The Masters is getting ever closer, just a day away now. The tournament that really kicks off the year in darts.
The top 8 in the world are not of great interest to us this year, as they’re likely to be tired from the huge amount of travel they’ve been doing for Premier League appearances and world series tournaments. Dutch Legend and 5 time champion of the world Raymond van ‘Barney’ Barneveld himself commented on how the Premier League players may be tired from Bahrain to the Dutch Darts Masters. Given the Premier League players have played two World Series events in the last few weeks and now they’ll have to travel from Cardiff to Milton Keynes to play their opening games in the masters. Whilst Danny Noppert wasn’t in the premier league, his performance at the Dutch Darts Masters does not inspire a great deal of confidence. Add to that the strength in depth from those playing in the first round and the stage readiness that they will have after playing an extra game compared to those top 8 players, we’re much more interested in backing the field.
For this tournament, we are looking at quarter winners, and we believe there is one stand-out 9-24 player in each quarter in terms of darts betting value. In the 3 years so far that the masters has been in this format, all 3 winners of the tournament have been ranked 9-24 and we expect this trend to continue.
From quarter 1, Ross Smith admittedly has a very tough draw for his first two games. He has to get through the people’s champion, Stephen ‘the bullet’ Bunting, and then World Champion Luke Humphries. That certainly won’t be too easy, but Ross Smith consistently plays great level of darts and it would be a very rare sight not to see him in the top 5 players in terms of raw averages. In spite of this, the bookmakers seem to consistently underestimate the former major winner. If he does manage to get through these two games, then he should have an easier third game in either Clayton, Ratajski or ‘Snakebite’ Peter Wright. He is going off at 12/1 for his quarter and a startling 66/1 for the event. This is, in our opinion, simply the wrong price. Ross Smith seems fantastic value for winning the quarter and going the whole way.
Following Price’s shock withdrawal from the Masters, we have completely changed our outlook on quarter 2. We were planning on tipping Ryan Searle, but given that Daryl Gurney is taking a seeded position and therefore has to play one game less, and is playing some of the best darts he has played in years, we believe that at the price he is given, he is very good value for his quarter.
Our selection for quarter 3 is world Champion quarter-finalist and reigning World Master, Chris Dobey. Whilst only 6/1, we believe the quality he is playing recently is undeniable. He clearly excels in this format, being the reigning champion and we firmly believe he is a better play now than he was when he won it. His performances in his most recent games demonstrating this. An easy first round game against Gilding is not the victory it seems draw-wise as his next game is against the Green machine, Michael van Gerwen. If he gets through this game however, he should have another winnable game against Noppert, Chizzy, or Schindler. Tournament and quarter.
Our final selection is for the fourth quarter – a name that gets nowhere near the recognition it deserves – specifically after his recent major semi-final. Gabriel Clemens is going off at 12/1 for his quarter as the outsider of the group. He is playing an out of form Heta to start, which should be quite the simple affair. The seeded player he plays is Rob Cross, which will undeniably be a tough game. After that, he may get a slightly easier game in Michael Smith, Wade, or Dimi. Clemens may not be the strongest player in the group, but with those odds and his tournament odds being an incredible 125/1, he is far too high a price and would be a huge miss if he was not bet. Further to this, we believe that Clemens is completely the wrong price against Heta and that there is value in this match as well.
To summarise, our tips for the masters are:
2 points on Gabriel Clemens to win his quarter at 12/1
2 points on Ross Smith to win his quarter at 12/1
2 points on Chris Dobey to win his quarter at 6/1
2 points on Daryl Gurney to win his quarter at 15/2
Lucky 15 on our 4 quarter winners (15 points total)
1 point on Ross Smith to win the tournament at 50/1
1 point on Daryl Gurney to win the tournament at 40/1
1 point on Gabriel Clemens to win the tournament at 125/1
1 point on Chris Dobey to win the tournament at 18/1
5 points on Clemens to beat Damon Heta at 13/10
The Darts Tipping Team
Published 1/2/2024, 20:29
DartsTipping.com 