PDC Masters 2020: Free darts betting tips, preview and predictions as the new season begins

Fresh from a 28/1 winner in the BDO World Championship, our darts tipster Chris Hammer previews the first event of the new PDC season.

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• Masters draw & schedule

Recommended bets: Masters Darts

• 2pts Gerwyn Price to win the Masters at 13/2
• 1pt e.w. Nathan Aspinall to win the Masters at 22/1
• 0.5pt Dave Chisnall at 25/1
• 0.5pt Aspinall v Price final at 40/1
• 0.5pt Aspinall v Chisnall final at 80/1

It's almost time for another hectic season of PDC darts to begin as the world's top 16 head to Milton Keynes for the eighth staging of the curtain-raising Masters.

Only two players in the field know what it's like to lift this trophy and one of those - James Wade - has probably forgotten considering it was six long years ago, while just three others competing this weekend have ever reached the final.

Adrian Lewis was runner-up to Phil Taylor back in the inaugural edition of 2013, with Dave Chisnall and Gary Anderson being two of Michael van Gerwen's victims alongside the now retired Raymond van Barneveld (twice) and Wade.

Despite failing in his bid to retain his status as world champion on New Year's Day, van Gerwen does of course go off clear favourite to win this title for the sixth time in a row and protect his 100% record in the event since it was moved to the Marshall Arena back in 2015.

He might indeed be one of the few sportsmen or women in history to consider the setting of Milton Keynes a fortress but you can't argue with 20 match wins in a row and 15 averages of 100+, including four over 110!

Van Gerwen has only been taken to the deciding leg twice during this run - once to deny Chizzy in the 2015 quarter-finals when pinning a 126 checkout and then 12 months later against Taylor in a most extraordinary semi-final.

The Power blew six match darts in the 20th leg when leading 10-9 before MVG nailed a finish 87 when Taylor waited on 68 in a gripping decider.

The world number one is a best of 11/10 for glory once more ahead of his Alexandra Palace conqueror Peter Wright and his 2019 chief rival Gerwyn Price, who are both 6/1.

Rewind to the start of the World Championship and it was just 3/1 that MVG would meet the Iceman in the final considering how brilliantly the pair had been performing, while Wright was flying relatively under the radar - even though he'd also enjoyed an impressive second half of the season thanks to four titles, the World Cup and a world record match average of 123.4.

Price blew Snakebite away to defend his Grand Slam of Darts crown - after finally beating MVG for the first time in the semi-finals - but revenge was sweet for Wright in a bad-tempered clash at the Ally Pally as the Welshman produced one of his worst televised performances of the year.

The pair did make up in comical fashion on WhatsApp before the revitalised 49-year-old made history by becoming the oldest first-time winner of the PDC world title with a supreme performance that emphatically defied any mental frailties from his nine previous major final defeats against his nemesis.

Indeed, not only did the Scotsman live up to his self proclaimed hype of being a 'new Snakebite', he also backed up his bullish predictions that he'd finally found the darts to make him a world champion after years of tinkering.

However, it's still remarkable to think Wright's history-making run would have ended before it really began had he not produced darts from the Sporting Gods when staring defeat in the face against Noel Malicdem in the second round.

Every sports star can probably point to a 'twist of fate' that helped shape their careers but they all need to back it up with their own talents and mental strength to complete the final chapters of their fairytale.

Anyway, why is this review of the World Championship relevant to the betting for the Masters?

Wright's success obviously justifies his lofty place in the betting, but I do think there's been a slight overreaction on Price, who was 3/1 to win the mother of all darting marathons and is now doubled to 6/1 to win what's relatively a sprint that plays to his explosive strengths.

As well as Snakebite played in the semi-finals, you can pretty much put a line through the Welshman's performance as he let the early oche 'banter' get to him and never recovered on a night he'll want to forget on the one hand, but also take some valuable lessons from on the other.

Price averaged just 89 during the 6-3 defeat but with his strong sportsman's mindset, I'm expecting him to make a swift return to those 100+ levels in these shorter format matches that so few managed to live with last season.

He's in the opposite half of the draw to MVG which is a good thing really considering he's been losing several exhibition matches to him recently, including a heavy 8-1 thrashing, although the Dutchman was beaten by Taylor in one of those events so we shouldn't place too much stock in these results.

The Power also had some interesting views on Van Gerwen's decision to change darts manufacturers to Winmau this month which might give you some food for thought if you were planning on backing him to win a sixth successive Masters title.

Taylor told Live Darts: "He's going to struggle. It's going to hit him in the head 100%. He'll be thinking 'this is not the same dart, this is not the same set up'. I've seen Michael in the practice room so I know what he's going through.

"People think if you're a good dart player you can play with anything. You can, but not consistently. You need a set of darts that you can play well with every single round for months and months and months."

That's what Wright currently feels about his World Championship-winning set of darts and maybe we'll see those old roles reversed with MVG, who admits it won't be easy to adjust and recently told RTL7 that he's still in a 'testing phase' to find the right set of darts.

Although van Gerwen is the king of bouncing back and is never down for long, this is a vulnerable stage in his career and if he gets off to a slow start in his first competitive outing with his new darts then anyone in that top half of the draw can take him out in this best-of-19 legs format (21 in the semis and final).

Top half of the draw

• (1) Michael van Gerwen v (16) Jonny Clayton
• (8) Nathan Aspinall v (9) James Wade
• (4) Rob Cross v (13) Adrian Lewis
• (5) Michael Smith v (12) Mensur Suljovic

So if we're going to oppose van Gerwen in this half, who is best placed to capitalise?

The odds suggest Rob Cross is most likely and he certainly has a point to prove after a desperately disappointing World Championship, where he crashed out to Kim Huybrechts at his first hurdle.

It capped a strange year for Voltage, who won the World Matchplay and European Championship as well as reaching the finals of the Premier League and UK Open yet will probably look back and feel he should have done better.

Were it not for that quite incredible comeback against a collapsing Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals in Blackpool, the season would have looked a lot different.

This might sound harsh given there are some players in this field yet to win a TV title in their careers yet alone two in one season but all the pre-Ally Pally talk being about the 'big two' of MVG and Price will have hurt, so the pressure is on for him to reassert his authority.

Michael Smith remarkably went through all of 2019 without winning a title of any kind despite reaching four finals, including the World Matchplay, and the semi-finals of both the Champions League and European Championship.

He got off to a slow start 12 months ago which could be attributed to the lack of pre-season practice due to his wedding and honeymoon that followed so soon after being the Ally Pally runner-up so you'd like to think he's been more focused this January, albeit having still enjoyed a well-earned family holiday to Thailand.

That said, he recently tweeted about needing a "good chiropractor" because his "my neck and back is in bits" so maybe it's best to see how he handles his first-round clash with Mensur Suljovic before taking an early punt.

Therefore, I'm going to side with Nathan Aspinall in this top half of the draw to make a big impression on his tournament debut.

Much has already been made of his rapid ascent towards the summit of the sport - not least by me when tipping him at 40/1 for the World Championship - and his incredible 2019 in which he won the UK Open and US Masters before reaching the semi-finals at the Ally Pally for the second year running, which has helped him climb into the world's top 10.

The Asp, who was also rewarded with Premier League selection, not only produced some fantastic darts last month but he also showed tremendous character in several nail-biting contests, including a brilliant victory over Gary Anderson that underlined why he's a man for the big occasion.

He could really have gone one or two steps further having caught MVG on one of his relative 'off' days in the last four but the Stockport man was sadly below par himself after a mentally draining campaign.

Aspinall does otherwise have a pretty good record against van Gerwen having beaten him twice out of five meetings, including a 6-1 thumping towards the start of 2019, so he won't be fazed should they meet in the quarter-finals.

Seven other players in this field are also gearing up for the new Premier League season but the hard-working Aspinall will have been working as hard as anyone following his holiday to Lanzarote as he strives to make the most of his lofty position in the rankings for the next lucrative chapter in his career.

After all, it's still a pretty fresh memory for him about the hardships of earning a crust when operating in the lower reaches of the game - as well as holding down another job - so he'll be taking nothing for granted.

At 22/1 each-way, he's got to be worth considering.

Bottom half of the draw

• (2) Peter Wright v (15) Joe Cullen
• (7) Daryl Gurney v (10) Dave Chisnall
• (3) Gerwyn Price v (14) Simon Whitlock
• (6) Gary Anderson v (11) Ian White

You'll have already deduced that I'm going for Price rather than Wright in this half of the draw but there will be plenty of fans and punters hoping we see a resurgence from Gary Anderson.

The Flying Scotsman showed some glimpses that he might be retuning to his best throughout the latter portion of the season and did average close to 100 during his thrilling victory over Ryan Searle at the World Championship and also his defeat to Aspinall, in which he blew a huge chance to go 2-0 up in sets when hitting double 15 instead of two 10s.

However, he was outclassed by Price in their Grand Slam Slam of Darts rematch and I'm not sure he's got the firepower and consistency yet to get his revenge in a potential quarter-final this weekend, should they get past Simon Whitlock and Ian White respectively.

Although this isn't a ranking event and therefore has no bearing on the Order of Merit, the two-time world champion will surely have been working hard on the practice board this month ahead of a critical season for him.

Another like last year and he could dramatically drop down the rankings considering how much prize money he's defending from that incredible 2018 he enjoyed.

Chisnall is also an eye-catching 25/1 as he looks to pick up where he left off from a resurgent 2019 in which he won three titles, including his first in front of a crowd on the European Tour stage since 2013, which really is a significant accomplishment.

The St Helens man, who fired in three nine-dart finishes, also reached his fifth major final – and seventh on TV overall – at the World Grand Prix and although he’s lost the lot, they have all been against Taylor or MVG.

It was disappointing to see him bow out as early as the third-round at the Ally Pally but he couldn't have done much more as he caught Jeffrey de Zwaan on one of the best days of his career.

Chizzy averaged 101, hit 10 maximums and fired a roof-raising 161 checkout... only for the young Dutchman to average 106 in a 4-3 thriller.

If he can show similar form this weekend then it could take another astonishing display like that to stop him.

Posted at 1100 GMT on 30/01/20

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