The 2026 Paddy Power World Darts Championship continues at the Alexandra Palace on Friday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.
PDC World Championship: Day two preview
SL Acca: 1pt Ross Smith to win & most 180s, Man Lok Leung (+1.5 sets) to win & Heta to beat Lennon at 5/1 (Paddy Power)
Scroll down for match-by-match previews, stats and scoreline predictions
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: First round, best of five sets
WATCH OUR WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Chris Hammer, Paul Nicholson and Abigail Davies join host Dom Newton to unpick the draw and predict the outcome of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, under way on Thursday
Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha
- Three-dart average (2025): 92.90 - 87.24
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.30 - 0.19
SELECTION: 1pt Niels Zonneveld to win and hit most 180s at 11/10 (Paddy Power, Sky Bet)
Niels Zonneveld has enjoyed a pretty steady season on the Pro Tour and even reached his maiden ranking final during a Players Championship event back in September while he can also be regarded as one of the more prolific 180 hitters on the circuit.
Haupai Puha has found wins hard to come by this year and looks set to lose his Tour Card unless he has a miraculous run at the Ally Pally, although he did take Luke Littler to a deciding leg in the World Series during the summer.
I expect Zonneveld to kick off the afternoon session with a win and should throw most maximums too.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Ian White v Mervyn King
- Three-dart average (2025): 91.68 - 89.34
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.20 - 0.20
There was a time many years ago when Ian White and Mervyn King would be considered tournament dark horses but at this stage in their careers they'll be more than satisfied with a win or two.
Ian White is still battling away on the main tour and did reach a Players Championship final much earlier in the campaign while Mervyn King earned his Ally Pally spot by virtue of finishing highly on the secondary Challenge Tour.
It promises to be a bit of a scrap but King has traditionally managed to hold his game together better on this stage than White, who always seemed to let nerves get the better of him during the peak of his powers, so I'm giving the edge to him.
Scoreline Verdict: 2-3
Ryan Searle v Chris Landman
- Three-dart average (2025): 95.58 - 90.28
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.28 - 0.19
Ryan Searle has never failed to get past the Christmas break in his seven previous appearances at the Ally Pally, including three runs to the fourth round, and he should take a confident step towards preserving that proud record.
Heavy Metal is one of the most consistent performers on the circuit and picked up a couple of Players Championship titles at either end of the season, while Chris Landman is facing a real battle to keep hold of his Tour Card as he currently sits 68th in the rankings after a lot of early exits this year.
I see a whitewash in this one.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-0
Rob Cross v Cor Dekker
- Three-dart average (2025): 95.88 - 87.89
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.23 - 0.20
Rob Cross would be the first to admit it's been a tough year in his career and recently even joked that “Peter Rabbit would beat me at the minute”.
Voltage, who failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts last month, has particularly struggled in the second half of the campaign and has now slipped way down the rankings to 21 so it's understandable why he'll be flagged up as a seed in danger.
However, although Cor Dekker is better than Peter Rabbitt, the Dane has hardly ripped up trees since winning his Tour Card back in January and has suffered 21 first round exits out of the 32 Players Championship events he's entered.
Cross to come through with room to spare.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: First round, best of five sets
ALSO WATCH: PREDICTING EVERY MATCH AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Ross Smith v Andreas Harrysson
- Three-dart average (2025): 96.57 - 87.89
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.36 - 0.21
SELECTION: 1pt Ross Smith to win and hit most 180s at evens (Sky Bet)
Ross Smith is my pick to come through the second quarter of the draw so I'm expecting him to overcome Andreas Harrysson.
His form in the majors this year hasn't been too good although he was a tad unlucky to run into an inspired Littler early on at the Players Championship Finals and also at the quarter-finals of the World Series Finals when he averaged 106 in a 10-8 defeat.
Apart from that he's won a pair of Pro Tour titles this season including one as recently as October and reached a European Tour final so he should be feeling pretty confident.
Harrysson, who qualified via the PDC Nordic & Baltic Tour, is a steady enough operator but is regularly averaging in the 80s and will need to find an extra gear and hope Smith is below his best.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung
- Three-dart average (2025): 91.99 - 87.55
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.24 - 0.21
Ricky Evans will no doubt be treating us to one of the more memorable Christmas-themed walk-ons on Friday night but he'll have to take the match extremely seriously if he's to avoid an early exit.
Rapid has produced some decent darts in the past couple of months and enjoyed a career best run to the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals before finally being brushed aside by Gerwyn Price.
Man Lok Leung is one of the five players who qualified via the Asian Tour Order of Merit and is hoping to produce the kind of magic that helped him beat Gian van Veen on this stage a couple of years ago with an average of 96.
This is one of the ties I've earmarked for a minor upset and will throw Leung into my acca on the handicap.
Scoreline Verdict: 2-3
Gian van Veen v Cristo Reyes
- Three-dart average (2025): 97.96 - 97.61
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.32 - 0.32
Cristo Reyes is back at his first World Championship for six years having vanished off the face of the darting earth for the past few years.
The Spaniard's impressive seasonal stats above are based on a ridiculously small sample size at the Mediterranean World Championship qualifying event last month but to see him average in the mid to high 90s has to make you wonder whether he's about to begin an exciting new chapter in his career.
It would be quite some story if he's able to stun the highly fancied Gian van Veen, who won his first major title by beating Luke Humphries at the European Championship back in October.
I'm expecting big things from Van Veen over the next few weeks but wouldn't be surprised to see Reyes roll back the years and take a set off him.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Damon Heta v Steve Lennon
- Three-dart average (2025): 94.87 - 91.38
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.22 - 0.17
It's been a bit of a mixed bag for Damon Heta in 2025 having struggled to take his superb Pro Tour form onto the major stage but I'd expect him to make a solid enough start against Steve Lennon.
The Aussie, who lit up the Ally Pally last year with a nine-darter that quickly became more famous for Luke Woodhouse's celebration, won two Players Championship titles and also reached a European Tour final but there's been far too many first-round exits in majors for his liking.
His form and stats are far superior to Steve Lennon, who hasn't got past the third round in any Players Championship event this season and is in grave danger of losing his Tour Card.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
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