PDC World Championship: Monday preview and best bets

There are six more round of 16 ties on the menu at Alexandra Palace today and our darts tipster Matt Hill (@Matt_Hill93) is on hand to run us through his thoughts.

After Luke Humphries' shock exit to Peter Wright yesterday, could more upsets be on the cards? Matt thinks so!

PDC World Championship 2025 betting tips

Kevin Doets vs Chris Dobey

An intriguing clash to start a fantastic day of darts as Kevin Doets looks to dump out another established seed in Chris Dobey.

Both players have impressed me thus far and the winner will face Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals. I'd suggest opportunity knocks there because Price has been hot and cold thus far, averaging 92 or thereabouts in all three of his games. Certainly nothing to fear.

As you'd expect, Dobey is a 1/3 favourite here, with Doets out at 14/5. I think both on pedigree of the two respective players, plus what we've seen in this tournament thus far, it feels about right.

Don't get me wrong, Doets was excellent in dumping out Michael Smith and did his most impressive work in the deciding set which featured six 180s and some clutch finishing. However, his baseline performance in the rest of that game was pretty mediocre and he had more flat patches against Krzysztof Ratajski, against whom he had to recover from 2-0 and 3-2 down to prevail 4-3.

Dobey, meanwhile, was really solid against Josh Rock. I thought Hollywood started slowly but really grew into a high-quality contest and grabbed hold of the game after the first four sets were shared.

Rock asked some questions of him and he had the answers, holding his nerve to win a pivotal fifth set then going 100% on his doubles in the sixth and final stanza. His experience was firmly on show in the closing stages, I thought.

Look at Dobey’s record here too. He doesn’t tend to lose to players like Doets. The last three to knock him out at Ally Pally were Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries, for example. But that record stretches back further too. Phil Taylor, Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright... it takes a class act to stop him.

Has been out-maximuming Doets, both this season and in-tournament in terms of 180s per leg, and you can rely on Dobey to hit his level more often than not. He is a mark of consistency.

Doets is patchy, as previously stated, so backing the favourite to prevail and hit the most 180s looks a wise play at 5/6.

Best bet - Chris Dobey to win and hit the most 180s vs Kevin Doets - 5/6 (general)

Robert Owen vs Callan Rydz

Robert Owen’s fairytale continued yesterday after he finally officially secured his Tour Card after beating Ricky Evans 4-2.

I say finally, because he proclaimed he'd done so after beating Gabriel Clemens in round two, though Jeffrey De Graaf's exploits forced him to find one more win in the end. Thankfully for him, nobody will remember that premature celebration now.

He must’ve thought the writing was on the wall yesterday at 2-1 down in sets and in legs though, but Evans missing two for a 3-1 lead — combined with some shoddy board management —turned the game on its head.

Credit to the Welshman, he powered to the line somewhat but I must say, his opponent also lost his head, averaging just 73 in what proved to be the final set.

Callan Rydz is the only man at this tournament still to lose a set, having won 3-0 against Romeo Grbavac, 3-0 against Martin Schindler and then 4-0 against Dimitri Van den Bergh yesterday. Impressive is an understatement when it comes to the Riot at the moment.

Confidence-wise, the Geordie must be on cloud nine. It’s great to see him playing such fantastic darts again, with 180s flowing and the finishing, so often his Achilles heel, excellent too against Van den Bergh in particular.

Owen’s clutch finishing has been a hallmark of his unlikely run and if he can maintain previous levels again here, he has a chance of making this competitive despite what the scorelines may suggest.

I feel like the first set will be pivotal in this match though. I don’t see Rydz being caught if he gets ahead but if it becomes nip and tuck, perhaps some of those old frailties could come to light against a dogged opponent with nothing to lose.

There are too many intangibles here for me so it’s a no bet, I'm afraid. Hard pushed, I'd go for Rydz to prevail something like 4-1 or 4-2 but it's with no confidence.

Best bet - No bet

Ricardo Pietreczko vs Nathan Aspinall

Ricardo Pietreczko has been growing into this tournament superbly and quite simply, I think he is a bet here at odds-against to dump out Nathan Aspinall.

The Asp whitewashed Andrew Gilding with a decent showing but he still only emerged from it with a 92 average, despite being 12/20 (60%) on his doubles. That tells you all you need to know about his scoring phase, which is proving a struggle at the moment.

Six 180s is decent enough going but again, it tells you there was a lot of mediocrity in between. with Gilding unable to find anywhere near his best form to take advantage.

Pikachu, on the other hand, is scoring with magnificent consistency. No stat better exemplifies this than the German’s first three darts versus Scott Williams, which averaged 110. Aspinall’s against Gilding, conversely, were down at a miserly 94.

The underdog could’ve struggled with the crowd against Shaggy but actually, it ended up being pretty partizan towards both players. I expect similar today, with Germans flying over in their masses to throw their weight behind Pietreczko — their last man standing in this year's renewal.

Aspinall described him as an “unusual character” in his post-match presser and that may just provoke a bit of needle in this one. That shouldn’t bother either player and I’m expecting a close-run affair as a result.

At the prices, I'm more than happy to chance Pietreczko at 6/5 and I’m also going to have a small go on over 6.5 sets at a juicy 9/4. This has a long, gruelling contest written all over it!

Best bet - Ricardo Pietreczko to beat Nathan Aspinall - 6/5 (Betfair)

Stephen Bunting vs Luke Woodhouse

Stephen Bunting must have been rubbing his hands after seeing Luke Humphries exit proceedings last night but he still has a couple of hurdles to leap in this quarter, the first of which is surprise package Luke Woodhouse.

Woody has always had the talent but traditionally has struggled to translate that into deep runs on the big stage, though that has turned somewhat this year with this current campaign complementing a semi-final tilt at the European Championship in October.

Doubles have traditionally been his kyrptonite but thankfully for him, the roles were reversed against Damon Heta. The Aussie missed 15 of his last 16 attempts at the outer ring en route to blowing a 3-1 lead in sets, with Woodhouse stepping in gratefully to seal a first last-16 appearance.

At his best, Woody could win this one too but I do think the Bullet has an extra layer of experience on the big stage which should help him avoid the same fate Heta did.

He's a BDO World Champion, a Masters winner and most crucially of all, has had deeper runs at Ally Pally than this. Plus, I was particularly impressed with the way he conducted himself when tested against Kai Gotthardt in his opener.

His victory over Madars Razma in round two was achieved in significantly more convincing fashion and I think something similar could be on the cards here. Not many are talking about Bunting as a title contender right now but that could quickly change with a statement victory tonight.

I'm taking a bit of the 13/8 on offer with BetMGM for the favourite to win this one on a -2.5 set handicap, so effectively by either a 4-0 or 4-1 scoreline.

Best bet - Stephen Bunting -2.5 set handicap vs Luke Woodhouse - 13/8 (BetMGM)

Michael van Gerwen vs Jeffrey De Graaf

Best bet - Michael van Gerwen 4-0 Jeffrey De Graaf correct score - 16/5 (Ladbrokes)

Luke Littler vs Ryan Joyce

Best bet - Ryan Joyce to beat Luke Littler - 7/1 (Betfair)

Matt Hill's best PDC World Championship darts bets for Monday December 30, 2024

• 2pts - Chris Dobey to win and hit the most 180s - 5/6 (general)
• 2pts - Ricardo Pietreczko to beat Nathan Aspinall - 6/5 (Betfair)
• 1pt - Over 6.5 sets in Ricardo PIetreczko vs Nathan Aspinall - 9/4 (Bet365)
• 2pts - Stephen Bunting -2.5 set handicap vs Luke Woodhouse - 13/8 (BetMGM)
• 1pt - Michael van Gerwen 4-0 Jeffrey De Graaf correct score - 16/5 (Ladbrokes)
• 1pt - Ryan Joyce to beat Luke Littler - 7/1 (Betfair)
• 0.5pts - Ryan Joyce 4-2 Luke Littler correct score - 22/1 (BetVictor)
• 0.5pts - Ryan Joyce 4-1 Luke Littler correct score - 25/1 (BetVictor)