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Luke Littler is bidding to retain his Bahrain Darts Masters title

Bahrain Darts Masters 2025: Darts predictions, betting tips and preview for the ITV4-televised event in Bahrain

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu January 16, 2025 · 3h ago

The ITV4-televised Bahrain Darts Masters takes place from Thursday to Friday and our Chris Hammer brings you his preview and tips.

Darts betting tips: Bahrain Darts Masters

2pts Luke Littler to win the Bahrain Darts Masters at 13/8 (Sky Bet)

1pt each-way Chris Dobey to win the Bahrain Darts Masters at 12/1 (General 1/2 1,2)

1pt Nebrida (+2.5) to beat Cross & Toylo (+2.5) to beat Wright at 3/1 (Betfred)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

This time last year, anyone who thought Luke Littler's dream run to the World Championship final on debut was just some kind of crazy 'fluke' were quickly eating their words.

Not only did he become the youngest player to ever hit a televised nine-dart finish in the first leg of his quarter-final with Nathan Aspinall, but he then went on to win his maiden PDC title just two days before his 17th birthday.

That was the first of four perfect legs in 2024 and each one came in tournaments that he'd go on and win; his debut Pro Tour event, his debut European Tour event and, of course, the Premier League final against Luke Humphries.

One of the best moments in darts this year was Nathan Aspinall's reaction to Luke Littler's nine-darter back in January. Wait for it 🙌 pic.twitter.com/yIExWLQZds
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) December 12, 2024

I think we were all guilty of 'expecting' him to manage a fifth during his record-breaking world title run!

His mind-boggling achievements in 2024 would have been astonishing for anyone. After all, only Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright had previously managed 10 or more titles in a single season.

But to do it in a debut campaign at such a young age with more attention and hype than anyone ever before in darts makes it one of the greatest in British sporting history.

The way he spoke to the media during the World Championship was credit to the way he handles himself away from the oche and it genuinely feels as if nothing fazes him.

Luke Littler's impression of Michael van Gerwen when he reveals what they said to one another after the final 😃

The youngest ever world champion also still refuses to declare he's the best player in the world pic.twitter.com/ETzDTIyMN4
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) January 3, 2025

Even when he did admit to feeling the pressure for the first time against Ryan Meikle in his very first match, he still managed to produce 'that' ridiculous world-record set average of 141.

🤯 Luke Littler's record-breaking set average of 140.91 at the World Championship:

Leg 1: 180-180-81-60 (11 darts)
Leg 2: 180-180-129-12 (10 darts)
Leg 3: 139-174-136-52 (11 darts)

That's just beyond bonkers.pic.twitter.com/WZWai13r5H
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) December 21, 2024

He averaged over 100 in all but one of his matches at the Ally Pally which means he's exceeded three figures in 18 of his last 19 matches, which also included his title run at the Grand Slam of Darts and finishing runner-up to Luke Humphries at the Players Championship Finals.

Luke Littler read some unfairly tough headlines after losing in the first round of the European Championship in October.

Since then he's gone on this relentless run that ended with becoming world champion at 17. Absolutely brutal 🤯 pic.twitter.com/sxQz5OdUe0
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) January 4, 2025

With all his media commitments since making history, I doubt he'll have practiced as much as usual but does it really matter for this tournament?

After all, he faced the same levels of attention - possibly even more - after finishing runner-up to Humphries at the Ally Pally 12 months ago and that didn't stop him lifting this trophy.

And the year before that, Michael Smith won the inaugural edition just over a week after lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy.

Essentially the world champion is naturally going to be the 'form horse' when the first event of the new season is so hot on the heels of the greatest show in darts.

Bahrain Darts Masters Draw

Format: First and second rounds best of 11 legs, semi-finals best of 13 legs, final best of 15 legs

(1) Luke Humphries v Abdulla Saeed
Nathan Aspinall v Zong Xiao Chen
(4) Stephen Bunting v Nitin Kumar
Chris Dobey v Basem Mahmood
(2) Luke Littler v Lourence Ilagan
Gerwyn Price v Lik Yin Lee
(3) Rob Cross v Paolo Nebrida
Peter Wright v Alexis Toylo

Schedule: First round on January 16 from 1700 GMT (ITV4). Quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on January 17 from 1700 GMT (ITV4)

Littler finds himself in the bottom half of the draw with Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Peter Wright, so it's hard to find many logical reasons why he won't reach the final other than the short format always offering more hope to the underdog.

All three of those big names have big questions marks over their current prowess and while Price and Wright did show shoots of recovery at the Ally Pally, they clearly aren't back to their best yet.

CLICK HERE to back Luke Littler to win the title with Sky Bet

In terms of the first round, I do feel there's a spot of value looking at Paolo Nebrida and Alexis Toylo on the handicap markets against Cross and Wright respectively.

Voltage's poor end to the season culminated in a very disappointing 3-1 defeat to Scott Williams before Christmas, in which he averaged just 88, while Paolo Nebrida was one of the underdogs of the Ally Pally having taken out Jim Williams and Ross Smith before running out of steam against Jeffrey de Graaf.

Toylo also impressed at the Ally Pally as he defeated Richard Veenstra 3-0 before averaging 96 in a 3-1 defeat to Krzysztof Ratajski so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he gives Snakebite a scare.

The top half features Humphries, who will no doubt be itching to bounce back and prove a point following his disastrous 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Peter Wright before New Year.

The world number one will be using this event - and the forthcoming Dutch Darts Masters - to find his way back to the form ahead of the rebranded Masters event and the start of the Premier League season.

If anything his Ally Pally setback against Snakebite may have served as some kind of wake up call, and also a reminder of why he never used to embroil himself in any kind of mind games or 'trash talking' during his rise to the top.

He won't have any problems seeing off Abdulla Saeed in round one and should have too much firepower for Nathan Aspinall, whose run to the World Championship quarter-finals was very soft when you think the highest average of his opponents before facing Littler was Andrew Gilding's 87.

If all goes to plan he'll be facing either Stephen Bunting or Chris Dobey for a place in the final; two players who reached the last four at the Ally Pally before suffering 6-1 hammerings at the hands of Littler and Michael van Gerwen respectively.

Neither player produced their best darts during their semi-final runs but I do feel Dobey's explosive scoring power may prove the decisive factor in this short format, while the quieter surroundings won't see him suffer with the nerves that he talks about on the very big stages.

Humphries has probably lost a little bit of the aura that helped him win so many major titles while his general statistics in recent months haven't been anything to strike fear into anyone so Dobey represents a spot of value in this top half.