Darts Betting Tips: De Graaf to star in Tuesday’s boost

The PDC World Darts Championship continues on Tuesday and we have another boosted double from our resident darts expert Sean Rafferty to get stuck into.

Under 5.5 180s in Joyce vs Labanauskas @ 5/6

A few are eyeing this one up as a potential banana skin, I can see reasons why. Labanauskas has got a pretty impressive record at Ally Pally, reaching the QF's in 2020 and only failing to make it through the first round once in five WC appearances. Lucky D has struggled more in recent years which seen him lose his tour card and is yet to win it back. However he’s played some decent stuff on the Challenge Tour and Modus Super Series lately - in the last batch of CT events, he made a SF and a QF, posting averages of 110 and 105 along the way.

Joyce is a player I like and one I’ve backed a fair amount on the Pro Tour and a couple other events, with some success. He can be very content with the past couple of months he’s had - reaching the semis of the World Grand Prix, his most suited event due to his brilliant doubling. He’s followed that up well by coming through the tricky Grand Slam qualifiers, then going on to progress through a group that included Gary Anderson and Michael Van Gerwen that saw him make the last 16. He then finished off with a run to the QF's of the Players Championship Finals in Minehead, so he can come in here feeling good about his game and what he’s achieved in the lead-up.

Relentless enjoyed an excellent run to the QF's on debut in 2019, but has failed to go beyond the last 64 in five appearances since then. I’d say scoring wise there’s not much between these two, but doubles is where the match can be won or lost and that is Ryan’s main strength - he sits second in the world for doubles percentage over the past twelve months at 43.92%, compared to Labanauskas being 115th on the list at 37.33%. That could be the difference between them but at 1/3 I can’t say it’s too inviting to back a Joyce win.

Instead I’m happy to concentrate on the 180s again, this time I’m opting for a lack of them. Under 5.5 180s looks a solid play at 5/6 - Labanauskas is averaging just 0.09 180s per leg this year, Joyce has hit more in recent times but still not exactly prolific at 0.22 per leg. Combined they average 0.31 180s per leg so need just over three legs to hit one between them. No more than sixteen legs in the match should see this land comfortably if it goes the way the stats suggest it will. Ideally we could do with avoiding a deciding set, if we do then it should land at 5/6.

Read Sean's outright tips for the 2024 World Darts Championship here

Jeffrey De Graaf to win 3-0 @ 1/2

Not quite as much to say on this one as I have very minimal stats for Rashad Sweeting. Of the stats I do have, there’s very little chance of him having enough to trouble the Swede Jeffrey De Graaf. Over 21 matches this year, Rashad is averaging 75.12. However this is a big deal for him, making history as the first ever player from the Bahamas to play in a World Championship. He looks a bit of a character and will likely go down as a cult hero with the fans, so will have them on his side.

De Graaf has enjoyed his most successful year to date in my opinion, which has seen him play at a better level than he has done previously. It’s somewhat of a rejuvenation for The Rebel, who pretty much vanished from the world of darts during lockdown, having been a regular name on the BDO circuit from 2012 to 2016 and playing on the PDC tour for a few years after that.

This year has been a massive return to form for Jeffrey though - making his maiden PDC ranking final on the Pro Tour in May, losing out to Brendan Dolan in the final. He also had a run to the last 16 on the Euro Tour and enjoyed success on the Nordic Baltic Tour, where some or the best Scandinavian players ply their trade, winning three events on that in 2024. His preparation coming into this has been positive - reaching the last 16 of the Players Championship Finals in Minehead last month and also only just missed out on qualifying for the Grand Slam, agonisingly losing in a deciding leg against Ross Smith, having already beat Chris Dobey.

He also enjoyed a good effort at last year’s World Championship - knocking out Ritchie Edhouse and Jose De Sousa, before losing 4-2 against Rob Cross. He’s 14 points clear of Sweeting in the yearly averages, I see no negatives around him at all. Expect this to be a routine win and only drop a few legs, 1/2 looks good for a straight sets win.

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