The World Series of Darts Finals arrive in Amsterdam this week, and once again Luke Littler will start as the man everyone wants to stop.
With another major title on offer, the question facing the 31 other players in the field is becoming increasingly familiar: how do you beat Luke Littler?
There is a growing feeling around darts that Littler may simply keep winning. His level in 2026 has been extraordinary, and when he gets into the longer televised formats he has often looked almost impossible to stop.
So ahead of the World Series Finals, rather than simply asking who might beat him in Amsterdam, I wanted to look at a slightly different question.
How do you actually beat Luke Littler?
The Q4QS data gives us six examples from 2026.
Littler’s current profile shows 41 wins from 47 matches, an 87.2% win rate, with six defeats.
Those six defeats are:
Gerwyn Price, 6-2 — Bahrain Masters
Niels Zonneveld, 6-5 — Belgian Open
Luke Humphries, 7-5 — Nordic Masters
Luke Humphries, 8-7 — US Masters
Jermaine Wattimena, 6-5 — Players Championship 27
Brendan Dolan, 7-4 — Players Championship 28
Five of those defeats are grouped in Littler’s profile, with the Dolan loss appearing among his most recent matches.
And there is one thing that jumps out immediately.
Every single defeat came in a relatively short format.
None of Littler’s defeats in the Q4QS 2026 data came in the sort of long race we see later in the biggest televised events.
That may be the first real clue.
Short Formats Give You a Chance
The theory is simple.
If Littler is producing a higher level than almost everybody else over a sustained period, then the longer the match goes, the more opportunity that superiority has to show itself.
A shorter race creates more variance.
One missed double, one 12-dart leg from the opponent, one poor visit at the wrong time, and suddenly there may not be enough match left for Littler to recover.
Jermaine Wattimena’s win is a perfect example.
Wattimena beat Littler 6-5 at Players Championship 27 while averaging just 92.36. Littler averaged 95.68.
That was not a case of somebody producing a 110 average and blowing Littler away.
It was a short match, Littler dropped below his usual level, and Wattimena took the opportunity.
Gerwyn Price did something similar in Bahrain.
Price won 6-2 with a 97.43 average while Littler averaged 94.04.
Again, it was not a superhuman performance.
It was simply good enough at exactly the right time.
But Waiting for Littler to Play Badly Is Not Enough
There is another side to this.
Niels Zonneveld beat Littler 6-5 at the Belgian Open despite Littler averaging 103.20.
Luke Humphries has beaten him twice, and both performances were at genuinely elite level.
Humphries averaged 105.42 in a 7-5 win and 104.05 in an 8-7 victory.
That gives us two different ways Littler has been beaten this year.
The first is to catch him on an ordinary day and punish it immediately.
The second is to play outstanding darts yourself and stay with him right through the short race.
The second route is obviously much harder.
But Humphries has already shown twice that it is possible.
Humphries Has the Strongest Case
If I were looking for the player with the clearest evidence that they can beat Littler rather than simply hope Littler has an off day, Humphries would be top of the list.
He is the only player in the six defeats to have beaten Littler twice.
More importantly, neither win came because Littler collapsed.
Littler still averaged 100.85 and 99.50 in those defeats.
Humphries simply played better.
That matters.
There are plenty of players capable of beating Littler if he averages 94 or 95.
There are far fewer who look capable of beating him when he is around 100 or above.
Humphries has done it.
Of course, even that does not make him some sort of Littler kryptonite.
Littler beat Humphries 6-5 at the World Masters earlier in the year, averaging 104.72.
He also beat him in the recent Czech Darts Open final.
So this is not a one-sided rivalry.
It is simply the strongest evidence in the field that somebody can go toe-to-toe with Littler at a high level and still come out on top.
Price Has Beaten Him — But the Longer Match Told a Different Story
Gerwyn Price is another obvious threat.
He has already beaten Littler this year, winning 6-2 in Bahrain.
But the World Matchplay showed how dramatically things can change when the format gets longer.
Price averaged 104.97 in the final.
That is the sort of number that wins most matches.
Against Littler, it was nowhere near enough.
Littler won 18-9 and averaged 111.53.
That may be the best single example of why a long format is such a problem.
Price had already proved he could beat Littler over a shorter race.
Later in the year he actually played far better against him — and lost heavily.
That is not proof that format alone caused the difference, but it is certainly consistent with the wider pattern.
Over a long match, Littler has more time to find his best level.
And once he does, even an opponent averaging 104 or 105 can be in serious trouble.
Van Gerwen Has a Different Kind of Case
Michael van Gerwen has not beaten Littler in the Q4QS 2026 profile data.
Littler beat him 8-5 in Saudi Arabia.
So purely on this season’s evidence, Van Gerwen would not rank above Humphries or Price as the most proven threat.
But the World Series Finals are in Amsterdam.
And that changes the feel of the story.
Van Gerwen is the defending champion, having beaten Littler 11-7 in the 2025 final at the same venue.
That does not mean history will repeat itself.
But if there is one place where Van Gerwen should walk onto stage believing he can beat Littler, Amsterdam is probably it.
He has already done it there when the title was on the line.
Wattimena Has Already Shown the Blueprint
Jermaine Wattimena may actually be one of the most interesting names in this discussion.
His win over Littler came recently, it came over a short distance, and it came without an enormous average.
He simply stayed close enough and took his opportunity.
That is probably far more realistic for most of the field than trying to produce 110 darts.
Wattimena’s example says something important.
You do not necessarily need to be the better player over 20 or 30 legs.
You need to be the better player over the legs that actually get played.
That is a very different challenge.
The Opening Rounds in Amsterdam May Be the Danger
That brings us directly back to this week's World Series Finals.
Danny Noppert gets the first chance at Littler.
On paper, Littler is the obvious favourite.
Noppert has already lost 10-6 to him at the UK Open this year.
But if the short-format pattern is real, the early rounds may actually provide the best opportunity for an upset.
A player like Noppert does not need to prove he is better than Littler across an entire season.
He does not even need to prove he is better across a long match.
He needs one sharp spell, one strong finishing run, and perhaps one ordinary patch from Littler.
That is why an early-round opponent can sometimes be more dangerous than a bigger name waiting later in the tournament.
So Who Can Stop Him in Amsterdam?
Based on the evidence I have, I would split the main threats into different categories.
Luke Humphries is the strongest proven high-level threat. He has beaten Littler twice while producing elite averages.
Gerwyn Price has already beaten him and has the scoring power to do it again, although the Matchplay showed just how hard the task becomes over longer distances.
Jermaine Wattimena has the most recent proof that a short-format upset does not require a massive average.
Michael van Gerwen has the Amsterdam history, the crowd and the memory of beating Littler in last year’s final.
And then there are players such as Wessel Nijman, Gian van Veen and Nathan Aspinall who may not have the same direct 2026 evidence against Littler, but have shown they can produce high enough levels against elite opposition to be dangerous on the right night.
The Best Way to Beat Littler May Be to Beat Him Quickly
The most obvious conclusion from the six defeats is not that Littler has a particular weakness against one specific player.
It is that the window for beating him appears to be much wider when the match is short.
If Littler averages 94 or 95, there are several players capable of punishing him.
If he averages around 100, Humphries and Zonneveld have shown he can still be beaten.
But once the match becomes long enough for Littler to settle, recover from poor spells and repeatedly produce his best scoring, the job appears to become dramatically harder.
That makes the early stages of the World Series Finals particularly interesting.
Noppert gets the first opportunity. If Littler survives that and starts finding his range, the challenge facing everyone else could become progressively harder.
So perhaps the message for Amsterdam is simple.
Do not give him time.
Do not assume you will get another chance.
And if Littler opens the door, go through it immediately.
Because if the match becomes a long one, his 2026 results suggest that door may close very quickly.
