Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals Tips – JP
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals Tips
James Punt has already posted a comprehensive outright betting preview for this event. Check that out here. His Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tips for selected first round matches are below…
Afternoon Session
Radek Szaganski vs. Ian White
I am a little surprised to see Szaganski as the outsider here. The Polish player has shown some very good form in recent weeks.
He won a Players Championship event just over a month ago and reached the quarter final of PC29 at the start of this month. He has won six of his last ten matches and he is playing with a good deal of consistency with plenty of mid to high 90s averages.
The biggest worry is a near complete lack of experience in Majors. He has played in two UK Opens, so at least he knows the way to the venue.
Ian White has tumbled down the rankings in the last few years. He was suffering with gall stones and tried to play through the pain. His recent form sees five wins form his last ten matches. His scoring is inconsistent but his A game remains good.
White will be under pressure to try and pick up some ranking money as he just doesn’t qualify for many Majors these days, playing just three in the last two years.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Radek Szaganski to win @ 2.10 with Spreadex
Ryan Searle vs. Boris Krčmar
Searle is the strong favourite and is 4-2 up on Krčmar. Of their previous six matches, only one has gone beyond eight legs.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.73 with SpreadEx
Ryan Joyce vs. Daniel Klose
Ryan Joyce was the winner of PC26 last month and runner up in PC24 in September. His most recent form is OK, with five wins from his last ten matches, and he has won his first round match here for the last two years.
Klose was a beaten quarter finalist in the German Super league but on the Pro Tour he has lost six of his last ten. He has one appearance at the UK Open in terms of Major experience.
Hopefully Joyce’s greater experience can get him through another match with Klose. Joyce has won their two previous matches 6-4 and 6-1, both played this year.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Ryan Joyce to win -1.5 legs @ 1.85 with Boylesports
Gabriel Clemens vs. Conor Scutt
Clemens has been playing well without getting quite the return he may have deserved. He is scoring well and while he has only won five of his last ten matches, he has had just one sub 93 average and eight 95+.
Four of his five losing matches have been in deciding legs. He has won his first round match here in four of his five appearances. His record in Majors in 2023 has been poor ever since reaching the semi-final of the World Championships.
Scutt was runner up to Szaganski in PC27 last month, but since then his form has been very inconsistent. He has won six of his last ten matches but had seven sub 92 averages.
He is making his debut and is set to lose his tour card unless he gets a few wins. Scutt has lost all three of their previous matches.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Clemens to win -1.5 legs @ 2.00 with BET365, Livescorebet
James Wade vs. William O’Connor
Wade is 10-3 against O’Connor and he is in much better form. O’Connor has lost six of his last ten matches and lost seven of his last eight vs. Wade. They have met three times in 2023, Wade winning them by a cumulative score of 18-7.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point James Wade to win -1.5 legs @ 1.85 with Boylesports
Evening Session
Jose de Sousa vs. Kevin Doets
Both players have lost six of their last ten matches and are struggling. De Sousa has played in four Players Championship finals and has always won his first round match.
Doets lost 3-6 to Rob Cross last year and lost 3-6 to MVG in 2020, but he made it to the fourth round of the UK Open at the same venue last March.
De Sousa starts as the 1.53 favourite thanks to his higher ranking, but in a first to six match he is vulnerable if he struggles with his scoring.
Doets was much trumpeted when he got his tour card but he hasn’t made any great impression at senior level yet. One reason to back him against De Sousa is that he beat The Special One four weeks ago in PC28, his second win over De Sousa in 2023.
Overall their H2H record is 3-3 and it is Doets who has won three of their last four.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Kevin Doets to win @ 2.63 with Betvictor, Betfair
Dylan Slevin vs. Matt Campbell
Campbell has got a bit of a result here, or he should have. The Canuck should have been playing Danny Noppert in the first round, but Noppert has pulled out, something he failed to do nine months ago. The Dutchman is now back home, awaiting the birth of child number two.
Instead Campbell is playing young Irishman Dylan Slevin, who has also got a result. He gets £3000 guaranteed for ‘qualifying’. Slevin is not in great form, losing six of his last ten matches, while Campbell has won six of his last ten and is playing OK.
They have met twice before and Campbell won both, 6-4, and more recently 6-3 in September. Campbell reached the third round on debut last year, losing to….Danny Noppert. The irony will not have passed him by.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Matt Campbell to win @ 1.80 with BET365
Andrew Gilding vs. Steve Lennon
Two players who are not in good form. Gilding has lost six of his last ten matches, Lennon four.
Lennon qualified for the Grand Slam via the tour card qualifier and played well to win those three games but his doubling in the group phase was so poor he lost all three matches.
To lose to Humphries was fair enough, and Lennon averaged 96 in that, but to lose to an injured Dirk van Duijvenbode was very disappointing. He then lost his final match with Gary Anderson. All three matches saw checkout rates below 30%.
Their H2H record is 3-2 to Lennon and in 2023 it is 1-1. Both matches ended 6-4. Their other three matches were back in 2017 and two of the three ended 6-4.
Gilding Inconsistent
Andrew Gilding will hope that a return to the scene of his UK Open triumph will lift his form. He has lost six of his last ten matches and his performances have been very inconsistent with four sub 90 averages, a 99.8, a 97.8 and 96.3.
Gilding is the 1.67 favourite and Lennon 2.30. You’d be a brave punter to back either with any confidence but another close match would come as no surprise, so long as Lennon doesn’t dry up on the doubles again. He beat Gilding the last time they met in September.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Betfair
Gary Anderson vs. Steve Beaton
A bit of a seniors clash here. Anderson is still playing at the top of the game, at least scoring wise, and he starts as the strong 1.22 favourite, with Steve Beaton 4.50.
Anderson has lost five of his last ten matches, but two of those were to Luke Humphries in last week’s Grand Slam. In his last ten he has hit four ton plus averages, but there were a couple of sub 92s.
Steve Beaton is still hanging on to his tour card, quite comfortably, but his standard of play is some way off Anderson’s. Beaton’s seasonal average is 91.6, Anderson’s 98.6. Beaton has also won five of his last ten matches and hit a couple high 90 averages, but he is likely to be out gunned here.
Their H2H record is 13-8 to Anderson. They have not met since 2021 and they have had some close matches, but that was then and this is now.
Beaton has gone out in the first round in his last four Players Championship Finals, and seven of his last nine. Anderson has only lost two first round matches from thirteen.
It is hard to see any value angle here. No bet.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: No bet
Callan Rydz vs. Michael van Gerwen
It is always worth checking out MVG’s matches as he does tend to be overrated, unless in top form, and he isn’t right now, losing four of his last ten and looking out of sorts.
It should be remembered that not only is he the defending champion, he has won this title seven times and hasn’t lost a first round match since 2011. He has lost two of his three matches to Callan Rydz, however.
By choosing to not play in many qualifying events, MVG is only the 44th seed, and that means he will face one of the better players in the rankings.
Rydz is a good player when he is feeling right. He plays far too fast for my liking and if things start to go wrong, he can unravel very quickly. His recent form is poor, losing six of his last ten matches and while he won PC19 in September and was a semi-finalist in PC20, he has done little of note since.
MVG is worth opposing right now, but maybe not with Rydz. No bet.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: No bet
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Jermaine Wattimena
I might have to do it. I might have to back Wattimena.
Dirk is playing, or has been playing, with heavy strapping on his throwing shoulder. He is clearly far from fully fit and is playing in these events to pick up the first round losers prize money.
The Aubergenius has lost six of his last seven matches and his only win was against Steve Lennon in the Grand Slam where Lennon just couldn’t hit a double. Dirk won that with an 83.8 average.
Wattimena has lost five of his last ten matches and is playing with no consistency. His lowest average in those ten was an 82.4, his highest a 99.4. At his worst, he could let an injured Dirk into the game, at his best, he should blow him away.
Their H2H record is 6-6. Most of their form is quite old, but they did meet in May and it was Wattimena who won 6-4. Van Duijvenbode was also crocked with a leg injury at that time, but he still averaged 95. His injury now is much more limiting.
It feels wrong, but the only choice here is to back Wattimena.
Friday 2023 Players Championship Finals tip: 1 point Jermaine Wattimena to win @ 1.75 with Ladbrokes
Luke Humphries vs. Martin Lukeman
These two have met three times and Smash has been smashed by Humphries in all three matches, 5-1, 8-2 and 6-1. Humphries is playing better than he was when they last met in 2022.
Lukeman has won five of his last ten. But he is playing with no consistency, hitting some big numbers but also four sub 90s. Humphries has hit six ton plus averages in his last ten, with a lowest average of 95.
Lukeman can’t be looking forward to this very much.
