Saturday Evening PDC Masters Tips James Punt
Saturday Evening PDC Masters Darts Tips
You can never keep James Punt down for long. He was back on top form this afternoon, going 2/2 at odds of 2.20 and 1.83. He is aiming to cause the bookies more tungsten turmoil later tonight. Check out his Saturday evening PDC Masters tips below.
Jonny Clayton vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
Dimitri van den Bergh put his poor end to 2021 behind him with a 105 average and a 6-1 win over Ian White last night. It was the best match of the night with both players averaging over the ton, but Van den Bergh was good on the doubles, White was poor.
The H2H stats show a 6-3 lead for Dimitri. They played five times last year and it was 3-2 to Van den Bergh. Clayton is the defending champion, but this is a tough opener if Van den Bergh can repeat his form of last night. Clayton averaged 102.9 across his three matches in the World Championship and he was a bit unlucky to come up against an inspired Michael Smith in the fourth round. It was the best game of the tournament, and such is The Ferret’s consistency these days, Dimitri may need to repeat his form against White just to have a chance.
Their H2H form suggests Van den Bergh should be favourite but Clayton is the bookies fancy at 1.56 and Dimitri 2.62. The value looks to be with Van den Bergh but I would want more than 2.62 before opposing The Ferret. No bet.
Saturday evening PDC Masters tips: No Bet
Gerwyn Price vs. Ryan Searle
Price leads the H2Hs 5-2 but it is 2-2 in their last four. That reflects Searle’s improving form over the last year or two. As good as Searle is, he is not as good as Price. The world number 1 is just better in every department and deserves to be the favourite. However, 1.36 isn’t great value given Searle’s improved form. Both came into the tournament with eight wins from their last ten, but Searle got a taste for the arena with his 6-1 win over an injured Merv King last night. It wasn’t a great match with King having been ill and not practising. That was compounded by a flare up of his back problems.
Price has not really shone in this event. He has played eight matches and won just four. He played well last year, averaged 103 across three matches, but he still lost out to Merv King in the semi-final. The Iceman is one of the players who knows he is playing in the Premier League, but Searle is one who might get a pick if he wins this tournament. Pressure or incentive?
Searle may have won eight of his last ten, but his scoring has not been impressive. There was just one ton plus average in those ten matches and that ton was the only time he bettered his 12 month average of 95.7.
So long as Price is not overly rusty after his break, he should be too good for Searle.
Saturday evening PDC Masters tips: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -2.5 legs @ 1.83 with Betvictor
Peter Wright vs. Simon Whitlock
Just when I start to write Whitlock off, he pops up with a ton average and a 6-2 win over a disappointing Dirk van Duijvenbode. These two met here at the same stage last year and Wright was the 10-8 winner. That was the first of three meetings in 2021, of which Wright won two. All three were close and the total legs score was 21-19. Last night’s win for Whitlock was only his third win from eleven here so it is not a venue where he has enjoyed much success.
Peter Wright, on the other hand, is a past winner and has won seven of his last eight here and 12 from 19 overall. He has won his last 12 matches and the last time we saw him, he was lifting the trophy at the World Championship. The last time he did that, he backed it up by winning this title. He opened that tournament with a 103 average and a 10-7 win over Joe Cullen.
Whitlock has won five of his last ten matches, had three ton plus averages, but also three sub 90s. Consistency is not his middle name but he is under no pressure here. He will pick up £5k and has a chance to make it £10k.
Wright should be too good, but Whitlock will give it his best shot as always.
Saturday evening PDC Masters Tips: 1 point Simon Whitlock to win +3.5 legs @ 1.95 with SportingIndex, Fitzdares
Saturday evening PDC Masters tips: 0.5 point Wright to win 10-8 @ 9.00 generally available
Michael van Gerwen vs. Luke Humphries
This tournament used to a benevolent fund for MVG. He won it five times in a row but in the last two years he has fallen at the first fence. This is another possible early bath for MVG but he does have a 4-1 H2H record against the young pretender. Humphries’ only win was big one, the semi-final of the 2021 UK Open when Humphries smashed Van Gerwen 11-5. All the others have been comfortable wins for MVG.
Van Gerwen is still the best scorer over the last 12 months, he has won eleven of his last thirteen matches and everything is rosy in his garden, except the lack of titles. Humphries has won seven of his last ten and he strolled to a 6-1 win over Devon Petersen last night. He averaged 92.7 in that match, and he will need to do better.
Van Gerwen is now a tricky proposition. His win rate is back down to mortal level, but his last four defeats all came in a match with final in the title. Three quarter finals and one semi. It is likely that Humphries will need his A-game to compete with Van Gerwen and we haven’t seen much of it in the last few months. He is playing well enough but not really elite level stuff and MVG is still elite level.
Van Gerwen is the 1.36 favourite which is too short for him these days, but I expect he will want to make a bit of a statement of intent in his opening match of 2022.
