With the Premier League Darts final this week, a number of the sport’s biggest names have pulled out of the Baltic Sea Darts Open, which is in its fourth year.
Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock and Gary Anderson will be absent for this event, leaving it wide open for some of the chasing pack to stake their claim among the sport’s elite.
An intriguing field of 48 will go to post in what should be a competitive eighth event on this year’s European Tour.
Baltic Sea Darts Open Tips Summary
Best Bet - Chris Dobey to win and each-way @ 9/1
Alternative Bet - Ryan Searle to win and each-way @ 22/1
Baltic Sea Darts Open Prediction
Best Bet: Chris Dobey to win and each-way @ 9/1
With the slew of drop outs that this year’s Baltic Sea Darts Open has experienced, the opportunity is there for a player who is just outside of the elite to get their hands on some silverware.
The competitive nature of the field is demonstrated by the fact that there are only three players at single-figure prices to win this year’s event. Wessel Nijman heads the betting and while he is definitely respected, there is not much juice in the price.
Gian Van Veen is also at single-figure odds but a debut Premier League campaign seems to have derailed his form a little and the World Championship runner-up is worth taking on.
Chris Dobey is, much like Nijman, a player who has been excelling in the PDC’s floor events but has yet to fully translate that on to the big stage.
Hollywood has won two Players Championship events this season and reached the final of another, as well as recording five other quarter-final runs in the 15 events which have taken place.
Dobey was a semi-finalist in the Poland Darts Open earlier this season and reached the last eight of the Belgian Darts Open so has had some deep runs on the European Tour.
The world number 13 is out to prove a point after missing out on the Premier League this season and looks a tempting price to be the player to take advantage of a weakened field in Kiel.
Stephen Bunting is the biggest danger in the bottom half of the draw but his Premier League campaign may have done him more harm than good and Dobey looks worth siding with.
Alternative Bet: Ryan Searle to win and each-way @ 22/1
Ryan Searle reached the final of last weekend’s International Darts Open and looks a tempting price to go one better.
He secured an impressive win over Gian Van Veen and a battling success over Rob Cross to reach that final and, with that experience behind him, could go close this time around.
Heavy Metal was a World Championship semi-finalist earlier this year and looks on the brink of putting together his game to make a big impact.
The 38-year-old has already won a floor event this season, picking up a victory in Players Championship 7, and was a quarter-finalist in this event back in 2024.
Wessel Nijman is in the same section as Searle, which partly explains his big price, but if he reproduces the performance levels of his win over Van Veen he can get the better of the Dutchman.
Do not underestimate Searle at a big price in a wide-open field as he chases an elusive first victory on the European Tour.
Key Tournament Stats
- Rob Cross, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Richard Veenstra, Christian Kist, and Cristo Reyes have sneaked into the field after this week’s withdrawals
- Dave Chisnall and Rob Cross are the only two former finalists of this tournament in this year’s field
- Ryan Searle lost in the final of last week’s International Darts Open
Read more darts betting tips and predictions on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
