STAR DARTS PREVIEW: World Masters 2026

After a thrilling 2026 World Darts Championship, the darts is back with the first major of the new season this weekend. The World Masters is a relatively new tournament to the PDC and, with its unique format, is an exciting way to kick off the year, writes EMILY WALLIS.

We’ve already had World Series events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia since the World Championship which has given us an idea of the form of eight of the top players but, for most, this weekend is where the 2026 season really begins.

The draw has already been complete although we won’t know the full field taking part until the preliminary round on Wednesday before the main tournament kicks off on Thursday evening.

The format is unique as it’s set play, like the World Championship, but it’s only the best of three legs in each set. Therefore, there’s really no room for error, especially in the early rounds, and a slow start could be very costly.

Last year, Luke Humphries took home the title after beating Jonny Clayton in the final. It was a fantastic game with Humphries 5-2 up in sets before Clayton came back to force the game to a last set. As composed as ever, Humphries managed to win the tournament and get the best possible start to his year.

This year, it should be an exciting tournament again and we have a whole weekend of it to enjoy before we find out who will be the first major winner this season.

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Outright

Hopefully with the short format, it will throw some surprising results. Reigning two-time World Champion, Luke Littler, only made it to the quarter finals last year being defeated by Jonny Clayton for a spot in the semi-finals. Littler is incredibly hard to beat in the long format games but, being prone to a slow start at times, this format isn’t one that particularly suits.

That said, you wouldn’t be surprised if he did have a fast start, he certainly would have learnt from his debut in the tournament last year. It’s also one of the few majors now that he needs to tick off his list, so he will be hungry for it! He is currently best price with Star Sports at 13/10 on the outright market.

Looking for some more value though, I think 11/2 is a fair price for Luke Humphries to defend his title from last year. In recent months, the results haven’t gone the way he would have liked them to, particularly in the recent World Series events. However, I feel that even though he’s had plenty of frustrating defeats, he is still playing consistently well.

Gian van Veen has definitely been a thorn in Humphries’ side the last few months but, although they are in the same half of the draw, they wouldn’t meet until the semi-finals should they both get there and, to me, it seems like van Veen has a slightly tougher route there than Humphries does. Van Veen’s section of the draw includes Nathan Aspinall, Gary Anderson and James Wade who are all playing well, as well as a few of the qualifiers to come.

Humphries will face Dave Chisnall in the first round, which he should come through, and from there I think he can kick on. He too will be hungry for more major success and will want to remind everyone that he’s still a force to be reckoned with in these tournaments.

Looking past the ‘two Lukes’ there’s also plenty of value to be had. After the last couple of weeks in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, it certainly looks like Michael Van Gerwen is coming back to form.

Last year, he wasn’t near his best for quite a large proportion of it and has been very vocal about his struggles too. If the first couple of events are anything to go by, it seems as though he’s ready to put that behind him and try to kick on again.

In Bahrain, he was brilliant in taking the title and came close to doing so again in Saudi Arabia making the final and just being beaten in that by Littler.

He has a nice section of the draw playing Damon Heta in the first round, another player who struggled with form last year, particularly in the televised events.

He’ll be coming into the competition more confident that he probably has been for a while therefore I think the 18/1 outright price could be worth a play.

Once this tournament is over, it’ll be non-stop for the players once again with the Premier League beginning next week, Pro Tours, Euro Tours and the UK Open on the horizon too, bring it on!

It’s great to have the darts back and the World Masters should be a good way to kick off what will hopefully be an exciting year of darting action.

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RECOMMENDED BETS
BACK Luke Humphries outright 2pts at 11/2 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Michael Van Gerwen outright 1pt each/way at 18/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

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PROFIT/LOSS (JAN 2026): -7.81 points

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