UK Open predictions and darts betting tips: Van Duijvenbode can continue red-hot start to 2023

Where to watch

ITV4, from midday Friday

Best bet

Dirk van Duijvenbode
1pt each-way 28-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

Ryan Searle
1pt each-way 28-1 general

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UK Open predictions

The UK Open, one of the greatest spectacles in darts, fittingly gets under way at the home of entertainment, Butlin's Minehead, on Friday and once again it's anyone's guess who will lift the trophy.

Six different winners in the last six years – even the legendary Phil Taylor only won the thing five times – and any number of three-figure finalists, tell you all you need to know about the tournament they call the FA Cup of Darts.

Amateur qualifiers, multiple stages and, of course, no seedings, means anything can happen – and it usually does when the biggest field in the darts calendar gathers by the Somerset coast.

Three-time winner Michael van Gerwen heads the betting and arrives in Minehead fresh from Thursday night's Premier League action in Exeter.

Despite a history of big-priced finalists, of late good players have tended to prevail and even allowing for a field of over 150, the cream still should rise to the top, draw complexities notwithstanding. 

But if you do fancy an each-way bet, bear in mind that most firms are a quarter the odds the first four, some half the first two. So it pays to shop around.

Every darts punter will have their favourites, and Major winners-in-waiting Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ryan Searle look as likely to any go deep if the draw isn't against them.

Grand Prix runner-up in 2020, Van Duijvenbode has enjoyed a blistering start to 2023 with a win on the floor – beating Searle in the final, as it happened, just two weeks ago – to go with quarter-final spots in the Masters and Baltic Sea Open. He is such a confident player now and has overcome some iffy form in 2022 which also affected Searle.

Heavy Metal, the world No.14, is making strides in this tournament having reached round five in 2021 then round six last year, so his trajectory looks encouraging.

Runner-up in the Players Championship Finals just over a year ago, Searle went off the boil but has come back on fire this year, reaching two Pro Tour finals in just four starts. He also made the semis in Kiel on Sunday.

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