Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Preview

It was another decent night for us at the darts on Wednesday. James Punt landed winners at 1.73 and 1.62 from just three recommended bets. Six of his last seven selections have now won. Hopefully his good form continues today, check out James Punt’s Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship preview below.

Damon Heta vs. Luke Woodhouse

Heta is one of the form players coming into the tournament, winning seven of his last ten matches. His scoring is good, but it must be said, not consistent enough to have really long runs. His B game is not quite good enough for him to be converting good form into tournament wins. He has lost two players championship finals in 2021 and his game is frustratingly close to being very good. Since the start of October his average is 96.6, his checkout rate 43.4% and he is ranked fifth for 180’s per leg. Those are all up there with the best.

Luke Woodhouse has a win under his belt already, winning his first-round match with James Wilson 3-1, averaging 91.5. He is another journey man pro, averaging 92.1 and winning 56% of his matches in 2021. He has reached a couple of pro tour quarter finals in 2021 but that is it.

Heta Has More Ability

Heta is the better player, capable of joining the elite when he gets his B game up to standard, while Woodhouse exists in that pack of players who keep their tour cards but rarely grab the limelight. Woodhouse reached the third round two years ago, so he needs to win this to recoup that ranking money, but it is going to make very little difference to his ranking so there are no real additional pressures.

Heta is the better player and the 1.36 favourite. He has a 2-1 H2H record against Woodhouse. The Australians pre-tournament form was good enough to think he wins this, and he holds 10th place for 180s per leg for the season, and was hitting them at a higher rate in the last couple of months.

Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Damon Heta to win and have the most 180’s @ 1.91 with Betfair

Brendan Dolan vs. Callan Rydz

A repeat of their recent European Tour match which Dolan won 6-1. Overall, it is Rydz who holds a slight H2H advantage, winning three to Dolan’s two. Their first meeting in 2019 went to a deciding leg but the other four have been largely one-sided affairs. They have a healthy respect for each other.

Dolan has won six of his last ten matches and is enjoying a successful season, winning a pro tour title and £140k in prizemoney, his best ever haul. He is winning 70% of his matches and this is a chance to move back into the top 20 on the OOM.

Callan Rydz is racing up the rankings and is still an improving player. A win here and he cements his place in the top 32. He has won seven of his last ten senior matches. He beat Japan’s Yuki Yamada 3-0 in the first round, but it was a scrappy affair and notable for the Japanese players poor doubling.

The bookmakers have Dolan as the 1.80 favourite and Rydz 2.10. Rydz has played two second round matches in the World Championship and lost both while Dolan has played thirteen and won eight.

This is a tricky match. Their H2H form tells us very little, their recent form is not dissimilar and the odds look about right. I’ll sit this one out.

Mensur Suljovic vs. Alan Soutar

Alan Soutar has a cunning plan. He will slap on a long blonde wig and pretend to be Fallon Sherrock. The Austrian player can’t play Sherrock, and it must be said that recently, he is struggling. He has won five of his last ten, hit four ton plus averages but four of his last six have seen averages of 91, 90, 84 and 78. Unpredictable at best. His World Championship record is poor. He has lost five second round matches, won four, but never gone beyond the third round.

They have never met before, but their seasonal form suggests they were separated at birth. Mensur Suljovic averages 93.5, Soutar 93.3. Suljovic checks out at 39.9%, Soutar 40.1%. Suljovic has won 54.2% of legs played, Soutar also 54.2%.

Soutar has also won five of his last ten matches and only one saw a ton plus average and five under 91.

Suljovic is the 1.73 favourite, Soutar 2.10 and the Scot has the disadvantage of being barracked by the English football fans in the crowd.

The only thing I can see here is a close match, probably not a pretty one, but it may well go to a deciding set.

Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point over 4.5 sets @ 2.80 with SportingIndex

Jose de Sousa vs. Jason Lowe

De Sousa holds a 3-0 H2H record over Lowe, including a 6-3 win last month. The Special One is the better player but has not been at his best in the run up to this tournament. His seasonal average is 97.8 but his last nine matches have averaged 93.2. He has won six of his last ten and his B game is still enough to beat most players, but not the better ones.

Lowe averages 92.9 for the season, has won five of his ten and he was OK when beating Daniel Larsson 3-0 in the first round. Larsson was very poor, and it wasn’t much of a test. This will be harder, but he may find De Sousa more playable than he was the last time they met when De Sousa averaged 101. Lowe beat Michael Smith at this stage last year, but he was in better form then. De Sousa has only played one second round match and won that 3-1 against Ross Smith last year. Overall, De Sousa’s record at Ally Pally is played five and lost four.

De Sousa is a best priced 1.33 to win but he has not been playing like a 1.33 shot and makes no appeal at that price. Lowe is hardly setting the world on fire and is hard to fancy at 4.00. Lowe can be backed at 2.25 getting a +1.5 set handicap but this is another match which doesn’t make any appeal for betting purposes. No bet.

-JamesPunt