Czech Darts Open 2024 Predictions: Chiz to do the biz in Prague

After the excitement of the World Grand Prix and Mike de Decker's breakthrough win, the PDC calendar continues with the Czech Darts Open from Prague, which runs from the Friday 18 to Sunday 20 October. As always, we've asked our darts expert Sean Rafferty to preview the event and give us his Czech Darts Open Predictions, which you can check out below.

History, Location and Format

The 2024 Czech Darts Open is the fourth running of this PDC event, having debuted in 2019 and then having a short hiatus until 2022, and is the last event of thirteen in the PDC European Tour series, before the upcoming European Championships.

The tournament is held at the PVA EXPO Praha, Prague, Czech Republic, with this year's event running from October 18th to the 20th and will be shown on DAZN, Viaplay and PDCTV.

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.

Prize Money

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

Draw

Czech Darts Open Odds

1.5u Dave Chisnall e/w (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 16/1

This is starting to become a bit of a habit, but one I think will pay off soon. Backing 'Chizzy' on the Euro Tour has become the norm, given his fantastic record on it in recent times, which sees him come here as the number one seed. He lost out in the Grand Prix to Dimitri Van den Bergh, after seeing off Cameron Menzies in fine fashion in the opening round. He usually dusts off the disappointment of majors pretty quickly and will look to bounce back in Czechia this weekend.

He was solid, if not great, in Wigan midweek at the Pro Tour events, winning three of his five games, averaging in the 90s in four of them. Nothing to write home about, but he should come into this feeling pretty fresh having not played as much darts as many others have over the past two weeks. He reached the final of this event last year, losing out in a tight final to Peter Wright.

He’ll feel he can go one better this weekend and will be able to get to the QFs with relative ease, as he sits in a very winnable mini quartet including Callan Rydz, Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Lukeman, if he sees off the winner of Robert Owen and Niels Zonneveld.

Being top seed usually gives him a nice path to get to the latter stages if he plays near his best. He’s proved time and time again he can get over the finishing line on these Euro Tour stages, a generous price as always for Dave made this pick a no brainer.

0.75u Martin Schindler e/w (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 50/1

I'm going for another player who’s enjoyed some great success on the Euro Tour in recent times and I can’t quite believe that Schindler is 50/1, despite lifting two Euro Tour titles so far in 2024, in what has been his most successful year in his career so far.

'Schindy' has had what you could call a breakthrough year, he would never have been one of the first names on a shortlist to lift silverware before this year, having never picked up a senior title in the PDC before 2024. 'The Wall' has found the key to success and it's an even bigger bonus that his tournament wins have both come in front of big crowds in the Euro Tour.

You could have made an argument that his level of play was boosted by the backing of big German crowds on the Euro Tour, but he’s now proved he can do the job outside of his own back yard, having recently won the Swiss Darts Open. Cameron Menzies or Peter Wright looks like a tricky first round opponent for Schindler but neither of them are playing their best stuff in recent weeks, so I fancy him to come through that one.

He’s made the QF stage or better in seven of the 12 Euro Tour events this year - he’s thrived in this more than anything else in 2024, so will be confident of trying to make it a fantastic hat-trick of victories, which would give him a very good seeding for the upcoming European Championship Finals.

0.75u Nathan Aspinall e/w (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 50/1 

I’ve backed Nathan a couple of times in the last few weeks, and while he hasn’t had a really noteworthy run since returning from injury last month, I don’t think he’s a million miles off doing that. His performances have been nothing to be ashamed of - he’s dropped below a 90 average in just two of his 22 matches since coming back from his lay-off.

He played two good matches at the World Grand Prix, beating Ryan Searle 2-1 in a thriller before losing in a deciding leg to Ryan Joyce the following round. He averaged 93 and 91 in those matches, which is very solid when you consider the double-in format. He made the last 16 of the German Grand Prix last month so will look to build on that, as he incredibly still searches for his first ever Euro Tour title.

Again the odds of 50/1 are too tempting to refuse - this will partly be down to him being in the same section of the draw as Luke Littler and MVG. If 'Asp' beats a Czech qualifier in the opening round then he’ll play Littler in the last 32 on Saturday. Luke has been struggling a little bit of late, so I think he could cause an upset there. He’d then still have MVG to contend with most likely but his performances haven’t been hitting the same heights since returning from illness, despite winning a Pro Tour event. Very rarely will I not take Asp at 50s if his level of performance is of a decent standard, which it has been.

0.5u Luke Woodhouse e/w (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 100/1

A bit of a wildcard pick here. Woodhouse was one I was already considering, but the recent withdrawal of Rob Cross from the event made it a certain selection for me. 'Woody' has a very generous draw for a non-seed - he plays Marko Kantele first which should be a walk in the park, this would then be followed by a tie against Kim Huybrechts, who’s replaced the departing Rob Cross. I’d also make him favourite to win that.

This would then lead to a Last-16 tie against Josh Rock or Joe Cullen who have both been very beatable this year. The other seeds in the draw are Gerwyn Price and Chris Dobey. Dobey has a shocking record on the Euro Tour and Price has lost in his opening round of the last five Euro Tour events he’s played in.

150/1 is massive odds for a player who has been gradually improving year on year. He’s made two QFs on the Euro Tour in 2024, but won’t have had a draw as inviting as this yet.

He enjoyed a couple of ton plus averages on the Pro Tour in Wigan during the week, on the back of a stellar performance in defeat to Van den Bergh at the World Grand Prix and a Pro Tour semi before that, so the form is very respectable. Don’t be surprised to see a different Luke from the usual two in the latter stages this week in Czech Republic.

Darts Odds

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