Along with the Mosconi Cup in Pool, one of the. biggest tournaments that runs over the festive season and leading up to it, is the PDC World Darts Championship and the 2023 edition has now reached the third round stage.
And what a remainder of the tournament we have in store!
After two exciting opening rounds, only three of the top 32 seeds have been eliminated from the tournament, which means that 29 of the best players in the world will go forward into the next stage of the tournament, which begins tomorrow on Tuesday 27th December.
Let’s now take a look back at some of the key results from the first two rounds of the tournament, before we then go on to look at the matches and the best betting tips for that stage of the tournament, odds provided of course by bet365 Sport.
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PDC World Darts Championship – First Round Results (Best Of 5 Sets)
- Mickey Mansell 3-1 Ben Robb
- Keane Barry 1-3 Grant Simpson
- Jermaine Wattimena 2-3 Nathan Rafferty
- Alan Soutar 3-0 Mal Cuming
- Boris Krcmar 3-0 Toru Suzuki
- Adrian Lewis 3-0 Daniel Larsson
- Rowby-John Rodriguez 2-3 Lourence Ilagan
- William O’Connor 3-0 Beau Greaves
- Keegan Brown 2-3 Florian Hempel
- Martin Lukeman 3-0 Nobuhiro Yamamoto
- Simon Whitlock 3-2 Christian Perez
- Adam Gawlas 3-2 Richie Burnett
- Ryan Meikle 3-2 Lisa Ashton
- Cameron Menzies 3-1 Diogo Portela
- Josh Rock 3-1 Jose Justicia
- Madars Razma 3-1 Prakash Jiwa
- Karel Sedlacek 3-0 Raymond Smith
- Luke Woodhouse 3-0 Vyadyslav Omelchenko
- Mike De Decker 3-1 Jeff Smith
- Scott Williams 3-1 Ryan Joyce
- Matt Campbell 0-3 Danny Baggish
- Andrew Gilding 3-2 Robert Owen
- Danny Jansen 3-2 Paolo Nebrida
- Niels Zonneveld 0-3 Lewy Williams
- Geert Nentjes 1-3 Leonard Gates
- Ritchie Edhouse 2-3 David Cameron
- Steve Beaton 0-3 Danny van Trijp
- Jim Williams 3-2 Sebastian Bialecki
- Jamie Hughes 1-3 Jimmy Hendriks
- Ricky Evans 3-1 Fallon Sherrock
- John O’Shea 2-3 Darius Labanauskas
- Martijn Kleermaker 3-0 Xicheng Han
The first round went pretty much to the form book this year with just a few surprises across the 32 games.
All three female players, Beau Graves, Fallon Sherrock and Lisa Ashton went out and Richie Burnett’s return to the PDC didn’t last too long with the former BDO World Champion defeated by Adam Gawlas.
Steve Beaton went out beaten by Danny Van Trijp and former Champion Adrian Lewis, and runner up Simon Whitlock both made it through the first round of games.
PDC World Darts Championship Second Round Results (Best of Five Sets)
- Peter Wright 3-0 Mickey Mansell
- Kim Huybrechts 3-0 Grant Simpson
- Michael Smith 3-0 Nathan Rafferty
- Daryl Gurney 0-3 Alan Soutar
- Dmitri Van den Bergh 3-0 Lourence Ilagan
- Damon Heta 3-0 Adrian Lewis
- Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Boris Krcmar
- Jose de Sousa 3-2 Simon Whitlock
- Gerwyn Price 3-1 Luke Woodhouse
- Raymond van Barneveld 3-1 Ryan Meikle
- Callan Rydz 0-3 Josh Rock
- Dave Chisnall 3-1 Andrew Gilding
- Mervyn King 3-2 Danny Baggish
- Gabriel Clemens 3-0 William O’Connor
- Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Lewy Williams
- Stephen Bunting 3-1 Leonard Gates
- Krzysztof Ratajski 3-1 Danny Jansen
- Ryan Searle 3-0 Adam Gawlas
- Mensur Suljovic 3-0 Mike De Decker
- Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-2 Karol Sedlacek
- Gary Anderson 3-1 Madars Razma
- James Wade 2-3 Jim Williams
- Luke Humphries 3-2 Florian Hempel
- Vincent van der Voort 3-0 Cameron Menzies
- Brendan Dolan 3-1 Jimmy Hendriks
- Chris Dobey 3-0 Martijn Kleermaker
- Ross Smith 3-1 Darius Labanauskas
- Rob Cross 3-1 Scott Williams
- Martin Schindler 3-1 Martin Lukeman
- Danny Noppert 3-1 David Cameron
- Jonny Clayton 3-0 Danny van Trijp
- Joe Cullen 3-1 Ricky Evans
The second round of matches very much went to the form book with 29 of the 32 seeds making it through and just a small number of games being pushed to the full five sets.
The shocks saw Daryl Gurney beaten by Alan Soutar, Callan Rydz beaten by the emerging and hugely talented youngster Josh Rock while the biggest shock saw number 8 seed James Wade defeated by Welshman Jim Williams.
Raymond van Barneveld made a winning return to the Alexandra Palace beating Ryan Meikle but the most impressive performer was Michael van Gerwen who steamed past Lewy Williams with a 101.87 average, the highest of the tournament so far.
Those set of results in the second round of the tournament leave us with the following Round 3 matches.
PDC World Darts Championship Third Round Results (Best of Seven Sets)
Tuesday 27th December
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (15) v Krzystof Ratajski (18)
- Nathan Aspinall (10) v Josh Rock
- Jonny Clayton (7) v Brendan Dolan (26)
- Jim Williams v Gabriel Clemens (25)
- Gerwyn Price (1) v Raymond van Barneveld (32)
- Peter Wright (2) v Kim Huybrechts (31)
Tonight, sees arguably the best tie of the Third Round taking place as the top seed Gerwyn Price will face one of the legends of the game making his return to the Alexandra Palace in Raymond van Barneveld in what should be a cracker.
Nathan Aspinall’s clash with Josh Rock should also be a fantastic game between two of the young guns on the PDC scene.
I’ve put together my selections for all Tuesday’s games below:
Tips to win
- Dmitri van den Bergh – 8/15
- Josh Rock – 8/13
- Jonny Clayton – 1/4
- Jim Williams – Evens
- Raymond van Barneveld – 11/5
- Peter Wright – 2/9
Wednesday 28th December
- Ryan Searle (16) v Jose de Sousa (17)
- Danny Noppert (9) v Alan Soutar
- Gary Anderson (11) v Chris Dobey (22)
- Joe Cullen (13) v Damon Heta (20)
- Michael van Gerwen (3) v Mensur Suljovic (30)
- Michael Smith (4) v Martin Schindler (29)
Wedneday’s action may not have a barn-burner like Price v van Barneveld, but it is still a very good selection of games starting off with the most even contest in the tournament so far as Ryan Searl and Jose de Sousa, the 16th and 17th seeds clash.
Gary Anderson, twice a winner here, faces a tricky game against Chris Dobey, while Michael van Gerwen will take on Mensur Suljovic confident of the win.
The same can be said for Michael Smith who should be confident of beating German pro Martin Schindler here.
Tips to win
- Jose de Sousa – 11/10
- Danny Noppert – 2/5
- Gary Anderson – 4/5
- Joe Cullen – 4/5
- Michael van Gerwen – 1/12
- Michael Smith – 1/4
Thursday 29th December
- Dirk van Duijvenbode (14) v Ross Smith (19)
- Rob Cross (6) v Mervyn King (27)
- Dave Chisnall (12) v Stephen Bunting (21)
- Luke Humphries (5) v Vincent van der Voort (28)
The final four Third Round games kick off the action on Thursday ahead of the start of the Fourth Round and we begin with a couple of cracking games as Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on Ross Smith in what should be a very keenly contested game.
Rob Cross will be hoping for another solid performance to defeat Mervyn King here and then we move on to the battle of St.Helens as Dave Chisnall faces former BDO World Champion Stephen Bunting.
We finish the third round action with perhaps the most improved player of the year, Luke Humphries taking on the flying Dutchman Vincent van der Voort in what should be a keenly contested match up.
Tips to win
- Dirk van Duijvenbode – 8/11
- Rob Cross – 1/4
- Dave Chisnall – 2/5
- Luke Humphries – 2/7
Join me next week when we will take a look back at the Third and Fourth Round games as well as looking ahead to the quarterfinals, semi-finals and of course, the final.
