Saturday 2023 Grand Slam of Darts Preview & Tips – JP
Saturday 2023 Grand Slam of Darts Preview & Tips
Now, it is time for James Punt’s Saturday 2023 Grand Slam of Darts Tips. He fired in three winners from five bets on Friday and he is back to try and cause the bookies more heartache. Check out his match previews below.
Friday Review
Last night’s two quarter finals yielded three winning bets and both matches went pretty much to script. The trend for longer matches was extended with both going over 27.5, comfortably, and Humphries extended the trend for repeat wins for players who had already met in the group stage, beating Gary Anderson 16-14.
James Wade was very James Wade, coming from behind to steal his match with Josh Rock at the death, winning the deciding leg and taking it 16-15. Rock’s lack of experience showed. He played the game at his usual 100mph, but when it came to trying to hit what should have been the winning double, he stopped, took an age to throw, and inevitably missed, leaving Wade to pick his pocket.
Tonight we have a repeat of the Buntz vs. Bunting Group E fixture, and Damon Heta vs. Rob Cross.
Stowe Buntz vs. Stephen Bunting
This a repeat of their group match of a few days ago, but this might be one of those rare beasts that doesn’t go the same way as the first match.
Buntz is in dreamland. He came here just to try and maybe win a match, get some experience and have some fun. Here he is, in a quarter final of a Major tournament, winning at least £28500, and playing a guy he has already beaten. He couldn’t do it, could he?
I really doubt it. He beat Bunting 5-3 in the group phase but he was comfortably outscored by The Bullet. Buntz was able to do the right thing at the right time, and in a very short first to five leg format, the took his chances.
This is a first to 16 format, something else which will be new to him. He has coped with everything new to him very well so far, but this very long format should play to the strengths of Bunting.
Costly Defeat
Losing to Buntz cost Bunting (and us) the group win. It was a match he should have won, but those first to five matches can be a bit of a lottery, and Buntz had the winning ticket. Bunting has played eleven ranking major quarter finals in his time in the PDC. He won four. He should make that five this evening.
Bunting has been in great form for a while now, ever since he switched to a significantly heavier dart. It must be said that he doesn’t actually win things, outside of the very occasional Players Championship, but he regularly has good runs and trousers a fair amount of prizemoney. This looks like being a great opportunity to get through to the semi-final and £50000 in ranking money.
A-Game
Buntz does have a ton plus A-game, which we saw against Peter Wright in his very first group match, and he has produced it on the CDC tour in North America. However, his seasonal average is 86.79 and so far in this event he has averaged 88 in his last three matches.
That does look like where he is and what we should expect over a longer format. He may well have a hot streak and win legs, but Bunting, with his seasonal average of 95.8, should have many more chances to win legs. If he takes them, he wins comfortably.
Bullet Scoring Well
Bunting has won eight of his last ten matches and he has been scoring well on the whole for many weeks. The only worry would be his doubling. That has not been rock solid, and he only checked out at 27% when beating a very poor Danny Noppert 10-4 in the second round.
His checkout rate against Noppert in another recent match was just 19%. Maybe Noppert has cast some kind of spell on him, but it is worth bearing in mind.
Bunting is the 1.19 favourite with Buntz 5.25. It is not a great betting opportunity but I will have a go on this being one of the shorter quarter finals. Since the quarter finals became first to 16 legs, 43% have ended with less than 27 legs.
We don’t really get many mismatches at this stage of the tournament these days. The last was Wright vs. Sherrock in 2021 and Sherrock won 13 legs, averaging 98.8.
So, the outsider can throw a spanner in the works, but I am looking at this like the Anderson vs. Unterbuchner quarter final of 2019. Anderon won that 16-6. It is not a match to go mad on, but I’ll have a play on under 26.5 legs.
Saturday 2023 Grand Slam of Darts Tip: 1 point under 26.5 legs @ 2.00 with Betvictor
Damon Heta vs. Rob Cross
This is more of a ‘normal’ quarter final. Rob Cross is having a reasonably good season with plenty of great play, but just a little light on titles won. The same can be said about Heta.
We are used to seeing both having good runs but Cross has won one Euro Tour event and one Players Championship, along with two World Series. Heta has won two Players Championships.
Recent form shows eight wins from Heta’s last ten matches, but his last three here have not been impressive, with three low 90s averages, despite being good on the doubles.
Rob Cross has won seven of his last ten matches and has been a much more consistent performer. Only two of his last twenty matches have seen sub 95 averages and none under 92. He has got better with each match played so far and his second round match with Aspinall saw him average 103.97. We should be expecting him to average around the ton mark.
Interesting H2H
Their H2H record is interesting. They first met in a World Series event, in Perth, Australia if my memory serves me right. Heta was a local qualifier and he ended up beating Cross 8-7 in the final and it was that match which encouraged him to up sticks, move to the UK and have a go at professional darts. It was a smart move and a lucrative one.
However, since that win against Cross, Heta has really suffered at the hands of Voltage. A shocking record of four consecutive losses with a cumulative leg score of 28-9. It is surprising that they have only had five matches and three of those were in wanky World Series matches.
Cross The Form Horse
Cross is in better form and is the better player. He is a four time major winner and a runner up in three more. He has played two previous quarter finals in this event but lost both.
The first was to MVG in 2017 when Cross averaged 102 but lost 13-16. The other was a 14-16 loss to James Wade in 2021. Heta has played in four major quarter finals and lost the lot, including a 13-16 loss to James Wade here in 2020.
Rob Cross is the 1.50 favourite with Heta 2.75. Heta would be the call if he was playing better, but Cross has looked the better of the two and has hammered Heta on the rare occasions they have met, with the exception of that famous win for Heta Down Under.
