UK Open predictions & PDC darts betting tips: Big prices appeal in unique event

Free darts tips, best bets and analysis for the UK Open, which starts on Friday morning.

Where to watch

ITV4, 11.45am, Friday

Best bets

James Wade
1pt each-way 50-1 Betfred

Damon Heta
1pt each-way 50-1 general

Stephen Bunting
1pt each-way 100-1 general

Tournament preview

The names Shayne Burgess, Barrie Bates and Gary Mawson might not register among younger darts fans but, at this time of year in particular, they resonate loud and clear with darts punters.

For this is the point in the calendar when the great and the good of the arrer-wielding community head for a big tent in Somerset to contest the UK Open, the FA Cup of Darts, indisputably the most wide open of all the PDC's ranking events.

And it's the time of the year when the likes of Burgess, Bates and Mawson – and others – had their 15 minutes of fame, much to the delight of bookmakers and maybe a few savvy punters.

All three reached the UK Open final back in the Noughties at respective odds of 200-1, 100-1 and 300-1. And they weren't the only big-priced finalists.

Only five years ago a relatively little-known Welshman by the name of Gerwyn Price went all the way to the delight of anyone who had backed him each-way at odds of up to 150-1, while last year's beaten finalist Luke Humphries went to post at 125-1. The list goes on and on.

The reasons are manifold but the main one is the open draw, which means the top 32 in the world could draw anyone from the last 64 onwards with absolutely no protection from their world ranking.

Yet, the tournament, inevitably so given the impossible nature of doing it otherwise, is priced up as though it was a bracket event. So Price goes off around 9-2, Peter Wright around 13-2, Jonny Clayton 7-1, which is barely any different to how they went off for the World Championship where their path to the latter stages was possible to plot.

The one exception – and it says more about his relative decline than the make-up of the tournament – is Michael van Gerwen, who's on offer around 15-2, which may tempt his disciples.

The point is, at Butlin's Minehead over the next few days it's an absolute free-for-all – and it's why one or two of the big names don't like it. But it's also why many darts fans – and doubtless the layers, too – think it's the absolute business.

Price, incidentally, is playing out of his skin and has reached at least the quarter-finals in his last five appearances, which is a hell of a feat in itself. If anyone deserves a short price it's The Iceman – but he's still worth overlooking.

So to the shortlist. James Wade is hard to ignore. He was a 40-1 shot last year, won it, has gone on to have another solid 12 months and is in the Premier League – yet this year he's a 50-1 chance.

Damon Heta is a world series winner who has flown out of the blocks in 2022, one of just two players averaging over 100 during the first four Pro Tour events. He's also 50-1.

Stephen Bunting, BDO world champion in 2014, is another player who has started the season consistently well, averaging over 97, hitting bags of 180s and having already beaten the likes of Gary Anderson and Dimitri van den Bergh. At 100-1, he's worth a pound of anyone's money.

At the time of writing 158 players will be toeing the oche in Minehead and that's a massive field. If you're having an each-way bet head for the firms with whom you'll get paid out for semi-finalists.

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