New Zealand Darts Masters: Prediction, Tips and Odds

World champion Luke Humphries and his new rival Luke Littler are the headline acts for the seventh and final World Series qualifiers, the New Zealand Darts Masters from Hamilton in New Zealand.

Eight top PDC stars and eight Oceanic qualifiers will take to the stage at the Globox Arena on Friday and Saturday with their eyes on the £20,000 winner's cheque and a place in next month's World Series finals in Amsterdam.

Humphries and Littler are the favourites, Rob Cross is the defending champion but Gerwyn Price is the man in form having won last week's World Series event in Australia.

New Zealand Darts Masters betting tips and predictions

Rob Cross to win - 7/1

This is the fourth running of the New Zealand Darts Masters, taking place at the Globox Arena in Hamilton on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th August.

Eight PDC stars, headed by world No.1 Humphries, will take on eight Oceanic qualifiers - among them Simon Whitlock - in round one on Friday.

The matches start at 19:00 local time which is 08:00 BST and there will be delayed coverage on ITV4.

One or two big names are missing, among them Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall, but it is still a world-class field.

For a form guide look no further than last weekend at the Australian Darts Masters where the same eight big guns took on another batch of qualifiers. Then it was Gerwyn Price who took the honours, thrashing Littler 8-1 in the final.

Price will have his backers again, especially as he is in the bottom half of the draw in Hamilton, so away from the two Lukes.

But also in the same bottom half is Rob Cross who gets the nod at 7/1, a decent price for the world No.4 who won on this very stage last year.

World Championship semi-finalist Cross is enjoying a very decent 2024 in which he has won one of the previous six World Series events - he triumphed in New York in June - and has also won on the European Tour at the Baltic Sea Darts Open.

Cross can see off Haupai Puha in round one - as he did narrowly last weekend - and then probably Damon Heta in the quarter-finals by which he will be set for the bigger challenges beyond that.

Michael Smith each-way - 10/1

Humphries and Littler aren't the only world finalists in the top half of the draw.

Dimitri van den Bergh and Michael Smith are the other seeds in that section and it's the latter, the former world champion, who gets the nod at a nice price.

Bully Boy, who opens up against Jeremy Fagg, threw a 99-plus average in defeat to Littler in the quarter-finals in Wollongong last week and is playing more than well enough to win the three matches required to land the place part of the bet.

Damon Heta - 2.5 v S Whitlock - 6/5

There must be a temptation to lump all eight favourites at the New Zealand Darts Masters into an accumulator.

The one match where a handicap bet stands out is the tussle between World Cup partners Heta and Whitlock, where Heta gets the nod to win well.

Whitlock looked terrible in Wollongong last week, chucking an 84 average in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Peter Wright, who has been off-colour himself for well over a year.

Heta is playing well enough to beat Whitlock easily and certainly gets the nod on the handicap to cover a 2.5 legs spread, meaning a 6-3 win or better.

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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.