2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Preview – JP
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Preview
James Punt landed one winner at odds of 3.50 from four bets on Thursday. His 2026 Winmau World Masters Friday preview is below.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday
We were -1.25 points down on night 1. A bit unlucky with the 180s bet on Clayton andNijman. They got off to a flying start but once the tally reached five 180s it was a 140 fest, with Clayton hitting no less than fourteen! Onwards and upwards, but it is a tricky format.
Martin Schindler vs. Luke Woodhouse
Both players are coming into this ‘cold’ having not played since the World Championships. Schindler had been blowing hot and cold back then, winning two, losing one was the pattern. He hit six sub 93 averages in his last seven, but the other four were strong performances. Schindy has played here twice and lost both his first-round matches. No home advantage, or 30% of the crowd being German, here.
Luke Woodhouse had won seven of his last ten matches and had a good run to the fourth round at Ally Pally, propelling him up to 22nd on the OOM. He was playing at a similar standard to Schindler, a lot of sub-93s, but he was getting away with it.
Their H2H record is 5-2 to Schindler, but it was Woodhouse that won their last two, the last being in the short format in the Grand Slam group stage.
The money has been going down on Woodhouse, and I can see why, but he remains the marginal outsider.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Luke Woodhouse to win @ 2.00 with SpreadEx, BET365, Livescorebet
Ross Smith vs. Jimmy van Schie
Van Schie came through the preliminary round. The Dutch Sequoia is the reigning WDF World Champion and WDF World Masters winner. He won his tour card a couple of weeks ago and he is raring to go. He played in a number of Players Championship events last year, reaching one quarter final, but outside of beating Ratajski twice, he wasn’t that impressive.
Ross Smith has only ever won one match in his three visits here. His form at the end of 2025 was not good, losing five of his last ten matches. His scoring was very inconsistent and he is very hard to call.
Smith is the 1.57 favourite, Van Schie 2.50. I really haven’t seen too much of Van Schie, but he was decent in the preliminary rounds, if a little inconsistent, which is only to be expected.
The five qualifiers wo played last night all lost, and only two won last year, so the giant Dutchman has history against him, but which version of Ross Smith will turn up? No bet.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: No Bet
Danny Noppert vs. Daryl Gurney
Superchin is a bit of a veteran when it comes to the Masters, and he made the quarter final in 2024, but in his other five appearances, lost four first round matches. In this new format he failed to get through the preliminary rounds last year. He wasn’t in good form at the end of 2025, losing six of his last ten matches. He last hit a ton + average in mid-October.
Danny Noppert’s 2025 season spluttered to a halt with another early exit at Ally Pally. He has become adept at having good runs but falling at the business end of events. He is hard to back outright, but he wins plenty of matches.
The Freeze played in the two World Series events and only won one match. He lost 1-6 to Van Veen, despite averaging 106, but he was very poor when losing to Man Lok Leung in Saudi Arabia.
Noppert Superior
Noppert is the better player, unless Gurney can find his scoring boots, which he hasn’t for quite some time. The Dutchman has played here three times and always won his first-round match. He lost in the semi-final last year in the new format.
Noppert is the 1.44 favourite and Gurney 3.00. Their H2H record is 10-9 to Gurney and he won two of their three matches in 2025. He won their last two matches 6-2 and 6-0, so Gurney will not fear Noppert, but he will need to significantly up his game if he is to repeat those performances, or hope that Noppert has a day like he did in Riyaadh.
That was a weird event. There were piped sound effects to make it sound like the spectators were not actually just paid stooges. Noppert was wearing ear plugs, to keep out the silence. I suspect he will be much more at home here.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: 0.5 point Danny Noppert to win 3-1 @ 3.75 with Skybet, Betvictor
Ryan Searle vs. Rob Cross
Searle is up to number eight on the OOM, but is he really the eighth best player in the world? Or just there thanks to a good run in the mega money World Championship? I fear it is the latter. On the floor, maybe, on stage, never.
Heavy Metal had some new darts at Ally Pally, so are they the key to the stage door? We shall see, but he has played here four times and won two first round matches, but he has never won a second round match.
Rob Cross has his problems, mental health and the taxman (I paid my bill today!) and while he says that has not affected his game, it has. His form nosedived in the summer, around the same time as he was disqualified as a company director.
Taxman
He had failed to pay £450,000 in tax and on top of that paid himself £300,000 which should have gone to creditors, including the taxman. He is now in the process of trying to pay back the money every month, but those payments are dependent on him winning darts matches. Voltage is effectively playing for HMRC.
Cross did have a decent World Championship, reaching the fourth round, and that was an uptick on what had been a poor 2025, Major wise. The Taxman will have been happy. Cross lost in the first round here last year. His win rate in 2025 was just 54%.
Their H2H record is 8-4 to Cross, but they have not played since 2024, and Cross was in better form back then.
Ryan Searle is the 1.83 favourite, Cross is being backed and is now 2.10. I think the market may have got it wrong and that is pushing Searle into the value bet zone.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: 1 point Ryan Searle to win @ 1.80 with Bresbet, Betfred, BET365
Josh Rock vs. Connor Scutt
Scutt came through the qualifying rounds, beating Max Hopp, Jeffrey de Zwaan and Graham Hall, averaging 96.98 across the three matches. That was a nice warm up after the winter break. He is a very inconsistent player, or at least he was at the end of last season. You can’t be sure if you will get a 91 average or a 101.
Josh Rock ended 2025 winning seven of his last ten matches and mostly playing very well. In his last ten he did have two sub-90 averages, but won both matches, one of which was a 10-9 win over Scutt at the Grand Slam.
That was Rock’s seventh win over Scutt, with the Englishman yet to beat Rock. Rock has had two 6-0 wins over Scutt, but the others have been close and I can see Scutt getting something out of the match.
Rock is the 1.40 favourite to win, Scutt 3.25.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: 0.5 point Josh Rock to win 3-1 @ 3.60 with Betfred
Luke Littler vs. Mike de Decker
This is probably a case of pray for De Decker. The Belgian ended 2025 being dumped out of the World Championship in round one by a Kenyan player. Littler, on the other hand, won the World Championship and warmed up for this by winning the World Series event in Saudia Arabia.
Their H2H record is 7-0 to Littler. He is the 1.10 favourite and just 1.88 to win 3-0. As with most of Littler’s matches, they are not for betting on, unless you are a money buyer.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: No Bet
Luke Humphries vs. Dave Chisnall
Since Chisnall lost his form in 2024, he has been hard to support. His scoring has dropped way down and he is little more than a journeyman pro. His 12-month average is now just 91.70, and that has him outside the top 50.
Humphries, on the other hand, has a 12 month average of 98.68, with only Littler above him. There is a gulf in class these days.
Their H2H record is 10-7 to Chizzy, but of more relevance is that they have not played since 2024, and not since Chisnall was suffering with his bad back.
Humphries is the 1.20 favourite and being backed by the money buyers, with Chisnall out at 5.00. No bet.
2026 Winmau World Masters Friday Tip: No Bet
Stephen Bunting vs. Jeffrey de Graaf
De Graaf is the last of the qualifiers and an interesting proposition. De Graaf averaged 98.71 in the knockout rounds on Wednesday. His record against Bunting is 3-1 and they last met in the final of PC24, which De Graaf won 8-7 to become Sweden’s first PDC title winner and to pick up his first PDC title. He has a very positive mental association with playing Bunting.
Stephen Bunting has lost five of his last ten matches and only picked up two wins at the recent World Series events, losing 4-6 to MVG twice. His form finally dropped off at the end of 2025 after a largely very impressive season, but one that failed to yield a Major title.
I will have a tickle on De Graaf.
