dire form as he is, cannot lose this? He is the 1.15 favourite, Van Den Bergh 6.50. This match is of no interest at all.
