Darts is back on our screens this weekend when an extended 32 players head to Amsterdam for the World Series of Darts Finals, the tournament which kicks a brilliant three months of darts to finish the season off.
Michael van Gerwen walked away with the title on home soil a year ago and he has done enough to get back into the field to have a crack at making a successful defence of the crown but he’ll need to play well for that to happen.
Recent Winners
2023 – Michael van Gerwen
2022 – Gerwyn Price
2021 – Jonny Clayton
2020 – Gerwyn Price
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – James Wade
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
The Format
We have an extended draw this year. Usually 24 players would qualify for the tournament and the eight seeded players would come in during the second round of the event. That is a thing of the past. We have 32 players now and they all come in from the first round of the competition. That first round is played across the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon session with the second round on Saturday evening. They are all the best of 11 legs. The quarter finals take place on Sunday afternoon over the best of 19 legs with the semi-finals and the final in the evening on Sunday over the best of 21 legs.
Top Half
The top half of the draw is absolutely loaded this week. The eight seeds come from the World Series Order of Merit so four of those are in the top half of the bracket where Luke Littler is the top seed after an excellent time of it this year. The other seeded players are the world champion Luke Humphries, the man defending the title this week in Michael van Gerwen and the UK Open winner Dimitri Van den Bergh who will be looking to win successive ITV ranking titles.
The rest of the players this weekend are unseeded and in the top half there are some big names. They include the former world champion Raymond van Barneveld while The Masters winner Stephen Bunting is also in this section. The 2021 winner of this tournament, Jonny Clayton, is also here as is the former Masters champion Chris Dobey. Ross Smith, Gabriel Clemens and Damon Heta will hope to be dangerous while Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen will hope to use a home crowd to their advantage.
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Bottom Half
The 2022 champion Gerwyn Price is the highest seed in the bottom half of the draw. He posted on Instagram after losing in the European Tour last weekend that he has his hunger back so he could be a dangerous runner. He is seeded to meet Rob Cross in the semi-final in what would be a tasty contest. Two former world champions are the other seeds in this half of the draw looking to stop that from happening. They are Peter Wright, who is back in form having won a European Tour event at the start of the month, and Michael Smith.
There are no shortage of household names in the bottom half of the draw and they are headed up by the winner of the Flanders Darts Trophy last weekend in the form of Dave Chisnall. Dirk van Duijvenbode is a former finalist in this tournament and he’ll be looking for a big run, as will the likes of Daryl Gurney and Simon Whitlock. Kevin Doets and Wessel Nijman will be hoping for a big weekend on home soil while Cameron Menzies and Jose de Sousa could be dangerous floaters.
Betting
I’m going double Dutch in terms of outright bets this weekend with the first of them in the form of Dirk van Duijvenbode who showed enough in Belgium last week to suggest that his best form isn’t a million miles away. He beat Luke Littler, Damon Heta and Jonny Clayton on his way to the quarter final and averaged in the high 90s and over 100 in all of those matches. He now has to transfer that to the TV stage but these European Tour stages are getting bigger and starting to replicate the TV events a little more. DvD isn’t necessarily in an easy part of the draw but it isn’t the hardest either and at 40/1 I’ll pay to see how well he goes this weekend.
The other bet I like is for Wessel Nijman to come through and surprise everyone. The Dutch youngster is a star in the making and currently leads the Development Tour for combined average on the year and he has made a Players Championship final this season as well so he is beginning to make a name for himself. It hasn’t really happened for him on a PDC stage yet but there is no denying that it will do and if it is going to start anywhere why not here where he is going to get a lot of support. He is in the bottom quarter which does contain Rob Cross and Michael Smith but two rounds of best of 11 leg matches gives this draw the potential to open right up and I’ll pay to see if Nijman can take advantage if it does.
Tips
Back D.van Duijvenbode to win World Series of Darts Finals (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back W.Nijman to win World Series of Darts Finals (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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