Belgian Darts Open 2024 Odds: Cool Hand can win another title

The darts calendar continues its relentless march , as straight after the Premier League in Brighton, we move straight over to Belgium for the first of the ProTour events. As always, we've asked our darts expert Sean Rafferty to preview the event and give us his best bets for the occasion. 

History, Location and Format

The 2024 Belgian Darts Open is the 2nd running of this PDC European Tour event and is the first of thirteen such events on the PDC Pro Tour

The tournament is held at the Oktoberhallen, Wieze, Belgium, with this year's event running from the 8th-10th March 2024 and will be shown on DAZN.

The field is comprised of the top 16 from the PDC Order of Merit and then the next highest 16 ranked players from the ProTour Order of Merit, as well as 16 regional qualifiers.

The draw sees the top 16 in the Order of Merit enter the tournament at the second round stage.

Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion, after defeating Luke Humphries 8-6 in the 2023 final.

Prize Money

There is a total prize fund of £175,000 on offer to the 48 participants.

Draw

3 pts Luke Humphries to win @ 13/2

I can’t ignore Humphries at the top of the market. He made the UK Open final last weekend and that result epitomises his form getting back to peak levels.

At the time of writing this he’s just off the back of a PL win over Price with a 106 average and looks full of confidence again.

It’s not unusual for the World Champ to go quiet on the winning front for a while after lifting the World title but he appears to be through that sticky patch now.

Absolutely loves the European Tour, he played in 10 events on it last year and made a staggering six finals, was also very successful on it in 2022, winning several titles.

The biggest threat before making quarters would be Ryan Searle, I see him making it to the Sunday evening relatively unscathed and as the format increases a touch, he becomes harder to beat. Cool Hand is definitely the man to beat this week

0.5pts Martin Schindler e/w (1/2 ,2 places) @ 50/1

I haven’t backed Schindler for a while now but this looks like a good time to jump back on. Nothing of note this year in terms of tournament runs but he’s quietly been putting in some decent performances - has averaged 98+ in four of his last six matches.

'The Wall' has to take some confidence from the UK Open, where he beat Price 10-9 in a cracking match then only narrowly lost to teenage talent Luke Littler 10-8 on the main stage in the following round.

The 27-year-old faces Joe Cullen on Friday night who’s form has been indifferent of late, he’d then face Dirk Van Duijvenbode who’s game is still a bit up in the air having suffered from injuries recently.

So he has some big names to contend with early doors but they are winnable and he should receive some good backing from the crowd, as he usually does everywhere on the European Tour.

0.5pt Mike De Decker e/w (1/2, 2 places) @ 100/1 

De Decker has yet to really blow the darts world alight with a big run in a tournament, but a European Tour in his home country seems like the ideal time to do just that.

His talent definitely merits a run of that ilk - he’s inside the top 30 in the world for averages over the past 12 months and for 2024 so far.

His opening couple games appeal as an opportunity as he faces Landman first who he should beat then has nothing to lose against an out of sorts Michael Smith.

Gerwyn Price is the top seed in this quarter of the draw who is struggling for wins at the minute. I feel The Real Deal can beat anyone in this section on his day and this could be a platform to elevate his chances of pushing towards being a top 20 player.

You can find all Sean's latest Darts Betting Tips on our main Darts Insights content hub.