PREVIEW Friday Poland Darts Masters with Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price in action
PDC
The Poland Darts Masters gets underway tonight in Gliwice. At this fifth tournament of the World Series of Darts 2025, we will look for a successor to Luke Littler, who managed to win the tournament last year by beating Rob Cross 8-3 in the final.
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The Poland Darts Masters was first organized in 2023 and was then won by Michael van Gerwen. Along with Littler, last year's winner, the two former winners of this World Series tournament are thus also present at this year's edition.
Conspicuous absentee is world number one Luke Humphries. He is taking a week off after winning the US Darts Masters last week. Apart from Humphries, the entire top four of the world rankings will be present in Poland.
Follow the Poland Darts Masters via our live scores!
Follow the Poland Darts Masters via our live scores!
Chris Dobey v Gyorgy Jehirszki
The evening kicks off with the duel between Chris Dobey and Hungarian Gyorgy Jehirszki. Dobey, who competed in this year's Premier League Darts, obviously starts this duel as the towering favorite. Jehirszki managed to qualify for this tournament by defeating Janos Vegso in the final of the Hungarian qualifying tournament. Winning a few legs would probably already be a success for Jehirszki, after all, Dobey has been particularly good this year as evidenced by his two titles in the Players Championship.
Gerwyn Price v Sebastian Bialecki
Who is in even better shape this year is Gerwyn Price. After an ailing year in 2024, 'The Iceman' is back at it again. He recently indicated that he has been enjoying being back at the oche for some time now and that translates into his results. Price already won three Players Championships this year and also reached the semifinals of the Premier League Darts. Earlier this year, he also reached the final of the Bahrain Darts Masters, in which Stephen Bunting eventually proved too strong. The 40-year-old Welshman will take on Sebastian Bialecki in the first round of the Poland Darts Masters. The 21-year-old Pole has been a PDC Tour Card holder since the beginning of this year and has already won a tournament on the Development Tour. 'Bolt' has been known as a great talent for some time, wait and see if he can make things difficult for Price.
Rob Cross v Krzysztof Kciuk
Afterwards, it is the turn of Rob Cross and Krzysztof Kciuk to enter the fray. Cross reached the final at last year's Poland Darts Masters and will be keen to win it this year. However, "Voltage" has not been in form in recent weeks and has also been in the news negatively after being ordered to pay back a large sum of money in taxes. Against Kciuk, however, Cross should have little trouble. The Pole is a former Tour Card holder, but managed to present few appealing results.
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Michael van Gerwen v Pero Ljubic
Michael van Gerwen then follows against Pero Ljubic. 'Mighty Mike' returned to US Darts Masters last week after a brief absence due to his split from his wife and reached the quarter-finals there, where he lost to Price. Against fellow Tour Card holder Ljubic, Van Gerwen should have few problems. The Croatian somewhat surprisingly captured a Tour Card at Q-School earlier this year, but has barely won matches since.
Stephen Bunting v Tytus Kanik
Stephen Bunting is the man of the World Series of Darts 2025 for now. The Bullet has already won two tournaments (Bahrain Darts Masters and Nordic Darts Masters) and was a losing finalist at the Dutch Darts Masters. Bunting has moved up to fourth in the world rankings and is currently brimming with confidence. Against home player Tytus Kanik, at the time the first Pole ever to conquer a PDC Tour Card, Bunting starts as towering favorite to reach the quarter-finals.
Luke Littler v Karel Sedlacek
Luke Littler won the tournament last year and hopes to extend his title this year. The Nuke' became the youngest world champion ever earlier this year and added a second major at the beginning of March with the UK Open. Littler has been dry as far as tournament victories go and will therefore be extra keen to win the Poland Darts Masters this weekend. However, his opponent in the first round, Czech Karel Sedlacek, should not be underestimated. Sedlacek has a lot of experience and regularly throws high averages. If he succeeds in doing the same tonight, he might make things difficult for Littler.
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Jonny Clayton v Krzysztof Ratajski
The penultimate match of the evening features the duel between Jonny Clayton and Krzysztof Ratajski. Clayton may have the least luck with Ratajski among the PDC top players. The 48-year-old Pole has been an established player in the PDC for many years and has defeated all the top players on several occasions. After a lesser period, 'The Polish Eagle' is incidentally in excellent form in recent months. Clayton, however, can rely on his own strength and is in excellent form this year. 'The Ferret' already won a Players Championship and a Euro Tour in 2025 and reached the final at the Winmau World Masters early this year. Clayton-Ratajski announces itself as a particularly exciting duel.
Nathan Aspinall v Radek Szaganski
Rounding out the evening in Gliwice will be Nathan Aspinall and Radek Szaganski. 'The Asp', plagued by darteritus and injury problems, had a mediocre 2024. This year, however, he is at it again and has already won two Euro Tours. Just last week, Aspinall lost the final of the US Darts Masters against Humphries. Against Szaganski, the current number 80 in the world rankings, Aspinall is favorite, but it is best not to underestimate the Pole;
Schedule Poland Darts Masters 2025
Friday, July 4 (from 6 p.m.)
First round
Chris Dobey v Gyorgy Jehirszki
Gerwyn Price v Sebastian Bialecki
Rob Cross v Krzysztof Kciuk
Michael van Gerwen v Pero Ljubic
Stephen Bunting v Tytus Kanik
Luke Littler v Karel Sedlacek
Jonny Clayton v Krzysztof Ratajski
Nathan Aspinall v Radek Szaganski
Saturday, July 5 (from 6 p.m.)
Quarterfinal
Final
The Order of Play for the opening session in Gliwice... 🙌
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) July 3, 2025
Will we see any upsets tomorrow night?
👉 https://t.co/5rVNIhtZRa pic.twitter.com/xNfeyQ1axw
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Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
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- And why should he listen to you?Deduce635807-11-2026
- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026