Darts Tips: World Championship Day 2 Predictions & Odds
Water is wet and Luke Littler wins darts matches…
“The Nuke” glided into the second round of the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship on Thursday night sweeping aside the challenge of Darius Labanauskas via a 3-0 scoreline.
Darts Tips: World Championship Day 2
The reigning world champion joins Michael Smith, Madars Razma and Arno Merk in the next round, as we tick off the first four of the 64 matches to be played across the opening round.
Let’s take a look at some of the best betting tips for Day 2 of the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship:
Tip 1: Ricky Evans -1.5 handicap vs Man Lok Leung at 10/11 with bet365
Ricky Evans has had a positive 2025 so far.
The 35-year-old reached the quarter-finals at the Grand Slam of Darts and has had some positive results on the floor.
He’s up to No. 40 in the world and seems to thrive on the attention that he gets inside North London’s Alexandra Palace, so a decent showing in his first round outing wouldn’t be a surprise.
Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung is making his second appearance at the World Championship and will probably get a fair bit of support from the Ally Pally crowd.
But for the first of my darts tips, Evans should be able to take this 3-1 or 3-0 with some early wind in his sails.
Tip 2: Gian van Veen — Match win, most 180s and highest checkout vs Cristo Reyes at 5/6 with bet365
If Luke Littler doesn’t win the World Championship this year, then Gian van Veen should be one of the players waiting in the wings to swoop in.
The Dutchman broke his major duck this year by winning the European Championship and has been competitive across most of the other TV majors.
Cristo Reyes returns to the Ally Palace for the first time since 2020 and is a beneficiary of the extended invitee list this season — it’s unlikely he’s going to challenge the impressive 23-year-old.
A clean sweep for GvV (match win, most 180s and highest checkout) looks good.
Tip 3: Steve Lennon to beat Damon Heta at 2/1 with bet365
If there’s an upset on Day 2, then it could well come in the final match of the evening.
Steve Lennon has six previous appearances at the World Championship and with a crowd-pleasing walk-on song will get the fans on his side against the Australian.
Damon Heta has been knocking on the door of the darting elite for a few seasons, but with four first-round exits in TV majors so far this season will be nervous of another adding to that list.
Heta has lost to Scott Williams and Luke Woodhouse in previous World Championship outings, both players ranked well below him — Lennon will be wise to this fact.
Darts World Championship Day 2 Schedule
Here at Free Bets, we'll keep you up to speed with everything at the Ally Pally, so check out the schedule for today's play below.
Friday December 12
- Afternoon Session - 12:30pm Start
- Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha
- Ian White v Mervyn King
- Ryan Searle v Chris Landman
- Rob Cross v Cor Dekker
- Evening Session - 7:00pm Start
- Ross Smith v Andreas Harrysson
- Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung
- Gian van Veen v Cristo Reyes
- Damon Heta v Steve Lennon
Darts World Championship Latest Odds
As games are played, the best betting sites will be quick to change their odds for the outright markets, based on the results.
Here's a look at the very latest betting for the tournament, which gets updated in our feeds every time there's a price change.
