The PDC's Winmau World Masters takes place from January 28 to February 1 so check out Chris Hammer's preview and selections for the ITV4-televised major.
Darts betting tips: PDC World Masters
1pt each-way Jonny Clayton to win the Masters at 33/1 (General, 1/2, 1,2)
1pt each-way Danny Noppert to win the Masters at 25/1 (General, 1/2, 1,2)
1pt each-way Nathan Aspinall to win the Masters at 40/1 (General, 1/2, 1,2)
The new PDC season may have already started with a couple of invitational World Series events earlier this month in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia but this is where the whole tour can attempt to get their campaigns up and running with a bang.
This is the second staging of the revamped version of the Masters, which gives all Tour Card holders outside the world's top 24 - in addition to a selection of qualifiers from secondary tours - the opportunity to earn the eight extra spots for the televised stages from Thursday to Sunday at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
Who can hold their nerve best?
In case you need reminding, the World Masters is one of the three-set-play tournaments on the PDC calendar but unlike the other two, each set is a cutthroat best-of-three legs.
The first-round proper in Milton Keynes is best-of-five sets, the second-round and quarter-finals are both best-of-seven sets, the semi-final is best-of-nine sets and the final is best-of-11 sets, so we can expect to see a lot of deciding legs throughout each match, particularly in the latter stages.
Therefore in terms of picking potential champions, one of the key ingredients for success has got to be the ability to be clinical and ice cool in these pressure situations. And on a consistent basis too.
When I wrote last year's preview for this event - in which hardly anyone had experience of the format - I thought one particular statistic that might be useful is the percentage of deciding legs won in the previous 12 months.
Although this data only refers to leg-play matches that have gone all the way, it still gives us a flavour as to who can hold their game together most in these clutch moments.
The three players I selected - Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton and Danny Noppert - were all in the top four for this statistic and went on to perform fantastically well. Noppert beat Bunting 4-3 in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Luke Humphries while Clayton came through an epic clash with Luke Littler en route to finishing runner-up in a final that did indeed go all the way to a deciding leg.
So I'm going to use the same strategy this time around.
Obviously we've got to bare in mind that some players won't have as big a sample size as others, while the data available doesn't split out how many times in these deciding legs they were throwing first or not. So this list can't be used to categorically determine who holds their nerve better in last leg deciders.
Top 24: Deciding leg won percentage in the last 12 months
- Luke Woodhouse 67.57%
- Gary Anderson 66.67%
- Danny Noppert 65.12%
- Nathan Aspinall 62.50%
- Jonny Clayton 62.50%
- Jermaine Wattimena 55.56%
- Stephen Bunting 53.85%
- Luke Humphries 53.33%
- Michael van Gerwen 52.38%
- Martin Schindler 51.28%
- Chris Dobey 50.00%
- Ryan Joyce 50.00%
- Ross Smith 47.22%
- James Wade 46.88%
- Luke Littler 45.00%
- Rob Cross 45.00
- Daryl Gurney 43.48%
- Gian van Veen 40.48%
- Ryan Searle 40.00%
- Mike de Decker 40.00%
- Gerwyn Price 38.89%
- Damon Heta 38.71%
- Dirk van Duijvenbode 37.93%
- Josh Rock 34.48%
As you can see Luke Woodhouse is the table topper but he is in the same mini section as Luke Humphries and I'm not sure he's ready yet to become a major champion despite the encouraging progress he's been making over the last 12 months.
Gary Anderson is second and will be considered a serious contender anyway due to how well he performed en route to the semi-finals at the Ally Pally. However, when it comes to mental stamina I'm a little sceptical as to whether he'll thrive in playing five matches on Saturday and Sunday - if he gets that far - and two matches on that final evening.
As you can see, Noppert and Clayton have continued to rank particularly highly in this area and as well as their performances at last year's World Series, I'm also going to direct you to their record in deciding legs of sets at the recent World Championship.
Noppert pinched three of the five sets he won across his sadly short run in deciding legs and even in his epic defeat to an inspired Justin Hood, he continually produced show-stopping finishes to ensure the tie went on as long as it did. In the end he was just very unfortunate to run into such a special performance from his opponent.
As for Clayton, he edged six sets of the in deciding legs en route to the quarter-finals and only lost two sets that went all the way, and just like Noppert, he does tend to be an unflappable character. We saw true evidence of that 12 months ago when he defied Littler's ridiculous 108 average in that 4-2 quarter-final win.
As for Littler, you might be surprised to see him quite low on the above list but during the World Championship he won nine deciding legs in sets and lost just two.
Littler's motivation to win titles is always ridiculously high but the Masters is just one of two majors he needs to complete the set and how remarkable would it be for him to do just that while he's still a teenager?!
Despite the relatively precarious nature of this major, I really do expect him to storm to glory and therefore I'm going to swerve everyone in the top half of the draw apart from the thorn in his side last year - Clayton.
It will be ridiculously tough for the Ferret to defeat him if their paths cross in the semi-finals but he's worth having onside just in case the Nuke suffers a rare shock in the early rounds.
World Masters: First-round draw and tournament bracket
- (1) Luke Littler v Mike De Decker
- (16) Ross Smith v Jimmy van Schie
- (8) Ryan Searle v Rob Cross
- (9) Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
- (4) Michael van Gerwen v Damon Heta
- (13) Chris Dobey v Jermaine Wattimena
- (5) Jonny Clayton v Wessel Nijman
- (12) Gerwyn Price v James Hurrell
- (2) Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall
- (15) Martin Schindler v Luke Woodhouse
- (7) Stephen Bunting v Jeffrey de Graaf
- (10) Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney
- (3) Gian van Veen v Ryan Joyce
- (14) Nathan Aspinall v Shane McGuirk
- (6) Gary Anderson v Niels Zonneveld
- (11) James Wade v Madars Razma
In the bottom half we have Noppert, who I'm including in my staking plan once again for reasons already discussed, while my second selection is Nathan Aspinall.
The Asp has won 62.50% of his deciding legs in the last 12 months to sit fourth on the table above and it's widely regarded that he enjoyed one of his best ever seasons in 2025, being extremely unfortunate to miss out on Premier League inclusion.
This will give him that extra bit of motivation and we all know how much he enjoys trying to prove people wrong.
Prices of around 40/1 are just too big for a player of his ability and hunger, so he goes in with confidence.
The downside is that he finds himself in the same section as Gian van Veen, who will be highly fancied after his string of stunning displays at the Ally Pally.
The young Dutchman also won 13 deciding legs during his run to the final including four in the pressure of his first semi-final against Anderson and lost just two - one against the Flying Scotsman and the other against Littler.
He will be dangerous but at 7/1, he is perhaps a bit too short for this tournament.
World Masters Schedule
Wednesday January 28
Preliminary Rounds
Thursday January 29 (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV4
First Round x8
- Chris Dobey v Jermaine Wattimena
- Gary Anderson v Niels Zonneveld
- James Wade v Madars Razma
- Nathan Aspinall v Shane McGuirk
- Jonny Clayton v Wessel Nijman
- Gerwyn Price v James Hurrell
- Michael van Gerwen v Damon Heta
- Gian van Veen v Ryan Joyce
Friday January 30 (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV4
First Round x8
- Martin Schindler v Luke Woodhouse
- Ross Smith v Jimmy van Schie
- Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney
- Ryan Searle v Rob Cross
- Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
- Luke Littler v Mike De Decker
- Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall
- Stephen Bunting v Jeffrey de Graaf
Saturday January 31
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
- Second Round x4
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
- Second Round x4
Sunday February 1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
- Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
- Semi-Finals
- Final
Format
- Preliminary Rounds - Best of three sets, best of three legs per set
- First Round - Best of five sets, best of three legs per set
- Second Round - Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
- Quarter-Finals - Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
- Semi-Finals - Best of nine sets, best of three legs per sets
- Final - Best of 11 sets, best of three legs per set
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