2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Preview

James Punt landed a couple of nice winners on Day 2, including Harrysson at 4.35. His 2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday preview is below.

Afternoon Session

Mario Vandenbogaerde vs. David Davies

Super Mario is in poor form, losing seven of his last ten matches, but to be fair to him, he was playing a lot of very decent players. That said, he took a few real hammerings vs the likes of Anderson, Dobey, De Decker and Crabtree. His scoring was too weak and his doubling poor. He has only played in one previous World Championship and lost his first-round match 1-3 to Thibault Tricole.

David Davies came through the PDC UK & Ireland associate members qualifier, the second-tier tour qualifier. Davies plays on the Challenge tour with occasional Players Championship invites. He has won eight of his last ten matches and has played some good stuff.

His games show quite a few mid-90 to high 90 averages, but there are too many sub-90 and sub-80 averages for him to be able to cope with the big boys. Luckily for him, Davies has not drawn one of the big boys.

More Experience

Vandenbogaerde is a much more experienced player, but not a very experienced player at the top level, but he has played in a few Majors, not with much success. He has played in eight TV Majors, has played on the Euro Tour and he made the final of PC28 a few months ago. Davies has never played on TV before and is playing for the chance to win £25K. This is the biggest match of his life.

If Davies can relax enough to be able to play something like his A game, this is a very winnable match, but we have no idea of how he will cope. Super Mario is the 1.40 favourite, Davies 3.10. Backing an out of form Vandenbogaerde at 1.40 makes no sense, so the outsider gets the value vote.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: 1 point David Davies to win @ 3.00 generally available

Andrew Gilding vs. Cam Crabtree

Gilding is playing in his seventh World Championship and he has won his last five first round matches. His most recent form saw him lose six of his last ten matches and he was hitting a lot of sub-90 or low 90 averages, and struggling a bit on his doubles.

Crabtree is one of the better young English talents coming through the ranks. He is starting to pick up some TV experience and has been impressive at times. He deservedly beat Jonny Clayton at the Grand Slam and probably should have beaten Danny Noppoert. Crabtree beat Mike De Decker at the Players Championship finals and probably should have beaten Chris Dobey in round two but lost the deciding leg.

In Form

Crabtree has won five of his last ten matches and hit three ton plus averages, with a couple of sub-90’s. The consistency is the last thing to come, but there is no doubting his ability. Crabtree won five Development Tour titles in 2025, made two Players Championship quarter finals and a semi-final. I guess it won’t be too long before he picks up his first senior title of some kind.

These two have met twice, with one win each. Neither were in any way close. Gilding won their first match 6-1, Crabtree their last one 6-0. At least Crabtree has played Gilding, so he knows what to expect from Captain Weird.

Gilding is the 1.95 marginal favourite with Crabtree 2.00.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: 1 point Cameron Crabtree to win @ 2.00 generally available

Luke Woodhouse vs. Boris Krčmar

It is always an interesting match when Big Boris is playing. He doesn’t have a tour card but he has taken some big scalps in 2025. He qualified for some Euro Tours earlier in the year and beat the likes of Josh Rock, MVG, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gian van Veen. His best average on TV is 107.90 and his A game is as good as anyone’s.

Sadly, his consistency isn’t. Krčmar has played in five World Championship and won his last two first round matches, against pretty modest opposition it must be said, but he went on to beat Dirk van Duijvenbode in the second round two years ago. His most recent form sees nine wins from his last ten, but they were all low scoring qualifiers for either this, or Lakeside.

Improved

Luke Woodhouse is an improved player in the last couple of years and he is up to 24th in the World rankings, his best ever. He has played in six World Championship and won four first round matches.

Woodhouse may be up to 24th in the world, but he has not won a senior PDC title. He was runner up in the final Players Championship event of the year and reached the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy on the Euro Tour in late September.

Woodhouse has won seven of his last ten matches but he will be a bit frustrated by his performances in the Majors in 2025. He was really poor in a 1-6 loss to James Hurrell in the second round of the Players Championship finals and he lost 9-10 to Ricky Evans in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts, after coming through the group stage in some style. He rarely seems to play his best stuff on TV.

These two have met twice, Boris winning both, back in 2022. One was a 10-5 match at the UK Open. Woodhouse is the 1.50 favourite, Krčmar 3.00. At the odds, I have to go for the outsider again.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: 1 point Boris Krcmar to win @ 2.95 with Livescorebet

Gary Anderson vs. Adam Hunt

Adam Hunt has been a tour card holder for eleven years now and not won a senior title. I actually thought he had lost his tour card as we see so little of him. His win rate in 2025 is just 48%, which explains why we have not seen much of him.

The Hunter has won seven of his last ten matches but I wouldn’t say he is in good form. His two best performances saw 92 averages. He came through the tour card holder qualifier with an average of 89.5, and that is a fair refection of his game right now, he just got very lucky with the draw in the qualifier. However, he hasn’t got lucky with this draw.

Heavy Scorer

Gary Anderson is still one of the games heaviest scorers but he is not fully committed to being a full-time darts pro. Business interests and family duties means that he prefers a light schedule and no practice.

Unfortunately, the competition is so much stronger these days, that he can’t get away with just natural talent. Anderson has lost six of his last ten matches but hit six 95+ averages. His C game is better than Hunt’s current form.

Adam Hunt has played in three World Championships and won two first round matches. Anderson has played in sixteen World Championships, won two and never lost in the first round, but he did lose his opening match last year.

Their H2H record is 5-2 to Anderson but they have only played once in the last seven years and that was a 6-5 win for Hunt in PC18 back in June.

Anderson is the 1.14 favourite, Hunt 11.00 and it is a match with no betting interest for me. No bet.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: No Bet

Evening Session

Jeffrey de Graaf vs. Paul Lim

I was listening to one of the commentators on the first night, saying that there were two players none of the seeds wanted to draw, and they were Beau Greaves and Paul Lim. They were half right, nobody wanted Beau Greaves. I don’t see why any decent player wouldn’t’ want to play a 71 year old, who might just be past his prime.

Lim qualified via being fifth on the Asian Tour OOM. Lim has played in fourteen PDC World Championships and reached the second round three times. Hardly a record to have opponents quaking in their boots. He averages a respectable 85.50, very good for an old man, but not enough to get far at this level. Lim has won seven of his last ten matches but hit four sub 90 averages and three sub-80s.

Poor Form

Jeffrey de Graaf is a very good player, but his recent form has not been good. He has lost six of his last ten matches and his win rate in 2025 is just 51%. He hit just one sub 90 average in those last ten, but he is throwing too many averages around 90-92, which isn’t enough on the Pro Tour.

De Graaf has played in four World Championships. He lost his first two first round matches back in 2017 and 2019, but in the last two years, he has reached the third and fourth rounds respectively.

Jeffrey de Graaf is the 1.25 favourite in a match with no betting appeal. No bet.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: No Bet

Wessel Nijman vs. Karel Sedlacek

This is a more interesting match. Nijman is one of the rising talents of darts, a very heavy scorer and he picked up his first senior title in Players Championship 30 in early October. He backed that up by winning PC34 at the very end of October. He then qualified for the Grand Slam but lost in the second round to Luke littler.

More surprising was his first-round defeat by Richard Veenstra in the Players Championship finals. He just has not been able to win many matches on TV. He has played twelve matches on TV this season and won just four, and one of those was against Lisa Ashton.

Nijman has played well in some of his defeats but he has not quite been able to bring his floor form to the stage often enough. He is still very young and he will improve, but he might be getting a bit frustrated, especially seeing his fellow young Dutchman winning the European Championship.

Tricky Opponent

Karel Sedlacek is a tricky opponent. He is a better player than most people think and he isn’t bothered by who he is facing, he just gets on with it and tries his best. His win rate in 2025 is a very decent 63% and he has won six of his last ten matches.

Evil Charlie has played in four previous World Championships and won just one first round match. Much like Nijman, Sedlacek has not played well on TV in the 2025 season. He has played seven and won just one.

Before you consider lumping on Nijman, you need to consider a H2H record which is 4-2 to Sedlacek. They have only met on stage once and that was a 6-5 win for Sedlacek on the Euro Tour in September. Nijman averaged 100 in that and still lost.

Odds On

Nijman is the 1.33 favourite , Sedlacek 3.50. Nijman deserves to be favourite, but he is no value at those odds. It is hard to fancy Sedlacek with his record on TV this season. I feel that the Czech player will make an impression on the match but it is hard to see any betting angle.

These short format set based matches don’t really lend themselves to handicap betting. Sedlacek is 2.00 getting a +1.5 set handicap, but he might need +2.5 and that is just 1.30. In a leg-based match there would be a better way to back Sedlacek, but I will just have to leave this one.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: No Bet

Luke Humphries vs. Ted Evetts

It is not a great night for punting. Another match with a short priced favourite. Humphries is just 1.03 to beat the 19.00 outsider, Ted Evetts.

Super Ted was a giant in the junior ranks. He racked up fourteen Development tour titles and was the 2021 World Youth Champion. I expected him to kick on a become a real star of the game, but instead he is remembered for being the bloke that lost to Fallon Sherrock at the 2020 World Championships (Evetts was the subject of a PDC documentary titled Ted Evetts – On the Other Side of History, telling the story of that defeat and the online abuse he received afterwards).

Lost Card

He wasn’t able to hang on to his tour card and now plies his trade on the Challenge tour, on which he finished third on that OOM to earn his place here. Evetts has played in four World Championships and won just one first round match. His recent form sees five wins from his last ten matches, but on the Pro Tour he has lost eight of his last ten, which reflects where his game is.

Humphries has won seven of his last ten matches and his last two defeats came at the hands of Littler and Van Veen, and there is no shame in that. He has played in eight World Championship as lost two first round matches, the last back in 2021.

Their H2H record is 6-5 to Evetts, but they haven’t played since 2023 and most of their matches came on the Development Tour when Evetts was in his pomp. Now he averages 10 points less than Humphries and is weaker in every department.

Humphries is only 1.73 to win 3-0 and this is another no bet match.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: No Bet

Gabriel Clemens vs. Alex Spellman

It is easy to forget that Clemens was a semi-finalist here in 2023, such has been his drop in form. His win rate in 2025 is just 49% and most recently he has lost seven of his last ten matches. His last match was a 3-6 loss to Josh Rock which saw the German average 79.99. He is usually not that bad, but he is hitting a lot of low 90 averages. Clemens has only ever lost one first round match here from seven played.

Alex Spellman qualified as the CDC Continental Cup winner. He played here in 2023 and lost 1-3 to Ryan Joyce but he played well, averaging 95.46. He does make the effort to come to the UK to try and win a tour card, play some Challenge Tour darts and MODUS Super Series but not with any great success. He played in the recent Grand Slam of Darts but lost all three group matches and won just four legs in three matches. His highest average was just 84.64.

Clemens is the 1.33 favourite. He is unbackable at those odds given his form, but is Spellman good enough to beat an out of form Clemens? Probably not. As much for something to get interested in on a very quiet night for punting, I will back Spellman to lose by the same margin as he did against Ryan Joyce in 2023.

2026 PDC WC R1 Saturday Tip: 0.5 point Gabriel Clemens to win 3-1 @ 3.60 with Betfred

-JamesPunt