Betway Premier League Darts Returns Tonight

This year’s Betway Premier League Darts season gets underway tonight at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena and things begin with a heavyweight smash as the world’s top two players go toe to toe at the oche.

Defending champion (and likely tournament winner) Michael van Gerwen takes on his World Championship and Masters final opponent Gary Anderson.

 

Featuring 10 players that will all face each other once during the league phase, play takes place on Thursday nights, with the bottom two players in the table eliminated after Judgement Night on April 31.

A further six league nights take place between the remaining eight, half of whom will then progress to the play-offs at The O2 in London on Thursday, May 19.

Premier League Darts betting tips

Given that Michael van Gerwen will almost certainly walk away the league winner, his 8/13 doesn’t look too appealing. A far more interesting darts betting tip would be for MVG to go unbeaten through the whole campaign, available at 12/1 with SkyBet.

So, following a quick scan of the rest of the outrights, the best of the each way punts looks to be one or both of Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld. Tournament sponsors Betway have them priced at 25/1 and 33/1 respectively.

Elsewhere, Gary Anderson can be picked up at 9/2 with Bet365 and Betway, while the best available value on Peter Wright is 12/1, also at Bet365. The old master himself, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, who announced this week that this will be his final year throwing for the PDC, can be backed at 12/1 with SkyBet and Bet365.

Considering this is Taylor’s last Premier League campaign, he might be twice as determined to win it one last time and with a less gruelling schedule over the next few months, he might well be worth it.

Best bets for the top four

As the odds-on favourite, Michael van Gerwen will obviously make the top four and it is hard to think that he wouldn’t be joined there by Gary Anderson.

At 8/13 with Bet365, Peter Wright is odds-on to make it to London, but as I’m am backing ‘Jackpot’ or ‘Barney’ to make the final, I would be silly to not take advantage of their best prices here.

Said prices are 9/4 on Lewis at Betway and the same for Barney at SkyBet. Oh, and ‘The Power’ can be backed for a semi-final appearance for 6/5 with Bet365.

Premier League matchday one

League matches are played over a maximum of 12 legs, with players earning two points for a win and one point for a draw.

  • Gary Anderson v Michael van Gerwen
  • Kim Huybrechts v James Wade
  • Raymond van Barneveld v Adrian Lewis
  • Peter Wright v Jelle Klaasen
  • Phil Taylor v Dave Chisnall

With such concentrated class each week, it’s hard to pick match winners. For tonight at least, there is an obvious chance of Wade, Taylor & Wright to take all the points on offer.

If you think that MVG will beat Anderson and can pick a winner from RVB and Lewis, then Betway will pay out 21.6 on the fivefold, with cash out available.

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Darts Betting Tips: Michael Van Gerwen To Win Third Darts Masters?

Normal business resumes this Friday as the fifth PDC Darts Masters event takes place at Arena MK in Milton Keynes. Running for three days, the tournament draws in all the usual big names to usher in a new season.

The two-time defending champion here, (yes, who else but Michael van Gerwen?) will begin as the obvious favourite, looking to lift the trophy for the third straight year. The world number one signed off 2016 with 25 tournament victories before finishing the season in due style by winning the 2017 World Championship. After a three-week break, he is ready to roll again.

Darts Masters Betting Tips
   
At 8/13 at Bet365, MVG is without doubt the hot favourite to land this (and every other major televised darts title in the foreseeable future). In his way stands the usual roll call of those hoping to scupper his bid for glory: the likes of Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor and Peter Wright.

Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor is expected to take ‘the Barney route’ and enjoy a reduced schedule this year. The Power is waning and (as welcome as any success he enjoys would be) his declining force has rewarded us with the longest price I have seen on an outright Taylor win for as long as I can remember: 14/1 with both Betway and Bet365, so take your pick.

As proven earlier in the month at the Ally Pally, the closest threat to Mighty Mike will continue to come from Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson, two-time world champion and current world number two.

In the week of Burns’ Night, what price for a Scottish victory? That’ll be 5/1 according to both Betway and SkyBet, the latter offering an interesting 2/1 on an Anderson v MVG final. A look through the schedule below and this appears to be entirely likely, given the potential semi-final meet up between Anderson and Peter Wright.

Of course, the other challenger also counts as a Scot, despite a lacklustre 2016. As we enter the official 2017 schedule, nothing has changed for Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright. A major final or even title will surely happen for the guy this year, but will it come this early on or will he make us wait? I’m guessing the latter. Nevertheless, he is at 10/1 across the board and double figures on the world number three always looks inviting.

Adrian Lewis at 28/1, Raymond Van Barneveld at 28/1, Dave Chisnall at 33/1 and James Wade at 33/1 are the other standout names in the 16-player event, but I’ll go ahead and mark them down as “also rans” before a dart has been chucked.

The Masters has a top prize of £60,000 and will be broadcast live on ITV4.

The Masters Schedule

First round (best of 19)

Friday January 27 (19:00 GMT)

  • Dave Chisnall v Raymond van Barneveld
  • Phil Taylor v Michael Smith
  • Gary Anderson v Benito van de Pas
  • Peter Wright v Ian White

Saturday January 28 (19:00 GMT)

  • Mensur Suljovic v Jelle Klaasen
  • James Wade v Robert Thornton
  • Michael van Gerwen v Simon Whitlock
  • Adrian Lewis v Kim Huybrechts

Quarter-finals (best of 19)

Sunday January 29, Afternoon Session (12:45 GMT)

  • Taylor/Smith v Wright/White
  • Anderson/Van de Pas v Chisnall/Van Barneveld
  • Wade/Thornton v Lewis/Huybrechts
  • Van Gerwen/Whitlock v Suljovic/Klaasen

Semi-finals (best of 21)

Sunday January 29, Evening Session (19:00 GMT)

  • Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 2
  • Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 4

Final (best of 21)

  • Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2
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A Double Dutch World Championship Is Our Top Darts Betting Tip

BDO World Championship

 

Need your darts betting fix? Don’t we all; we established last week it’s a jam-packed 2017, though, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long!

As we wait for the PDC Darts Masters at the end of next week, there is the small matter of the BDO World Championships to finish off. The second round drew to close at Lakeside on Thursday and is, at last, a tournament that Michael Van Gerwen cannot win.

BDO World Championship of Darts betting tips

Scott ‘Scotty Too Hotty’ Waites launched his BDO world title defence on Tuesday and duly oversaw Dennis Harbour without any problems at all, running out the 3-1 winner. Waites, the reigning and two-time Lakeside king, remains 10/1 at with Betway to reclaim his crown.

Up until this point, he has had a disappointing season winning only the European Classic since his championship twelve months ago, but he and his following know that Lakeside traditionally brings out the best in him.

The top seed by some distance, however, is Glen Durrant; you’ll find him evens at both Bet365 and Betway after his second-round win against Paul Hogan. A defiant Durrant rallied hard to claim his place in the quarter-finals after coming back from three sets down to defeat Hogan 4-3.

Second-favourite and third seed, Dutchman Danny ‘Noppie’ Noppert, can make it a World Championship double for the Netherlands by following Michael Van Gerwen and lifting the best trophy in his code. At 4/1 across the board, it is worth a punt and is the best darts betting tip on offer this week.

Noppert, winner of five titles this year including the Scottish and German Opens, made his hotly-anticipated Lakeside debut where he hogged all the glory against David Cameron (no, not that one) in the opening tie of Tuesday’s afternoon session. It is surely only a matter of time before he steps up to the PDC Tour.

Great darts betting odds at Bet365

For those a little further down the field, Jamie Hughes, who played in Wednesday’s evening session, represents the best of the betting with the 9/1 on offer at Bet365, the best price available on the Englishman.

The Netherlands’ Geert de Vos saw off the challenge of Scott Mitchell with a 4-2 win, and the other Dutchman in the betting now finds himself at 10/1, again at Bet365.

Elsewhere, crowd favourite and three-time champion Martin Adams is 13/1 at Bet365 to emerge victorious in Sunday’s final. ‘Wolfie’ took a step closer to that final Wednesday afternoon when he played against Jeff Smith and saw off the challenge with relative ease, finishing at 4-1 to move into Friday’s Quarter Finals.

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