Dave Chisnall and Ryan Searle (Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC)
Dave Chisnall and Ryan Searle (Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

UK Open 2023: Free darts betting tips, predictions and preview for the ITV4-televised major in Minehead


The Cazoo UK Open takes place this weekend, live on ITV4, and our Chris Hammer brings you his tournament tips.

Darts betting tips: UK Open

1pt each-way Dave Chisnall to win the UK Open at 28/1 (Sky Bet 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

1pt each-way Ryan Searle to win the UK Open at 40/1 (General 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

0.5pts each-way Martin Schindler to win the UK Open at 100/1 (Paddy Power, William Hill 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

0.5pts each-way Kim Huybrechts to win the UK Open at 150/1 (General 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

0.25pts each-way Richard Veenstra to win the UK Open at 300/1 (Unibet 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

0.25pts each-way Gian van Veen to win the UK Open at 300/1 (Sky Bet 1/4, 1,2,3,4)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook


https://m.skybet.com/lp/acq-bet-x-get-30?sba_promo=ACQBXG30&dcmp=SL_ACQ_BXG30&aff=9537

The 'FA Cup of Darts' is the hardest of the majors to predict by a country mile and I'm still not quite sure how I once tipped three of the four semi-finalists – and more importantly the winner – when Nathan Aspinall broke his major duck at 125/1.

Yes, I'm still dining out on that at parties.

Not only can the random draw play havoc with the fate of your selections but the standard well down the rankings these days is so high that over a best-of-19 leg format (from the fourth round onwards), there are hardly any foregone conclusions.

In fact, given the nature of the tournament, it's actually quite difficult to imagine another 'Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price' type final materialising like we were treated to in 2020 just before Covid ruined the planet. Although they avoided each other until that point, neither had any luck of the draw – they just played phenomenal darts throughout with tournament averages in excess of 100 and put a host of big-name rivals to the sword. They even had to hold their nerves in a couple of last-leg deciders.

Generally speaking, however, anyone you back will ideally need a few softer draws that they win comfortably and need to play to a consistently high level on the big stage or the multi-board environments. You might get away with one stinker – like Danny Noppert did in last year's final when averaging just 85 (!) – but any more than that and you'll be lucky.

ALSO READ: PAUL NICHOLSON'S UK OPEN COLUMN

Paul Nicholson famously waved off Phil Taylor
Paul Nicholson famously waved off Phil Taylor

As Paul Nicholson wrote in his latest column, there are a number of players who booked their places from the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and Rileys Qualifying events and are more capable of causing damage than ever before.

It wasn't that many years ago that both Jelle Klaasen and Josh Payne were winning Pro Tour titles but on Friday lunchtime they face each other in the first round with the other so called 'minnows' that include 16-year-old Luke Littler and last year's shock quarter-finalist Sebastian Bialecki, who somehow didn't win a Tour Card at Q School.

There will be plenty of cup upsets and underdog stories along the way so we shouldn't assume the players that reach the latter stages will all come from the top 32, who enter in the fourth round on Friday night.

This will probably be the last time Josh Rock enters as early as round three during the afternoon session but if he can get past a tricky tie against Luke Woodhouse, then many will fancy him to go on a big run.

Adrian Lewis, Mensur Suljovic and Simon Whitlock are three of the bigger names having to start at the third-round stage on Friday afternoon following their slides outside the world's top 32, but at least they'll be warmed up and ready for the night session should they get that far.

In summary you can't really strategise too much about this tournament for the reasons given above and therefore I'm going to focus on some bigger-priced outsiders that will deliver an each-way return if they can make the semi-finals and beyond.

Dave Chisnall

As much pain it's caused me to tip Dave Chisnall numerous times down the years, he keeps giving us more compelling reasons to believe his wait for a major title is about to end.

Chizzy played some tremendous darts over the last couple of months of 2022, winning a Pro Tour title and reaching the latter stages of many others, yet his major appearances at the Grand Slam, Players Championship Finals and World Championship all ended in unfortunate defeats despite averaging over 101 in each of them. I know this kind of loss is becoming more common, but he's been unlucky.

Thankfully he doesn't seem the type to dwell on this kind of misfortune and he's stated this season like a train by reaching two quarter-finals and one semi-final in the opening four Players Championship events before blitzing the field to winning first European Tour title of 2023.

He defied Gerwyn Price's 108 average to beat him 6-4 with a 107 average of his own along the way while he also defeated Martin Schindler and Jonny Clayton before a sparkling display against Luke Humphries in the final, when he averaged 101 in a 8-5 win.

Chizzy may not have the greatest of records in Minehead but he did reach the final of the Players Championship Finals back in 2016 and reached the last eight of this event two years ago, when he lost a last-leg decider to Luke Humphries.

Ryan Searle

Heavy Metal has made a fantastic start to the season and nobody will want to play him at his home venue, where he finished runner-up to Peter Wright at the 2021 Players Championship Finals.

After a relatively disappointing 2022 in the majors, including the World Championship, Searle made his intentions clear by winning his fourth Players Championship title in as many years at the first Pro Tour event of 2023 and then finishing runner-up in the fourth.

Searle followed that up with a run to the semi-finals of the opening European Tour event of the season where he agonisingly lost 7-6 to Luke Humphries with an average of 101.

That was the eighth time he's averaged three-figures so far this season and he's only dipped into the 80s twice in 22 matches across all competitions. His overall seasonal average is 96.94, which is the ninth best out of everyone on tour and not far below Gerwyn Price's table-topping 97.81.

If he continues to play like this with the home support on his side, he won't need much luck of the draw to give you a run for your money at 40/1.

Martin Schindler

Martin Schindler has finally started to show the TV audiences what he could be capable of in recent months and I feel the UK Open is probably the ideal format for him to get that first big run under his belt.

The diminutive German has obviously been around for a good while now but despite impressing darts fans who follow the Pro Tour and European Tour scenes closely on a regular basis, his resume is littered with early exits in the majors.

Last season was the first time he qualified for all seven of the ranked majors – which in itself is a clear demonstration of how he's becoming more consistent on tour and steadily climbing the Order of Merit – but he crashed out at the first stage of four of them.

The exceptions were the two Minehead majors – the UK Open (R5) and the Players Championship (R3) – and the World Championship, where he gave eventual champion Michael Smith an almighty scare in the third round before bowing out 4-3.

Even in the Grand Slam of Darts he came agonisingly close to getting out of the groups for the first time so he's beginning to build a lot more positive memories of the biggest stages and that can only help him thrive.

The reason he's suited to this venue is he'll probably be able to enjoy the less intense surroundings of the outer boards for some of his matches – and we all know what he can do away from TV.

This year he's averaging a very healthy 95 overall and while he's not managed a title-contending run so far, he reached the quarter-finals on the European Tour at the weekend to give his form a lift.

I doubt he's got the mental strength to go the full distance in a major yet but he'll be feeling more confident ahead of this one than ever before and at three-figure prices, a run to the semi-finals is perfectly possible.

Kim Huybrechts

I can't recall ever tipping Kim Huybrechts to win a major tournament and considering he hasn't reached a quarter-final since the 2017 UK Open, that's proved to be a sound decision.

The Belgian didn't exactly enjoy the best of years in 2022 either but it looks as though he's hit a purple patch of form that couldn't have come at a better time if he's to shine on the major stage again.

His 4-1 victory over defending champion Peter Wright at the Ally Pally back in December would no doubt have given him a new lease of life despite being put to the sword by Dimitri Van den Bergh in the next round, and he's stated this season with renewed confidence.

A fortnight ago, Huybrechts clinched his first PDC title since 2015 at the second Players Championship event of the season, beating the likes of Nathan Aspinall, Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price before a thumping 8-1 victory over Gabriel Clemens in the final.

Afterwards he said: "I've been working really hard since the World Championship. I lost two games last weekend with a 103 and 98 average and I was thinking this can't happen all the time, but the level is so high these days. When I won my last title, I was on the up. My name was always there and now I wasn’t even in the conversation, so this win means everything.

"I want to be back in that top 16. I want to be qualified for everything. I want to be up there again in the top 10 of the world."

As he alluded to, Huybrechts has performed well this year even in defeat and his seasonal average of 96.04 is 14th highest on the tour. Maybe this Hurricane is going to cause some damage in Minehead.

Richard Veenstra

Richard Veenstra has made a steady start to life on the PDC Tour after finally making the switch at the age of 41 but I'm sure we'll see a lot more from him as the months progress.

Fans who keep their finger on the pulse of the darting world outside the PDC will be very familiar with 'Flyers', who looked like he'd win the WDF World Championship when he averaged a Lakeside record of 104.91 in a third-round victory only to run out of steam in the semi-finals against Neil Duff.

Apart from winning plenty of other big titles in the BDO/WDF system, he finished runner-up to Glen Durrant and Jim Williams in two majors a few years back and I think it's fair to say he should have been with the PDC much sooner.

As Paul Nicholson wrote in a January column: "He has so much talent and an incredible mentality that nobody will ruffle. He’s fast, effective, dangerous and the one I’ll be watching closest over the next six months. He could have a career very similar to Gary Anderson, who also failed to land the biggest prize in the BDO before he finally moved to the PDC.

"This is the right time for Veenstra to make his name after years of treating darts as a ‘hobby’ away from his normal job."

It might take a few more months for Veenstra to find a consistent high level that he's shown in glimpses this year but nevertheless his overall average of 93.81 isn't too shabby whatsoever and he'll relish his first major in the PDC system.

If the draw is relatively kind then he could get through to Sunday and that at least gives him a sound chance of making a mockery of the 300/1 price.

Gian van Veen

Trying to pick out this year's Keane Barry and William O'Connor, who both reached the semi-finals at monster prices, is a lottery in itself and there might not even be any jackpot winners at all if the big guns dominate.

In the quarter-finals 12 months ago, O'Connor won a deciding leg against the largely unknown Polish teenager Białecki so that's more evidence of why you shouldn't ignore the fearless youngsters who have yet to make their names.

Rock already has, of course, and is therefore among the favourites at just 16/1 despite having to enter at the third round stage while 16-year-old Luke Littler is 300/1 to conjure up incredible levels of cup magic.

One youngster on my radar for a rapid trajectory this year is Gian van Veen but he runs the risk of being one of the first players knocked out before midday as he plays the dangerous Robert Owen in the first match on stage two.

He has quite a long journey ahead of him to say the least if he's to get through to the business end of the tournament on Sunday and virtually all logic will dictate that he doesn't get that far.

I backed him on his major debut at last season's Players Championship Finals after he'd defied age and inexperience to storm into the 64-player field despite featuring in just nine tournaments as a non-Tour Card holder and managing to reach one final, which he lost to Price.

Unsurprisingly the 20-year-old came through Q School and since then he's shown another flash of his potential by reaching the quarter-final of the third Players Championship event, beating Jonny Clayton along the way with an average of 100.

He's showing a decent level of performance consistency too and his seasonal average of 95.69 is 17th overall in ranked events.

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