German Darts Championship 2024 Predictions: Four shouts from Sean ahead of Hildesheim event

The PDC calendar continues with the German Darts Championship from Hildesheim, which runs from Friday, August 30 to Sunday, September 1.

As always, we've asked our darts expert Sean Rafferty to preview the event and give us his German Darts Championship Predictions, which you can check out below.

History, Location and Format

The 2024 German Darts Championship is the 15th running of this PDC event and is the ninth event in the PDC European Tour series.

The tournament is held at the Halle 39, in Hildesheim, Germany, with this year's event running from August 30 to September 1 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.

Germany's own Ricardo Pietreczko is the defending champion, after beating Peter Wright 8–4 in the 2023 final.

Prize Money

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

Draw

(1) Dave Chisnall v Raymond van Barneveld/Dom Taylor
(16) Joe Cullen v Jose de Sousa/Max Hopp
(8) Martin Schindler v Mensur Suljovic/Dimitri Van den Bergh
(9) Chris Dobey v Mickey Mansell/Matthias Ehlers
(4) Danny Noppert v Brendan Dolan/Dirk van Duijvenbode
(13) Michael van Gerwen v Maik Kuivenhoven/James Wade
(5) Stephen Bunting v Peter Wright/Niko Springer
(12) Gian van Veen v Krzysztof Kciuk/Robert Owen
(2) Gerwyn Price v Dragutin Horvat/Krzysztof Ratajski
(15) Daryl Gurney v Boris Krcmar/Stephen Burton
(7) Ross Smith v Nick Kenny/Jelle Klaasen
(10) Ricardo Pietreczko v Callan Rydz/Simon Whitlock
(3) Damon Heta v Ritchie Edhouse/Luke Woodhouse
(14) Ryan Joyce v Johan Engstrom/Andrew Gilding
(6) Ryan Searle v Martin Lukeman/Jonny Clayton
(11) Luke Littler v Dylan Slevin/Steve Beaton

Germany Darts Championship Odds

Ross Smith @ 16/1 - 1 unit e/w 2 places

Ross Smith has been Mr. Consistency the past few months - he’s won a Pro Tour event this year already and constantly went last 16 or better in most of the events, and he has made the semis or better in five of the last 15 PC events.

He’s shown similar consistency on the Euro Tour this year, already finishing runner-up in two of the events this year, losing out to Dave Chisnall and Gary Anderson in them. He’s knocking on the door more than ever and you’ve got to feel it’s a matter of time until he lifts his first Euro Tour title, having already won the European Championship in 2022.

His section of the draw is very generous - Nick Kenny or Jelle Klaasen should be a straightforward win for Smudger in the second round, and if he comes through this then he’ll be a big favourite again against one of Pietreczko/Callan Rydz/Simon Whitlock, three players who are really struggling this year. Straight away he’d be into the quarters, with Gerwyn Price looking the only danger to him in that section, who he just beat at the World Matchplay.

Smudger is probably my most confident selection this week for many reasons - I'm expecting a strong week for him.

Chris Dobey @ 18/1 - 0.75 units e/w 2 places

Despite his appalling record on the Euro tour (three QFs or better in 47 events) I’m happy to turn a blind eye to that this week as everything else stands in his favour.

Hollywood won a Pro Tour event just last week, adding to the one he won in April. He’s averaged 104+ in four of his last 10 matches which is close to an unplayable level if he can repeat that this weekend. On top of this, he’s averaged 100+ in 10 of his last 18 matches so is managing to produce a high level consistently right now.

The draw has been fairly kind to him - facing what should be a fairly easy opener against Mickey Mansell or Matthias Ehlers. He would then face a trickier tie against Martin Schindler or Dimitri Van den Bergh but if he can win that, it opens up the draw a bit. Other seeds in his quarter, Chisnall and Joe Cullen, are shy of any good recent form. I’m going with Dobey in this section based solely on the fact he is the best-form player in it. Here’s hoping he can break his Euro Tour hoodoo.

Damon Heta @ 22/1 - 0.75 units e/w 2 places

I still feel like Heta hasn’t been spoken about a great amount but he’s quietly having a really decent year. He recently won PC18 last week, and he was scintillating in his run to that title, averaging 99+ in six of his seven matches, including a whopping 107 average in the final against Ryan Searle in an 8-3 victory.

The week before this, he made the final of the New Zealand Masters on the World Series tour, losing out to Luke Humphries in the final. This has all been with a new set of darts, which he’s taking to like a duck to water. A run to the UK Open semis and another Pro Tour title earlier in the year make it a successful year so far for Damo in my books.

Luke Woodhouse or Ritchie Edhouse in his first match looks a tough draw but the form of both of them has tailed off in recent weeks/months. He does sit in the dreaded section that contains a certain Luke Littler, but despite two losses to the teenager on the Euro Tour this year, he did beat him at the UK Open in March so shouldn’t be phased by that potential tie. Fingers crossed Damo can keep up his impressive year.

James Wade @ 40/1 - 0.5 units e/w 2 places

Not a lot is being made of Wade’s recent form, but in my opinion, he’s throwing some of the best stuff he has for 18-24 months. He managed to sneak in the back door for World Matchplay qualification after a string of solid displays on the Pro Tour, and he took full advantage of that by reaching the semi-finals at the Winter Gardens, continuing to plug away at a similar standard, despite not going on many deep runs.

He’s made the last 32 or better in six of the last nine PC events, showing some more consistency than he had earlier in the year. He now needs to take that form onto the Euro Tour, where in all honesty he’s had a stinker of a year so far, failing to go beyond the second round in all eight events.

He’s far better than that but will need to get past some big names to change that unwanted record. He should beat Maik Kuivenhoven in the opening round but will then face Michael van Gerwen, who isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s fair to say, so there could be an opportunity. Danny Noppert, Brendan Dolan and Dirk van Duijvenbode are all in that mini section too, so there are no easy games for The Machine but he is finding a way to win many matches in recent months. 40/1 is more than a fair price for Wadey to make an impact at long last on the Euro Tour this weekend.

Darts Odds

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