World Grand Prix darts: Day six predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

22:32 · SAT October 07, 2023

The semi-finals of the Boylesports World Grand Prix take place in Leicester on Saturday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.

Just four players remain in the hunt for double-start glory - Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, Joe Cullen and Luke Humphries.

Here, we look ahead to both matches with seasonal statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca...

Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix day six

1pt all four players to have 5+ 180s and a 100+ checkout each at 5/1 (Sky Bet)

1pt Smith v Price to have 10+ 180s & both players to have a 120+ checkout at 9/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Humphries to win, hit 6+ 180s and have a 100+ checkout at 2/1 (Sky Bet)

SL Acca: Smith (-1.5) and Humphries (-1.5) both to win at 5/1 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Grand Prix: Saturday October 7

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Semi-Final Format: Best of 7 sets. All sets are the best of five legs. There will be no tie-break in any set. All legs must begin and end with a double, meaning that a player must hit a double before he can begin scoring in each leg.

Michael Smith (6/5) v Gerwyn Price (8/13)

Overall H2H: 23-20, 2 draws (TV: 14-10)
2023: 4-4 (TV: 3-3)
Seasonal Average
Smith: 95.50
Price: 98.84
180s per leg in 2022
Smith: 0.32
Price: 0.33
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Smith: 39.72%
Price: 36.41%
100+ checkouts per leg won
Smith: 11.92%
Price: 11.58%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Smith: 27.73%
Price: 34.69%

Gerwyn Price is favourite to win a mouthwatering clash between two darting heavyweights but Michael Smith is starting to revive himself into the player who went on his career-changing rampage towards the end of last season.

Bully Boy picked up three titles since lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy which isn't bad considering his performance levels and seasonal average isn't as high as we'd expect but his life did change a lot and that was always going to have a knock on effect, especially in conjunction with the gruelling Premier League campaign.

Now everything has probably started to settle down ahead of the business end of the calendar, we are now seeing the major contending Smith again and he's currently enjoying his best ever run in this double-start tournament.

He's been averaging between the high 80s and mid-90s across his three matches and only dropped six legs overall, which is incredible really.

Sure, he may not have been tested massively but that's because he's just gone out there and dominated each contest from start to finish in all areas of the game. His finishing doubling has been particularly impressive.

Price was ruthless last night in thrashing Martin Schindler for the loss of just one leg while he's only lost nine overall across his three straight-sets victories.

The Iceman has also been averaging very solidly for this event so we should really expect a high-quality close affair - even though their previous encounters this year don't tend to be.

In eight matches - all over best-of-11 legs - the closest has been 6-4 and that only happened once.

That said, they've split those contests 4-4, including three wins apiece on TV, so it really is a flip of a coin job.

Smith has hit nine maximums in 30 legs (0.3 per leg) and four 100+ checkouts while Price has managed 10 in 33 (0.30 per leg) and four 100+ checkouts which are highly prolific returns in this format.

I think we'll see at least six sets with Michael Smith coming through but plenty of the crowd-pleasing scores and finishes throughout.

Scoreline prediction: 4-2

Joe Cullen (5/4) v Luke Humphries (4/7)

Overall H2H: 5-4 (TV: 0-1)
2023: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
Seasonal Average
Cullen: 94.80
Humphries: 98.17
180s per leg in 2022
Cullen: 0.33
Humphries: 0.34
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Cullen: 38.72%
Humphries: 41.21%
100+ checkouts per leg won
Cullen: 13.52%
Humphries: 10.43%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Cullen: 34.34%
Humphries: 25.95%

Joe Cullen broke my heart last night - as well as anyone else who'd backed Chris Dobey at 80/1 each-way and 14/1 to win the bottom quarter of the draw - with that stunning match-winning 121 checkout.

It put the Rockstar into the semi-finals against Luke Humphries, who'd previously come alive from 2-0 down against Peter Wright to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory that keeps his hopes alive of a maiden major title.

We are guaranteed at least one first-time World Grand Prix finalist and the bookies make Humphries favourite based on his fantastic season which features three titles that could have been a lot more having lost five finals.

Statistically he's been a superior performer to Cullen all year and if he plays like he did in the second half of the clash against Snakebite, then I'd expect him to have enough class to edge through.

The Rockstar should make this close based on his performances this week and that will give Humphries more time to hit the very manageable targets in my tip.

Scoreline prediction: 2-4