2026 PDC World Championship: Betting tips for Saturday's action
After an explosive opening night of action, the 2026 PDC World Championship really gets up and running on Friday with eight round one ties taking place across the afternoon and evening sessions.
Our darts expert Matt Hill will be on hand every day to give Odds Now readers his thoughts on the upcoming action and share some of his best betting angles. You can also catch Matt talking through his picks over on the Odds Now YouTube channel!
And if you’re still looking to sharpen your senses ahead of this year’s arrows extravaganza, why not check out Matt and Adam’s bumper 2026 PDC World Championship preview? All 64 round one matches were covered in under an hour!
If you were being particularly cynical, you’d say this opening contest is one where the victor will have the pleasure of being beaten by Luke Littler in round two. Harsh? Perhaps. True? Probably.
Still, it’s an important game – particularly for Vandenbogaerde, who enters the tournament on the bubble in terms of keeping his Tour Card. One win here is probably enough to spare him a return to European Q-School next month, which brings a clear focus but also added pressure.
David Davies was the benefactor of the inaugural UK & Ireland Tour Card Holder and Amateur Qualifier. He came through a 100-strong field of impressive names from both yesteryear and the future, impressively averaging just under 98 in the final to see off WDF World Champion Shane McGurk 7-4.
NHS worker Davies is no mug, having also impressed in plenty of amateur tournaments this year and I think a case can certainly be made for the Welshman offering some value here.
Vandenbogaerde is a steady operator who made a Pro Tour final this year (albeit not a lot else) but his sole previous outing on this stage saw him suffer a 3-1 defeat to Frenchman Thibault Tricole. He’s not a favourite to be hanging your hat on. It’s all about how Davies settles for me, so I am happy to take a chance here at 2/1 on the underdog.
A real clash of styles awaits here as the experienced former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding takes on one of the secondary tour’s bright young lights in Cam Crabtree.
Gilding is a hard man to fathom in many ways. He always looked to have ability from his early days on the Pro Tour but rarely managed to transfer immense floor performances onto the big stage – perhaps uncomfortable with the glitz and glamour that TV cameras bring.
So, to see him beat Michael van Gerwen in that epic UK Open final was a really special moment and a triumph for those who persevere in the tricky journey of becoming a big stage performer when it doesn’t come naturally. That Gilding has remained in the top 32 for the subsequent two-and-a-half years is testament to his consistency.
Crabtree definitely looks one for the future. Shazam has been shining on the Development Tour this term and topping those seasonal rankings means he has bagged himself a spot on the main circuit for next year. But in reality, he’s been floating around the Pro Tour as a reserve for some time and always acquits himself well.
His big stage bow at the recent Grand Slam of Darts showcased his immense potential, smashing Jonny Clayton 5-1 in his opener with a 102.07 average. But subsequent losses to Danny Noppert and Lukas Wenig also displayed his understandable inconsistencies.
This therefore looks a hard game to punt on. If Crabtree turns up, it will be very interesting indeed but it’s hard to be confident. A match best watched.
This is a potential belter here. Luke Woodhouse, a contender for most improved mid-tier player of the season taking on the ever-dangerous Boris Krcmar. I’m expecting fireworks.
Woodhouse has had a fantastic 2025. A Pro Tour final, a few solid runs on the TV – but most importantly, he looks to have really brushed up on the mental side of the game. I always had Woody down as a player with above-average ability who really lacked the self-belief. You’d often catch him berating himself after missed doubles and falling away when the going got tough.
But now, he seems a changed man. Sticking in games, even battling back from tough situations. You feel that over the next couple of years, we’ll really get to see how high Woodhouse can go. But he could’ve been handed easier openers.
The imposing Krcmar, standing at 6ft7in, was a surprising name to drop off the Pro Tour 12 months ago. An unfortunate set of circumstances conspired against him last year at Ally Pally but to be honest, I dare say the Croatian has quite enjoyed his year away from the rigours of the circuit.
He’s been enjoying a bit of his first love in soft-tip darts (winner of a remarkable number of events in that sphere), a bit of WDF and a bit of Modus Super Series. All told, he looks sharp as ever and it would be no surprise to see him pick a card back up next month. He’s too good not to be in possession of one.
Krcmar made round three on his last appearance here two years ago and has serious gears. I can’t see him going down easily here, so while I fancy Woodhouse to prevail, I want to get with the sets. This one to go all the way at 7/4 makes appeal.
There’s always a bit of a buzz seeing two-time World Champion Gary anderson step out on the Ally Pally stage. What awaits for the flying Scotsman this time around? Well, he won’t be shouting it from the rooftops but I imagine he fancies a run looking at the draw.
Anderson lies in an open-looking fourth quarter, away from the two Lukes. Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert may be the chief threats between him and a semi-final – so it’s certainly not beyond the realms for the popular veteran to go deep once again. First though, he must take care of Adam Hunt.
At 32, Adam Hunt is far from over the hill in darting terms but you do feel he needs to be making a bigger impact by now than he has been. The Durham-born ace looks set to lose his Tour Card again and it’s hard to argue with that outcome being anything but fair given a real lack of results.
Interestingly, Hunt did win his only meeting with Anderson this year 6-5. But that was on the Pro Tour – a hugely different environment to what awaits here. It’ll take a career best performance on the big stage to turn over Anderson at the Palace and I’m finding it hard to envision such an occurrence.
Anderson is around the even money mark to win this 3-0. I don’t hate that price but given his occasional slow starts in majors these days, it’s probably another one that needs a watching brief.
Poor old Jeffrey De Graaf. Last year, he drew Barbadian qualifier Rashad Sweeting and had to put up with the crowd jeering his every dart before eventually battling to a 3-1 success. This year, a similar reception awaits.
That is because the Dutch-Swede hybrid will be facing darting royalty in the form of 71-year-old Paul Lim. There’s barely a need to introduce Lim, is there? An icon of the sport, famed for hitting the first ever World Championship nine-darter and still here, chucking his arrows at an age where most are happy to collect their pension and stick their feet up.
Lim is, obviously, not operating at his lifetime best at this stage of life but is still not a man to be overlooked. You’d think it would be near impossible for him to write a more remarkable chapter in his career but he nearly did just that 12 months ago when making the WDF World Championship final, losing to Shane McGurk to fall a win short of arguably being the most popular winner of any event ever.
Sadly, I think De Graaf is a man tailor-made for this sort of occasion. He won a first Pro Tour just three months ago, making sure to keep the positive momentum going having surged to the last 16 with a string of impressive displays at Ally Pally last December. He even beat Gary Anderson along the way.
Back against Lim at your peril, but I’m inclined to do just that. The 3-0 correct score for De Graaf looks a tad overpriced to my eye at 2/1 and while I’ll take little pleasure in watching the Singapore Slinger bow out, it may pay to play here.
Intriguing old game here, as the hugely talented Wessel Nijman faces a stern examination from a man having a fine 2025 under the radar in Karel Sedlacek.
Nijman is a known and respected commodity among regular followers of darts. The Dutch youngster spent a couple of years away from the PDC circuits following a match-fixing incident during COVID, which threatened to derail his promising career. But having served his time, he got his card and has quietly gone about showing the world what he can do with his arrows.
At his best, I have Nijman as capable as anyone not called Luke. In fact, he actually had the better of Littler during their time on the Challenge Tour (a record which has since been corrected in the teenager’s favour). So he’s a serious operator. He pounds 180s in with a beautifully aggressive consistency and at times makes the game look effortless. Yet there have been some signs of big stage nerves this year – and Sedlacek is someone capable of capitalisting if they rear their head again.
Evil Charlie has had a stellar year back on the Pro Tour circuit, having quickly regained the card he lost last winter. Four floor quarter-final runs show immense consistency, while he also made waves on the European Tour on a couple of occasions. Sedlacek has stood up tall when facing many of the game’s leading lights this term and I can’t see him shrivelling here.
Nijman needs to get ahead in this one early or it’s going to be a tough night’s work. I think his 180s could be the difference in the end but wouldn’t have great confidence in backing him at the prices available. Another one that is best watched.
Luke Humphries kicks off his quest to regain the crown he lost last winter with a comfortable-looking clash on paper against Ted Evetts.
It’s a bit sad that Evetts is largely remembered for being the first person to lose to a woman at the PDC World Championship. Thankfully for him, he’s still got plenty of years ahead of him to write some more favourable history. Undoubtedly talented, Super Ted has yet to bring his A-game to the big stages and this looks the stiffest of tasks for him.
Humphries will not have been delighted to land in a quarter with Nathan Aspinall and Gian van Veen among others. However, you have to beat the best to be the best, as Cool Hand knows only too well. He’s a worthy favourite for this section of the draw and I can’t see myself opposing him lightly at any point over the next three weeks.
Carving out an angle here just looks hard work. I think it will be 3-0 Humphries and I think he’ll probably be quite impressive. Do I want to back him to win 3-0 at 2/7? Not really. Even tagging on things to a Bet Builder like 180 lines feels like you’re forcing it, so I’ll take a back seat here.
It feels like more than four years have passed since Gabriel Clemens was beating up a noise-cancelling headphone-wearing Gerwyn Price to book his spot in a World Championship semi-final.
The big German has been sliding down the rankings at an alarming rate over the last two years and, ranked 50th in the Order of Merit coming into this tournament, will be usurped by Niko Springer as the German No2 if he fails to match the youngster’s performance at Ally Pally. It’s a sad decline for a man who has bucketloads of ability but for whatever reason has struggled to show it in recent times.
He faces Alex Spellman here, who may prove to be more of a banana skin than his Grand Slam of Darts showings last month would suggest. There was a time where the American was considered the best player in world darts without a Tour Card by many. He’s not shown it much on his trips to British shores, but there is talent there.
This game feels like it’s all on the first set for me. If Spellman can nick it, I think he’ll grow in stature and probably see it out against a fragile Clemens. I wouldn’t be taking the German at 1/3 quotes, that’s for sure. He can win at that price and I won’t care one bit.
I quite like a speculative half point on the ‘double result’ market with Bet365 here. Spellman to win the first set and win the match is 5/1, which feels like the only way – and quite a viable way – that he comes out on top here.
2pts - David Davies to beat Mario Vandenbogaerde - 2/1 (various)
2pts - Luke Woodhouse vs Boris Krcmar over 4.5 sets - 7/4 (various)
2pts - Jeffrey De Graaf 3-0 Paul Lim correct score - 2/1 (various)
0.5pt - Double Result - Alex Spellman set one/ Alex Spellman to win vs Gabriel Clemens - 5/1 (Bet365)
Total staked - 6.5pts
Matt Hill is Odds Now's Head of Content and leads our digital operation, while also offering his insight as a tipster across darts and football.
Having worked in the industry for the best part of a decade, including extended stints with Betfred and LiveScore, Matt joined the project in May 2024 with the sole aim of making Odds Now a key player in the betting content space.
He has also forged a reputation as a respected darts tipster, landing numerous three-figure outright winners over the years, while his love for lower league football also helps him pick out the odd obscure winner in that space.
When not at the editorial desk, Matt enjoys travelling the country supporting his beloved Carlisle United FC, chucking a few arrows and spending time with his young family.
Matt Hill is Odds Now's Head of Content and leads our digital operation, while also offering his insight as a tipster across darts and football.
Having worked in the industry for the best part of a decade, including extended stints with Betfred and LiveScore, Matt joined the project in May 2024 with the sole aim of making Odds Now a key player in the betting content space.
He has also forged a reputation as a respected darts tipster, landing numerous three-figure outright winners over the years, while his love for lower league football also helps him pick out the odd obscure winner in that space.
When not at the editorial desk, Matt enjoys travelling the country supporting his beloved Carlisle United FC, chucking a few arrows and spending time with his young family.
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