2026 International Darts Open Betting Preview – JP
2026 International Darts Open Betting Preview
We are back in action on the Euro Tour this weekend at #ET7 and it promises to be an exciting weekend of darting action. Check out James Punt’s 2026 International Darts Open outright Preview below.
2026 International Darts Open
We got the winner of ET5 and the runner up in ET6, can we make it three finalists in a row?
There have been ten previous International Darts Opens and seven different winners. Gerwyn Price has won four (and runner up in another), Michael Smith won the first in 2015, followed by Suljovic, Wright, Price, Cullen, Schindler and last year it was won by Bunting.
Of the six ET events so far in 2026, five have been won by a top 8 seeded player. Five runners up have been ranked a top 12 seeded player. The only two non-seeded players to have made a final are Wessel Nijman, who won ET2 and Kevin Doets, runner up in ET6. Both of those players had previously won a Players Championship event in 2026.
This weekend’s venue is once again the SACHSENarena in Riesa, Germany.
We have had two withdrawals for the weekend. Luke Humphries was the number 1 seed, and was going to carry my money, but he has decided to take the weekend off to prepare for the Premier League Play Offs next Thursday. Michael Smith has withdrawn to have some medical treatment on his ankles. Luke Woodhouse gets elevated to 16th seed. Rob Cross and Maik Kuivenhoven are now in the first-round draw.
The Seeds
1 Gian van Veen
Remains in something of a slump. He has lost six of his last ten matches, hitting just one ton plus average, and six sub 91s. Van Veen has lost his last three opening matches on the Euro Tour. Hard to fancy.
2 Michael van Gerwen
A Euro Tour event that MVG has never won, which is a rarity, but he has made two finals. His recent form is good but still lacking the kind of consistency that he is aiming for. He won PC15 last week but then went down tamely to Gerwyn Price in the PL, averaging just 87.96. In the semi-final of PC15, he averaged 122.34 in a 7-0 win over Martin Schindler. On the Euro Tour he has lost five of eleven matches played.
3 James Wade
Hasn’t won on the Euro Tour since 2016. He has only played in two International Darts Opens and lost his opening match on both occasions. Wade reached the semi-final of PC18 on Tuesday and has won six of his last ten matches, but on the Euro Tour Wade has won just two from seven.
4 Stephen Bunting
The defending Champion and reached the semi-finals in 2024. His recent form is good, winning seven of his last ten matches, but he is lacking consistency. Bunting has lost three of his seven Euro Tour matches in 2026, and two of his four opening matches.
5 Gerwyn Price
Surprised everyone by withdrawing from the Welsh World Cup team and he seems a bit scrambled right now. A mystery health problem is bothering him. He does love this tournament and it will be interesting to see if a return to a venue where he has enjoyed so much success (five finals and four titles) will light his fire. He is still playing solid darts, with six of his last ten matches seeing 95+ averages. A horses for courses bet?
6 Josh Rock
Hard to pin down form wise. He won ET6 two weeks ago but has lost six of his last ten matches and he is lacking consistency, which made his win in Austria all the more surprising. He was a former finalist in Austria, so maybe that gave him a lift, but he has never got past the quarter final stage here.
7 Danny Noppert
Lost the semi-final of PC17 on Monday. Another losing semi-final to add to his collection. On the Euro Tour in 2026 Noppert has lost two quarter finals and a final. There is a pattern, now well established. Very likely to have a good run, equally likely not to win it.
8 Ryan Searle
Has lost five of his last ten matches and on the Euro Tour, Searle has lost six of his eight matches. Doesn’t travel well.
9 Chris Dobey
His form is all over the place and he has lost five of his last ten matches. More to the point is that he has only ever made one Euro Tour final and lost it. That was back in 2019. Dobey was a semi-finalist here in 2024, but he lacks the required confidence on stage.
10 Ross Smith
Has won six of his last ten matches, but he was beating journeymen. Smudger was runner up in ET5 but his form since has been very ordinary. He has reached two quarter finals here and that is maybe the limit of his prospects once again.
11 Martin Schindler
The 2024 champion, Schindler will have positive mental associations with the venue that saw him win the first of his three Euro Tour titles. His recent form saw him reach the semi-final of PC15 last week. He lost that match 0-7 to MVG, but did average 108.78.
Schindler has won six of his last ten matches and was a quarter finalist in Austria two weeks ago, and also in the European Darts Grand Prix before that. Better results than his form suggested was likely. Could have another good run.
12 Jermaine Wattimena
Showed some good form to make the final of PC17 on Monday and he has won seven of his last ten matches. The Machine Gun has never got beyond the quarter final of a Euro Tour event and never got past the second round here in four previous appearances. Not quite officer material but could go well.
13 Mike de Decker
Has lost his last five matches in a row and has lost his last six Euro Tour matches in a row. I’ll pass.
14 Wessel Nijman
Played in the two Players Championships this week, and didn’t win either, which is something of a surprise these days, as he has won five of the first eighteen. Nijman won ET2 back in March and with a seasonal win rate of 82% he has to be on every shortlist going. His win rate on the Euro Tour is 72%.
15 Damon Heta
Has won six of his last ten matches and he reached the semi-final of ET2 in mid-March, but since then he has played five and lost four on the Euro Tour. He has become something of a journeyman pro.
16 Luke Woodhouse
The latest player to win his first PDC title. Woody won PC18 on Tuesday and it was a win that was coming for a much-improved player in the last couple of years. Could he follow in the footsteps of Nijman and Doets, and make the final as an unseeded player?
He was runner up in Switzerland last September and a quarter finalist in Austria two weeks ago. His task got a little easier by being promoted to seeded status, following Luke Humphries’ withdrawal.
Best of the Unseeded Players
There are a lot of the unseeded players who are in very good form, but we see, year in, year out, that the non-seeds find it hard to make finals, but it can be done. The two unseeded finalists in 2026 had both won a Players Championship event before making their final, so we should be looking at those players who have been running hot on the floor at the very least.
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Is playing some very good darts right now and was runner up in PC15 a couple of weeks ago and was a quarter finalist on Monday. His scoring his strong but on the Euro Tour, he has lost half his first round matches and has a high finish of a quarter final. Dirk is a three-time Euro Tour runner up and has the game for a good run, but is mentally suspect.
Niko Springer
Has won seven of his last ten matches and was a semi-finalist in PC16 and a quarter finalist in PC18 on Tuesday. Springer won a Euro Tour title last year, and while I wouldn’t say he is in top form, he is winning matches.
Kevin Doets
One of the form players of 2026. His win rate is 76%, he won his first PDC title on the 4th of May, and was runner up on the Euro Tour six days later in Austria two weeks ago. Hawkeye played earlier this week and was a semi-finalist on Monday, and quarter finalist on Tuesday. On the shortlist again.
Andrew Gilding
He may be weird, but when he is good, he is very good. Goldfinger won PC16 just over a week ago and backed that up by reaching the final of PC18 on Tuesday, losing 4-8 to Luke Woodhouse. He has won eight of his last ten matches and has reached two Euro Tour quarter finals this year. Another for the shortlist.
2026 International Darts Open: The Draw
Sometimes the draw can help guide your selections. Other times it is a bit of a pain in the bum, and it is the latter this time. The selections were picked before Thursday night’s PL action.
First Quarter
I had Luke Humphries pencilled in for this quarter, but it is now the out of form Gian Van Veen who is top seed. The other seeds are Luke Woodhouse, Ryan Searle and Chris Dobey.
When the draw was made, it became the group of death. Into the first round we have Kevin Doets, Connor Scutt, Niko Springer, Charlie Manby, Daryl Gurney and Kim Huybrechts, all very handy players.
Kevin Doets was a runner up for us in Austria and he is in top form. He will face the useful Tom Bissell to see who plays the recent PC18 winner, Luke Woodhouse. Gurney plays Huybrechts to see who plays Dobey, while it looks like Scutt will face Van Veen if he beats a local qualifier.
Doets and Woodhouse were shortlisted, but are drawn to meet in round two, which is a pain. I will stick with Doets, but if he gets through to the semi-finals he will have done well.
Second Quarter
Bunting, De Decker, Price and Wattimena are the four seeds coming in at the second-round stage. I was a little surprised to see Price coming here, as he has the PL playoffs on Thursday. He is the only one of the four semi-finalists to enter this event. I guess that being a five-time finalist and four time winner is a big enough reason to make the trip. Maybe it is a hint that he means business.
Of the unseeded players we have the in-form Dirk van Duijvenbode, Cristo Reyes, Krzysztof Ratajski, Rob Cross and recent Players Championship winner, Andrew Gilding.
Gerwyn Price has to be in with a good chance, Gilding is in top form, and Dirk and Wattimena are both playing some good stuff. Another tough quarter. Price does have very strong H2H records with the other leading fancies in this quarter and he is the pick.
Third Quarter
MVG, Heta, Noppert and Ross Smith are the four seeds. Noppert and MVG are in better form than the other two seeds, and MVG is 13-7 against his fellow Dutchman. MVG is out of the PL and he picked up PC16 two weeks ago, playing some phenomenal darts. Perhaps he is ready to kick on now that the PL grind is done for him.
Unseeded players of some note are Zonneveld, who has reached two Euro Tour semi-finals in 2026, but has lost seven of his last ten matches. Keane Barry has been showing some better form on the floor, but I’ll give Van Gerwen the nod in this quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The four seeded players are Wade, Rock, Nijman and Schindler. Nijman and Rock have already won a Euro Tour event in 2026, Schindler has won three in the last two years, including this one, but Wade was in short trousers the last time he won on the Euro Tour.
The unseeded players make absolutely no appeal in this quarter. Nijman, with his fantastic win rate is the logical choice, but his odds are cramped and I will take a chance on Schindler being inspired by his first ever PDC title win here in 2024.
