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Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

UK Open 2022: Free darts betting tips, predictions and preview for the ITV4-televised major in Minehead

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri March 04, 2022 · 3y ago

The ITV4-televised Ladbrokes UK Open takes place this weekend and our Chris Hammer brings you his tournament tips.

Darts betting tips: UK Open

2pts Michael van Gerwen to win the UK Open at 15/2 (General)

1pt e.w. Ryan Searle to win the title at 33/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4)

1pt e.w. Luke Humphries to win the title at 40/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4)

0.5pt e.w. Damon Heta to win the title at 50/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4)

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The 'FA Cup of Darts' returns to its usual home at the Butlin's Minehead Resort this weekend, 12 months on from James Wade triumphing behind closed doors in Milton Keynes to lift the trophy for the third time in his career.

The Machine has never actually experienced the magic of the cup in Minehead having previously won it during the Bolton era in 2008 and 2011 and he's suffered numerous early exits since it moved here back in 2014.

You could say the same about his record at the Players Championship Finals, which has also been staged at the holiday camp for the last 10 years, and for that reason alone he probably won't be feeling that usual defending champion aura when he arrives on Friday.

The open draw format and three long days of multiple matches on different stages make this one of the most unique and difficult events on the darting calendar so it obviously helps to enjoy playing at the venue - as well as having the capabilities to beat anyone randomly thrown in front of you in a variety of settings.

Three players who have particularly superb track records here happen to be the top three in the world - Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and MICHAEL VAN GERWEN, and it's the latter who can upstage the sport's hottest duo.

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Price, who tends to get a decent reception here given his proximity to home, may not yet have won the UK Open or Players Championship Finals but he's twice reached the final of this tournament - losing the 2017 edition to Wright and the 2020 staging to van Gerwen - while he was also beaten by the Dutchman in the climax of the latter event in 2019.

The last time he failed to get as far as the UK Open quarter-finals was way back in 2016 when he was nothing like the force he is today so he's certainly a formidable favourite despite the obvious pitfalls surrounding the format.

Price narrowly fended off Wright's latest bid to take the world number one spot by beating him in the International Darts Open final on Sunday but he'll finally lose his grip on it if he fails to reach the final, regardless of what Snakebite does this weekend.

Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)

The Welshman, who is just £6,500 ahead of Wright in the Order of Merit, is defending £40,000 from being runner-up two years ago so he'll even have to go one better to remain at the summit of the rankings if the world champion reaches the last four - or indeed the final.

And you wouldn't back against the 2017 champion going that far given his fantastic form and Minehead credentials. Although his last of three UK Open finals did come back in his title-winning year, he did triumph in last November's Players Championship Finals and also reached the final four 12 months earlier.

There are few venues Michael van Gerwen doesn't have some fond memories of but his only two televised ranking titles since the start of 2020 came here. In that year he won both the UK Open and Players Championship Finals and even during his barren 2021, he was still able to get as far as the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively.

Could this be the perfect place for the three-time champion's resurgence to begin? Much has clearly been made of his lack of titles over the past two years and his inconsistent levels that can even give the lower-ranked opponents chances to shock him in shorter-format affairs. That said, his averages are still impressive enough (100 in the Premier League and 99 on the Pro Tour) to make those odds of 13/2 look temptingly big.

Price may be the man to beat but price is key, and at the odds I'll give the vote to van Gerwen.

The other member of the big four, who are the only players with single-figure title odds, is Jonny Clayton and he too has a pretty good record in Minehead since reaching the climax of 2017 Players Championship Finals against the odds - although his best UK Open run in the semi-finals in 2020.

Best bets among the outsiders

The open draw format is as much an opportunity to find a big-priced winner as it is a pitfall to scupper it - but even so I still think it's worth a small each-way play on the more talented outsiders who could capitalise if the big guns take each other out at some point.

It's important to point out here that many bookies are offering each-way terms for reaching the semi-finals at a quarter of the odds - whereas others are going the more traditional half the odds for reaching the final. Given the nature of this tournament, I prefer to play slightly safer for bigger-priced hopefuls.

My first port of call is Somerset star RYAN SEARLE, who finally used the home crowd advantage to inspire him to the final of last November's Players Championship Finals, where he lost a thriller 11-10 against Wright.

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Heavy Metal had failed to get through the early rounds in his six previous appearances in Minehead but obviously prior to the behind closed doors era, he was working his way up from the lower echelons of the rankings and building on his big-stage experience and confidence - so we can't really have expected much more from him then.

Searle is blossoming into a formidable talent and was even branded by Wright as the 'future of darts' in the wake of his maiden televised final defeat. While he couldn't reproduce the magic and battling qualities during their fourth round meeting at the Ally Pally, he's since reached a Pro Tour final on the floor and also possesses the eighth highest average this season with 97.91.

Ryan Searle (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)

The player who beat him in the opening Players Championship final of the season was another fast rising star in LUKE HUMPHRIES, who is one place higher in the seasonal averages with an impressive 98.14.

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Reaching his maiden televised final at last season's UK Open - albeit behind closed doors in Milton Keynes - gave him the belief he needed to showcase the talent he's regularly shown on the World Championship stage more consistently in other tournaments.

He destroyed van Gerwen with one of the performances of the season in the semi-finals and despite the disappointment of defeat to Wade, he picked himself up to reach three more Pro Tour finals, losing them all to Price, Jose de Sousa and Wright.

Humphries gave Clayton a run for his money in the third round of the Players Championship third round in November to give us a taste of what he can do in Minehead while a third Ally Pally quarter-final and his breakthrough Pro Tour title since then have seen his stock rise further.

There are countless 'outsiders' with the capabilities of a lengthy run but these are the two I put most of my faith in.

Huge year ahead for Heta?

My fourth and final selection is DAMON HETA, who is appearing in Minehead for just the third time in his relatively short PDC career.

He's only won two matches here - both at November's Players Championship Finals - and lost his first-round match at the 2020 UK Open to Scott Waites but the form he's demonstrated on the Pro Tour so far this season is an early indication that 2022 could be a huge for him.

The 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters champion has the second highest seasonal average on the Pro Tour of 100.78 - second only to Price's 101.03 - and that's no mean feat considering how many matches he's played so far.

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He was runner-up to Joe Cullen at a Players Championship back on February 12 when all seven of his averages were above 99, including a mammoth 109 against van Gerwen, while a week earlier he never dipped below 98 during a semi-final run that was ended by Wright.

His International Darts Open hopes at the weekend were thwarted by Price having previously seen off Daryl Gurney but that won't have dampened his mood and confidence for Minehead and he completes the staking plan.