2025 US DARTS MASTERS PREVIEW

What, When and Where is the US Darts Masters?

The 2025 US Darts Masters is set to take place on the 27th and 28th of June in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The event has been held at the Theater at the iconic Maddison Square Garden since 2022, having previously been held in Las Vegas before a COVID-enforced break.

It will be the fourth of this year’s seven World Series events, and the first of a two-week double-header which also features the Poland Masters. The US Darts Masters has been won by five different players in its six editions.

2024 poster for the US Darts Masters.

What is the US Masters Format and Session Plan?

World Series events take place over just two days with evening sessions and feature 16 players: eight PDC representatives and eight regional representatives.

Round one features eight games, with PDC representatives facing regional representatives, and takes place on the first day.

The day two session features the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The sessions get underway at 19:00 and 19:30 local time respectively.

Unique to the US event, a one-session knockout event with only the regional representatives, known as the North American Championship, takes place on Saturday afternoon.

Who Qualifies for the US Darts Masters?

The PDC representatives are hand-picked, whereas there are qualifying rules for the regional representatives for this event, who all come from North America.

To get the eight regional representatives:

Any North American player with an active PDC tour card gets a spot.
The winner of the CDC’s Cross-Border Challenge gets a spot.
Any remaining spots go to CDC qualifying events.

Who are the PDC Representatives?

The eight seeded players are big stars selected by the PDC. The event features seven of the eight players from the line-up for this year’s Premier League:

Luke Humphries
Luke Littler
Michael van Gerwen
Stephen Bunting
Rob Cross
Gerwyn Price
Nathan Aspinall

The one exception is the selection of Australia’s Damon Heta, the only regional representative to win a World Series event in history, over Chris Dobey.

Who are the Tour Card Holder Qualifiers?

Any PDC tour card holder from North America automatically secures a spot.

Matt Campbell

Six-time Canadian World Cup representative.
Current World number 58 and 2024 North American Champion.
Two-time Players Championship event finalist.

Jim Long

Former World Cup quarterfinalist with Canada.
Two-time PDC World Championship qualifier.
Won his tour card outright at UK Q School at the start of this year.

Danny Lauby

Four-time American World Cup representative.
Former Players Championship event quarterfinalist.
Won his tour card through the UK Q School Order of Merit in 2024.

Jules van Dongen

Born in the Netherlands but represents the USA.
Tour card holder since 2022 but looks set to lose it at the end of this year.
Currently struggling with a dartitis-like technical issue.

Who are the CDC Qualifiers?

The CDC is North America’s PDC Affiliate Tour, and the winner of their American-Canadian Cross-Border Challenge qualifies.

Leonard Gates

Winner of three World Seniors Darts Tour majors in 2023.
Qualified for the Ally Pally twice and won a game on both occasions.
Reached round four of the 2024 UK Open.

A spot also goes to the current top of the CDC tour rankings:

Stowe Buntz

Qualified for the PDC World Championship in both 2024 and 2025.
Reached a PDC major semi-final at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts.
Won the CDC Continental Cup in 2023.

The final two spots went to the winners of two CDC qualifiers:

Adam Sevada

Won the first qualifier with a six-match tournament average of 88.77.
Also made it to last year’s US Darts Masters.
Winner of multiple CDC tour events already this year.

Jason Brandon

Won the second qualifier with a five-match tournament average of 86.55
Reached the semi-finals of the 2024 WDF World Championship.
Won the Charlotte Open in 2024.

Betting Tips for the US Darts Masters

Van Gerwen to Struggle?

It’s been well-documented that Michael van Gerwen, who hasn’t played an event in almost a month, has struggled with personal issues over recent months, so he should be very rusty and could be beatable in round one.

Heta to Seize the Opportunity?

Damon Heta, who reached a final in his last stage singles event, will be desperate to seize the opportunity the PDC have given him and put himself in contention for a 2026 Premier League place, so he could be a good outside bet for the title.

Sevada to Shine?

Sevada claimed back-to-back CDC titles early in June and has been tipped by many to be the sport’s next American star, so he could be a great bet to win his round one game.

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Who Have the Past Finalists Been?

Rob Cross is the defending champion having beaten Gerwyn Price in the event’s first title-deciding leg last year.

In 2023 Jeff Smith became the first North American player to reach the final, but he was whitewashed by Michael van Gerwen, who also won the first event back in 2017.

Van Gerwen also reached the final in 2022 but was beaten by Michael Smith, who himself was beaten by Nathan Aspinall in the 2019 final.

Gary Anderson won his most recent World Series title at the event in 2018, when he beat the then-reigning World Champion Rob Cross.

Rob Cross won the 2024 edition of the US Darts Masters. Photo: BBC

Which North American Players Have Won at the Event?

Canadian Dawson Murschell beat James Wade and Gerwyn Price in the first two editions of the event, while his compatriot Dave Richardson beat Max Hopp in 2017.

2019, the final edition of the tournament in Las Vegas, is the only edition so far not to feature a North American winning a game.

2022 saw Leonard Gates beat Fallon Sherrock 6-2, before losing to Peter Wright.

2023 saw Jeff Smith beat Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries to reach the final, and his compatriot Jim Long also managed to win his game against Michael Smith.

Jeff Smith also managed to make it out of round one last year with a 6-1 win against Michael Smith.