The biggest party in sports descends on the Big Apple this weekend.
The 2025 U.S. Darts Masters, the lone PDC tournament held in the States, gets underway Friday at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The tournament features 16 players – eight from the PDC and eight North American qualifiers – vying for the title.
Luke Littler, the current World Champion, is the betting favorite to win the tournament.
“The Nuke” sits at +175 odds at bet365, putting him just ahead of World No. 1 Luke Humphries, who is currently priced at +350.
Gerwyn “Ice Man” Price (+550), Michael “MVG” van Gerwen (+650) and Stephen “The Bullet” Bunting (+900) are the only other players tagged with single-digit odds for the tournament.
The format for the tournament heavily favors the PDC players, as they play a North American qualifier in Round 1, but we have seen some surprises on the stage at MSG in the past.
Two years ago Jeff Smith, who was a triple-digit long shot before the tournament, made it all the way to the final before losing to van Gerwen.
Last year’s winner, Rob Cross, had 16/1 odds before the tournament started.
A former world champion, Gerwyn Price, is having a resurgent 2025 season after he fell off the boil a bit in 2024.
The Welshman came up short in the Premier League semifinals against Littler, but he was one of the most consistent players throughout the competition and was a finalist in the 2025 World Cup of Darts earlier this month.
Of the players in the single-digits, Price has the most value to win this tournament.
Most of the elite players in the world can handle a big stage, but none may love it more than Damon “The Heat” Heta.
In a sport full of massive personalities, Heta may be the biggest of the lot.
The Australian is still searching for his first solo major title (he did win the 2022 World Cup of Darts with Simon Whitlock), but he’s been knocking on the door for quite a while.
Heta should relish the opportunity to play in front of a raucous crowd at MSG this weekend, and he will benefit from a draw that will see him avoid Littler until the semifinals.
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
