PDC World Darts Championship: Day 10 Betting Tips - Afternoon Session

• Damon Heta Most 180s & Win: 13/10 at BoyleSports
• Over 5.5 Sets: 4/5 at Bet365

Damon Heta showed us exactly how good of a player he is nowadays after his second-round match against Connor Scutt.

In a match that was built up to be an epic, it certainly delivered with both players playing superbly but Heta ultimately showed his experience to win 3-1.

After losing the first set it looked as if Connor Scutt was going to cause another upset in his early PDC career but the Australian battled back and won 11-5 in legs so was certainly more dominant than the set score line suggests. He averaged 97.96, hitting 5 maximums and had a 52% checkout rate, a very solid display.

‘The Heat’ has without doubt put himself in contention for the Premier League, not just because of his fantastic form but also because he’s become a real showman and crowd favourite which of course sells tickets.

He’s definitely starting to play well in Major TV tournaments now too and was especially impressive in his run to the UK Open semi-finals in March, beating Luke Littler on route which was undoubtedly one of the matches of the year.

Now up at Number 9 in the World Rankings, I think everyone forgets he’s been a professional for only 5 full seasons so it's remarkable that he's managed to push himself so high in such a short space of time.

I for one though am not surprised at his rise as I played him in the latter stages of the 2020 Q school where he first gained his Tour Card and he was superb, especially as there was a lot of pressure on him there after he had played so well in World Series Events in Australia and New Zealand previous to that. 

Luke Woodhouse is having a very solid World Championship campaign and has made it to the 3rd round for the second time in his career. He had a tricky first-round draw with the talented Lourence Ilagan but breezed through 3-0 with a 94.38 and then followed it up with a brilliant 3-1 win against World Grand Prix champion, Mike De Decker.

It was a strange game against the Belgian because he completely underperformed having come into this tournament as a dark horse and may well have blown his Premier League chances now, but Woodhouse kept his cool and won 3-1 with an 88.38 average.

Woodhouse has had a 10-day wait to come back for this match and may well be the fresher one of the two after Heta played his second-round game 6 days ago.

These two played each other in the last 64 of the 2021 World Championship with Heta winning 3-1 so that may well play in the Australian's favour.

Both players hit 180s at a very good rate, Woodhouse at 0.27 per leg and Heta at 0.31 per leg so I expect plenty of maximums but I just can't see past ‘The Heat’ and I think he comes through this match with Woodhouse remaining competitive throughout.

• Daryl Gurney to win: 11/10 at Betfred
• Daryl Gurney 2 or more 100+ Checkouts at 1/1 with Bet365

Jonny Clayton came through a real marathon match with Mickey Mansell, 3-2 in a tiebreak, which he won 6-5.

‘The Ferret’ hit 5 180s in the last set and 6 overall to see off the Northern Irishman and averaged 92.45. It was a strange match and the Welshman certainly struggled with Mansell’s pace, which he later admitted in his post-match interview.

He’ll no doubt be over the moon to have come through that match, especially with so many other seeds falling, which has now projected him into the conversation for Premier League selection, a tournament he won back in 2021.

He had a fabulous 2021 season winning four televised Majors including the World Grand Prix, Premier League, Masters and World Series Finals. Unfortunately for him, though only one of them was ranked so the other prize money he won in the others did not count towards his ranking.

In my opinion, this makes it more impressive that he's maintained such a high World Ranking and shows how solid his results are regularly on Tour. There are certainly lots of positives for the Welshman and he looks as though he’s getting his form back just at the right time.

Daryl Gurney looked back to his best in his 3-2 win over Florian Hempel and averaged 98.31, hit 5 180s and a 45% checkout rate. The German was a real tough draw for Gurney as he seems to be a completely different player at Ally Pally so he’ll be over the moon to come through that one.

I've said for a while that ‘Superchin’ is playing well again and even though it's not quite happened as regularly as he would like for him on TV this season, I think he's due a deep run at a Major and it could well be here at this year’s World Championship.

I spoke to him earlier in the year at an exhibition in Norwich and he was adamant that he was playing his best darts for a long time and he's proving that here.

Jonny Clayton is under a bit of pressure here, not just because of his Premier League chances but he's also defending £50,000 on his rankings after reaching the Quarter Final here 2 years ago.

In my opinion, Daryl Gurney’s performance was one of the best of the second round, not just because of his 98 average but also because Florian Hempel was such a banana skin.

This game will no doubt be a tight one but I just think because of the way their first matches went, I'm going to side with Gurney in this one as he looks back to his best.

• Madars Razma Over 3.5 180s: 5/4 at Betfair
• Stephen Bunting Most 180s, Highest Checkout & Win: 11/8 Bet Boost at Bet365

Stephen Bunting survived a bit of a scare in his second-round match after Kai Gotthardt missed set darts for a 2-0 lead. Bunting then stepped in to make it 1-1 and after that won the next 6 legs to win the match 3-1 with a 92.12 average.

You can probably forgive ‘The Bullet’ for his less-than-adequate start to the match after his preparation was thrown out the window with Sandro Eric Sosing sadly having to withdraw due to medical reasons. That meant Bunting’s match was moved forward, so was on stage an hour or so earlier than he expected. 

Bunting is another player who is in with a shout for the Premier League and similar to Damon Heta he's not only a brilliant dart player, he’s a fan favourite too.

He’s done a fantastic job in creating the ‘Let's go Bunting Mental’ persona and I think it's shifted into his magical performances lately too.

He’s another player defending a bit of money after making the Quarter Finals here 2 years ago, so will want to avoid a defeat at this stage of the tournament.

Madars Razma continues to impress me with his really solid performances. He looks a real handful and in turn, becomes very difficult to beat. He defeated 9-dart hero Christian Kist in the first round, winning 3-1 with a 90.65 average and followed that up with another brilliant 3-1 victory over the in-form Dirk van Duijvenbode with a 91.33 average.

For a player who spends the majority of his time on the 19s, he’s been a lot more conventional in his approach at this year’s World Championship and has chipped in with nine 180s in 2 matches.

Personally for me, by doing this, it's made him harder to beat. If he does the same today he will without doubt cause Bunting some problems.

As I said previously, the Latvian has had 9 180s in 2 matches and if he carries on with the approach of staying away from starting on the 19s I think there's huge value in his 180 tally during this match.

Equally, however, I think this could be a step too far for Razma as there's no doubt ‘The Bullet’ will play much better than he did in his first match and I expect the Englishman to come through this match, but not without a fight from Razma.