Saturday Evening Czech Darts Open Preview – JP
Saturday Evening Czech Darts Open Preview
James Punt landed a couple more nice winners on Saturday afternoon. He is back in action again tonight, check out his Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips below.
Damon Heta vs. Adam Gawlas
Damon Heta may be one of the heaviest scorers in the game, but he has found these opening Euro Tour matches hard work recently, losing to Chisnall, Evans at the same stage in ET4, 3 and 2 respectively. He has won eight of his last ten matches after two good runs in mid-week, reaching the semi-final on Tuesday and the quarter on Wednesday. He hit a nine darter and while he has picked up a title on the floor this season, he should have won more.
Heta will have to play not only the talented Gawlas, but the very partisan and vocal local fans. They are not quite Aberdeen bad, but the home players do have the advantage here more than most venues.
Work In Progress
Adam Gawlas is still learning the ropes, but he looks the real deal. He needed the crowd to help him beat Dutchman Dennie Olde Kalter 6-4 last night in a close match which could have gone either way on a neutral venue. Gawlas has lost five of his last ten matches and he will likely have to play a lot better than his 86 average of last night.
Heta is the 1.25 favourite which makes no appeal, given his troubles at this stage of previous tournaments. No bet.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: No Bet
Martin Schindler vs. Vincent van der Voort
Vincent won his first round match 6-2 against Geert Nentjes last night in a low quality affair. Van der Voort usually wins his opening matches, but he has yet to win back-to-back on the 2022 ET. He has won just four of his last ten and his 2022 average is 90.6.
Schindler is having a good season, reaching the semi-final of PC6 and final of PC8. He has reached a Euro Tour quarter final and he has won six of his nine ET matches this season. He has won six of his last ten matches and while his scoring has tailed off a bit, he is still averaging in the 90s for his last 11 matches.
Their H2H record is 3-2 to Van der Voort but Schindler is in the ascendency, and I fancy he will be too good for big Vinny.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: 1 point Martin Schindler to win -1.5 legs @ 1.95 with Betfred
Dirk Van Duijvenbode vs. Karel Sedlacek
Dirk has won a players championship title in 2022 and made five more quarter finals, three on the floor and two on the Euro Tour. He has won six of his last ten matches and has a 1-1 H2H record with Evil Charlie.
Karel Sedlacek delighted the crowd, and me, by beating Gabriel Clemens 6-3 in a comfortable win. The crowd were giving Clemens a hard time, and Dirk has to expect the same, only louder.
Sedlacek is a very calm player, you’d want to check his pulse just to make sure he has got one, and that serves him well. He doesn’t have the scoring power of Van Duijvenbode and it will be Dirk’s job to get a lead and shut the crowd up. Easier said than done.
Dirk is the 1.40 favourite with Sedlacek 3.40. Sedlacek is not without a chance especially with the home crowd, but home advantage can be a two edged sword if he is trying too hard. It is a no bet for me.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: No Bet
Jonny Clayton vs. Jose Justicia
Jonny Clayton continues to be one of the most consistently high scorers in the game, but his win rate is a little disappointing given just how good he plays. He has won six of his last ten matches but he is playing top flight players week in, week out which gives a false impression of how good he is playing. The Ferret had the mid-week off and it will be interesting to see if he is a bit fresher this weekend, having just played one match on Thursday for a change.
Jose Justicia beat a local qualifier 6-2, averaging 79. He is better than that obviously, but he is going to have to find his A+ games to lay a glove on the Ferret. He is no mug player and reached the quarter final of PC12 last month, but he would need Jonny to have a very poor night to get close.
They have met seven times with Jonny winning six, the last six, the last being a 6-2 win in March. That sort of margin would be no surprise once again, as it was when they met in June 2021.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: 0.5 point Jonny Clayton to win 6-2 @ 4.60 with Betfred
Michael van Gerwen vs. Vitezslav Sedlak
MVG is a massive favourite to beat the local qualifier who beat Jonathon Worsley 6-4. He showed good bottle to do it, but he is now moving up several leagues. MVG should be winning this to love so long as he doesn’t fanny about on doubles.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: 0.5 point MVG to win 6-0 @ 3.80 with SpreadEx
Gerwyn Price vs. Adrian Lewis
This is unlikely to be a love in. Lewis was very dismissive of Price when the Welshman arrived on the scene, but how the tables have turned.
Lewis beat Ted Evetts 6-3 last night and the score line flattered him a bit. Evetts started like drain but found his game and should have squared the match at 4-4, but he had left too much to do and Lewis closed it out.
Lewis has won six of his last ten matches and is a very hard player to call. He no longer looks like a contender for titles, but his A game is still world class, but we see too much of his C game which is down in the 80s.
Their H2H record is 10-6 to Lewis but he has lost their last three and not beaten Price since 2018. A week or two ago and Lewis could have been easily fancied to win this, but price is on the mend and by winning the PL on Thursday night, he may have lit the touch paper.
Price is the 1.44 favourite and given that we can’t be 100% sure he is back, I’ll swerve this one.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: No Bet
Joe Cullen vs. Ross Smith
Smudger Smith made hard work of beating Florian Hempel. He was 4-1 up and cruising but started missing doubles and allowed Hempel to square the match 4-4. Smith gathered himself to win the last two legs which at least showed some bottle. He will not be able to afford to give away any lead tonight.
Cullen has won five of his last five and isn’t in great form, even on his beloved Euro Tour, where he has played ten and won five. His form is very hot and cold, ton pluses, low 90s and anything in between.
Their H2H record is 6-4 to Cullen and on the Euro Tour 2-0.
Cullen is the 1.50 favourite but the only bet I like here is overs on the 180s. Both are big maximum hitters at 0.31 per leg over the last 12 months.
Saturday Evening Czech Open Darts Tips: 1 point Over 5.5 180’s @ 1.73 with Betfred
Ryan Searle vs. Ritchie Edhouse
Edhouse had a gentle opening match, beating local a qualifier 6-1, averaging 92. He has won seven of his last ten matches, and while hardly a model of consistency, his good stuff can bother Searle, as witnessed by his 4-0 H2H record over Heavy Metal. They met in ET1 earlier this year and another 6-4 would hardly be a surprise.
Searle has not prospered in Europe, but he did make the quarter final last time out. He has played nine ET matches on the Euro Tour this season and lost five.
Edhouse is the 3.30 outsider which, just looks too big given their H2H record.
