US Darts Masters Betting Tips
Outright – Rob Cross to Win the US Darts Masters (each-way)
Saturday, 1am Peter Wright v Alex Spellman – Alex Spellman +1.5 Leg Handicap
Saturday, 3am Michael van Gerwen v Danny Lauby – Danny Lauby +3.5 Leg Handicap
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
US Darts Masters 2024
Madison Square Garden, New York
TV: ITV/ITVX, Friday night/Saturday morning, 12am
Rob Cross to win the US Darts Masters (each-way)
The World Series of Darts returns to The Theater at Madison Square Garden for the third consecutive year as eight of the PDC’s most decorated players join eight North American participants for a two-day event with a £20,000 top prize.
Straight off the back of his Premier League triumph, Luke Littler is set to make his debut in the competition and, unsurprisingly, he and Luke Humphries lead the way as short-priced candidates in the outright betting.
The current holder of the US Darts Masters title, Michael van Gerwen, is third-favourite ahead of Gerwyn Price and the 2022 champion, Michael Smith, but I’m surprised to see Rob Cross so far down the board.
Voltage topped the World Series Order of Merit last year, winning two of the six events in the process, and having notched a European Tour victory in Kiel three weeks ago, the 33-year-old deserves plenty of respect in the market.
The last 16 draw has pitted Cross against Championship Darts Corporation qualifier, Adam Sevada. The Reaper doesn’t quite carry the same pedigree as some of the other North Americans in the tournament, and should be swept aside.
Van Gerwen, the number one seed, is in the same quarter as Cross and faces a trickier first round task in the shape of Danny Lauby.
If Mighty Mike avoids the potential banana skin, he would inevitably go off favourite against Cross and that’s why we’re getting the big price on the latter to lift the trophy. But I like the 2018 world champion’s chances to come out of the top section of the draw – a lot more so than I would have if he was in there with one of the other seeds.
What we have seen from van Gerwen since he sustained a shoulder injury at the UK Open is enough for me to want to take him on in any way that I can. It looked as though he may have turned the corner when he took out a 170 finish and went 4-0 up against Jonny Clayton at the Dutch Darts Championship last week, but the way The Green Machine was pegged back and defeated in that match was alarming.
Should Cross make the semi-finals, he would likely have to get past Humphries in order for us to get a return from the each-way bet, but Voltage leads the head-to-head 4-2 between the pair in 2024 and is more than capable of keeping that strong record going over 13 legs.
Peter Wright v Alex Spellman – Alex Spellman +1.5 Leg Handicap
It is difficult to make a case for Peter Wright to beat anybody half decent at the moment, and Alex Spellman is a perfectly adequate opponent to give the Scot a scare in round one.
The Jackal didn’t do himself justice in a losing effort against Humphries in last year’s US Darts Masters, but he has picked up two WDF ranking titles since then and even hit a nine-darter at the Cross Border Challenge in April.
With no tournament debut nerves to contend with this time around, I see no reason not to back Spellman to heap more misery on one of the PDC’s all-time greats, or at least run him very close indeed.
Michael van Gerwen v Danny Lauby – Danny Lauby +3.5 Leg Handicap
It has been some year for Lauby, the second-generation player from Indiana. He earned his tour card in January and has caused upsets on both the floor and the big stage since then.
The world number 102 has Players Championship wins over Michael Smith and James Wade to his name in 2024, and he also turned over Ryan Joyce at the Austrian Darts Open last month before losing a final leg decider against Peter Wright in the second round.
North Americans have acquitted themselves well in this event since it moved to MSG. In 2022, Leonard Gates made it to the quarter-finals, and last year there were two Canadians in the last eight as Jim Long and Jeff Smith – who went all the way to the final – advanced.
As one of the three PDC Tour Card holders representing North America, Lauby will feel as though the responsibility is on him to ensure that at least one entrant from the USA or Canada makes it through for the third year on the bounce. Given MVG’s inconsistency over the last three months and the American’s ability to hang with the game’s biggest stars, I think there is some value in taking Lauby with a 3.5 leg head start.
Darts Betting Tips
Outright – Rob Cross to Win the US Darts Masters (each-way)
Saturday, 1am Peter Wright v Alex Spellman – Alex Spellman +1.5 Leg Handicap
Saturday, 3am Michael van Gerwen v Danny Lauby – Danny Lauby +3.5 Leg Handicap
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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