Pete’s Tips For Week 2 of 2023 World Darts Championship
- Joe Cullen v Damon Heta: Get 11/4 on Joe Cullen to win the match and land the most 180s with bet365.
- Gerwyn Price v Raymond van Barneveld: Barney to win and pin the most 180s was 17/2 but has now been boosted to 10/1 with bet365.
- Michael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic: We’ve come close but haven’t had a nine darter yet this year, but Mighty Michael van Gerwen back to his best 22/1 on there being a nine-dart finish in this match could be worth a punt.
- Michael Smith v Martin Schindler: Many people’s choice for the outright winner, Michael Smith to win the match 4-0.
All of these betting lines were correct at the time the article was posted.
As the players prepare to take a well-earned three-day break for the holidays now looks like the perfect time for an update into how the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship has been going.
All in all, it’s been a relatively shockless affair so far this year and while the darts have been of a brilliant standard, there haven’t really been any surprises with most of the big names safely through to the next round which resumes on Tuesday the 27th of January.
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Defending world champion Peter Wright was the main attraction on the opening night. Snakebite came dressed as the Grinch and stole the show as his World Championship defense got off to a winning start.
Wright’s costume was supplied by his hairdresser wife Jo, who has now thankfully recovered from having her gall bladder removed.
The Scot was up against Mickey Mansell and was in a ruthless mood seeing out a 3-0 victory at the Alexandra Palace where he booked his place in the third round which gets underway straight after Boxing Day. Wright pinned two 180s and managed to land finishes of 126 and 121 as he got the job done in clinical style.
Bully Boy Cruises Through
Michael Smith started off his campaign in the best possible way by whitewashing Northern Ireland’s Nathan Rafferty. Bully Boy reeled off nine successive legs to secure his place in round three.
The fourth seed, who recently won his maiden major at the Grand Slam of Darts, posted a 96 average, while landing three 180s and finishes of 114 and 130.
Smith may have been Friday’s headline act, but most people were talking about Beau Greaves who was making her history-making World Darts Championship debut. Sadly, the 18-year-old, who became the youngest woman ever to play on the Ally Pally stage, was unable to mark the occasion with a win as she was sent packing by Willie O’Connor.
Showing no signs of nerves, Beau ‘n’ Arrow did manage to win the opening leg with a 120 checkout before O’Connor promptly bounced back to take the next two. Greaves, averaged 88.34 compared to O’Connor’s 94.26, then just about edged a scrappy fourth to force a deciding set.
The WDF women’s world champion, who recently won the World Masters earned her spot at the World Championship by winning 52 matches and eight tournaments in a row during the Women’s Series.
Rock Steady
Up-and-coming darting superstar Jock Rock defeated Jose Justicia 3-1 on his hotly anticipated World Championship debut. The World Youth Champion, who hit a nine-darter at November’s Grand Slam of Darts, was playing in the third match of Saturday’s evening session just before Dimitri van den Bergh whitewashed Lourence Ilagan 3-0.
It was the same scoreline that Alan Souter posted in his defeat of Daryl ‘Superchin’ Gurney who became this year’s first seed to be eliminated.
Sunday saw Damon Heta and Nathan Aspinall advance to the third round while Scott Williams and Ryan Joyce served up the one of the matches of the tournament so far. Joyce averaged over 103 and still lost, while Williams hit 10 180s, averaged over a ton and took out a 164 finish on his way to a 3-1 success.
While that match was the highlight in terms of quality, the most dramatic match so far was served up by Canada’s David Cameron who produced a jaw-dropping comeback to beat Ritchie Edhouse 3-2 in a match where the Englishman missed six match darts while leading 2-0 before Cameron finally completed the unlikely win.
Fallen Fallon
Fallon Sherrock became the third and final female to crash out of the tournament when she lost her match with Ricky Evans 3-1. The Queen Of The Palace was followed on to the stage by Raymond van Barneveld who saw off Ryan Meikle by the same score line to set up a mouth watering next round clash with Gerwyn Price.
The Iceman lost the first set before finding the right gear to come from behind to defeat Luke Woodhouse 3-1. Dave Chisnall will also still be alive after Christmas after he hit seven 180s and averaged just shy of 98 while getting over the line in an epic battle with Andrew Gilding.
Tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen is also still in business following his 3-0 second round win over Lewi Williams, while Jonny Clayton is another who can put his feet up and enjoy Christmas after he took care of Danny van Trijp, also by three sets to nil.
The biggest name to be eliminated so far is James Wade as the number eight seed was on the end of a shock 3-2 defeat by Jim Williams in the second round.
BET365 DARTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023 OUTRIGHT WINNER BETTING ODDS
- Michael van Gerwen – 9/4
- Michael Smith – 5/1
- Gerwyn Price – 13/2
- Peter Wright – 10/1
- Josh Rock – 12/1
- Luke Humphries – 14/1
- Jonny Clayton – 22/1
- Dave Chisnall – 25/1
- Rob Cross – 25/1
- Dimitri van den Bergh – 28/1
- Dirk van Duijvenbode – 28/1
- Nathan Aspinall – 30/1
- Danny Noppert – 33/1
- Damon Heta – 40/1
- Joe Cullen – 40/1
- Ross Smith – 40/1
- Gary Anderson – 50/1
- Ryan Searle – 66/1
- Raymond van Barneveld – 66/1
- Jose De Sousa – 80/1
- Chris Dobey 80/1
- 125/1 bar
Tuesday December 27
Third Round (Best of 7 sets)
- Dimitri Van den Bergh v Krzysztof Ratajski
- Nathan Aspinall v Josh Rock
- Jonny Clayton v Brendan Dolan
- Jim Williams v Gabriel Clemens
- Gerwyn Price v Raymond van Barneveld
- Peter Wright v Kim Huybrechts
Wednesday December 28
Third Round (Best of 7 sets)
- Ryan Searle v Jose de Sousa
- Danny Noppert v Alan Soutar
- Gary Anderson v Chris Dobey
- Joe Cullen v Damon Heta
- Michael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic
- Michael Smith v Martin Schindler
Thursday December 29
Third Round (Best of 7 sets)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode v Ross Smith
- Rob Cross v Mervyn King
- Dave Chisnall v Stephen Bunting
- Luke Humphries v Vincent van der Voort (R3)
- 2x fourth round games
Friday December 30
Fourth Round (Best of 7 sets)
- 3x fourth round games
Fourth Round (Best of 7 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts
- 3x fourth-round games
Sunday January 1
- 4 x Quarter-Finals (Best of 9 sets)
Monday January 2
- 2 x Semi-Finals (Best of 11 sets)
Tuesday January 3 (8pm GMT)
- Final (Best of 13 sets)
- Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2
QUICK GLANCE AT THE WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023
Venue: The Alexandra Palace, London
Dates: 15 December 2022 – 3rd January 2023
Format: Best of 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 sets
Current Champion: Peter Wright
Where To Watch: Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Arena
When To Watch: 12:30, 19:00 (UK)