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December9March 30, 2022

PDC World Championship Darts 2020 Betting Preview Part One

The 2020 PDC World Darts Championship gets underway on December 13 running all the way through to January 1, pitting 96 players against each other for £2.5 million in prize money and the Sid Waddell Trophy live on Sky Sports.

All eyes at the Alexandra Palace will be on the reigning champion and three-time winner here Michael van Gerwen , who bagged this title last year on New Year’s Day 2019 after defeating Michael Smith in the final.

The tournament will also bid an emotional goodbye to Raymond van Barneveld, who will kick off his final tournament as a professional player against Darin Young before potentially meeting compatriot and former protégé Jeffrey de Zwaan in the second round. A Barney win would be hugely popular and for the romantics out there, the Dutch legend has been installed as a 150/1 shot at Betway.

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Another Dutchman, Geert Nentjes, could potentially meet the 2018 World Champion Rob Cross in Round Two, should he get past Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts in his first match. World number two Gerwyn Price will play against William O’Connor or Marko Kantele, while Peter Wright will open up against either Rowby-John Rodriguez or Noel Malicdem. Double World Champion Adrian Lewis, who Betway have priced at 80/1, will face either Cristo Reyes or Lourence Ilagan.

Last year’s runner up Michael Smith will be looking to go one better this time around but will need to navigate his way past Luke Woodhouse or Paul Lim, while another double Ally Pally hero Gary Anderson will meet Brendan Dolan or Nitin Kumar.

Mensur Suljovic can be picked up for 50/1 at Betway which might be of interest to some. The Gentle gets underway against Ted Evetts or Fallon Sherrock, one of two female competitors along with Mikuru Suzuki.

Three-time Lakeside champion Glen Durrant knows what it takes to go all the way in a tournament such as this but the PDC is a step up from the BDO event so there will be no hiding place for Duzza. That said, he has a kind draw and has so far looked at home on this tour, every inch the PDC player and a deep run should come as a surprise to no one. Duzza will make his tournament debut against Jose de Sousa or Damon Heta and has been priced at 28/1 with Betway.

Leading to the event, we will take a look at how the top ten ranked darters on the PDC circuit might fare this time around. Go here for Part 2 of the PDC World Championship Darts 2020 Preview.

Dave Chisnall

PDC World Ranking: 10
Age: 39
Home Town: St Helens, England
Nickname: Chizzy
Walk on Music: Dizzy (Vic Reeves and The Wonderstuff)
Best World Championship Performance: Quarter Final 2017, 2019

Like the other players here, Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall needn’t worry about his first-round appearance as he doesn’t have one due to being exempt until round two courtesy of seeding. What we do know is that he will be facing either Dutchman Vincent van der Vort or Irish teenager Keane Barry in the next round. A quarter-finalist last year, he has performed strongly in the backend of 2019 since winning the Danish Open in June so he will fancy his chances of going a round or two better at the Alexandra Palace this year.

When he’s on his game, Chizzy is a high-scoring performer with a tendency to land the maximums and has looked in good shape recently making another three finals, a couple of semis plus a run to the last eight of the Grand Slam. That said, his doubles can desert him so you can never expect anything from Chizzy. While I wouldn’t back Chizzy for the win, he looks a strong shout for a runners-up slot and so could maybe be worth an each-way punt.

Betway Price: 22/1

Ian White

PDC World Ranking: 9
Age: 49
Home Town: Runcorn, England
Nickname: Diamond
Walk on Music: Play that funky music (Wild Cherry)
Best World Championship Performance: Quarter Final 2014

Ian White finally made it into a major TV semi-final having bust out in the quarter-finals more times than we can remember. During last month’s Players Championship Finals, he overcame William O’Connor in a 10-9 victory which, while his best televised performance, is still unlikely to propel him on to success at the Aly Pally. Were it not those pesky TV cameras, we might be prepared to drop a little cash on him showing, as he does have a superb form away from TV or in the early rounds of a major event like this one. While he has crept into the world’s top ten, it would take something special to make it through to the later rounds here, even with his semi-final hoodoo put to bed. His best showing here in North London? You guessed it, the quarter-finals of course, which is unlikely to be bettered this year at least.

Betway Price: 66/1

James Wade

PDC World Ranking: 8
Age: 36
Home Town: Aldershot, England
Nickname: The Machine
Walk on Music: Baba O’Riley (The Who) followed by The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy)
Titles: World Matchplay (2007), World Grand Prix (2007, 2010), Premier League (2009), Champions League (2010), European Championship (2018), UK Open (2008, 2011), Darts Masters (2014)
Best World Championship Performance Semi-Final 2009, 2012, 2013

Wade went into this event last year having produced his best form for a long time, collecting two TV wins for the first time since earning the Darts Masters in 2014. But, sadly for The Machine, what a difference 12 months make. The Machine has amassed an impressive eight major trophies in a career that has spanned the dominating brilliance of both Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and Mighty Michael van Gerwen. And yet, save for second place in The Masters and a smattering of regional Players Championship events, it’s been a quiet year for the former mechanic but he remains, as always, very dangerous when his opponents miss their doubles and is one of the best in the world at checkouts so you can never truly rule The Machine out.

Betway Price: 50/1

Peter Wright

PDC World Ranking: 7
Age: 49
Home Town: Livingston, Scotland
Nickname: Snakebite
Walk on Music: Intro to The Greatest Show (The Greatest Showman soundtrack) followed by Don’t Stop the Party (Pitbull)
PDC Titles: UK Open (2017), World Cup of Darts (2019)
Best World Championship Performance: Runner Up (2014)

We will have to wait and see which darts Snakebite will opt for at the Ally Pally given that he messes about with them so much. Fans will certainly hope he chooses wisely as darts’ number one entertainer will be expected, and willed, to go deep in the tournament and add to the Christmas fun. On the oche, Wright had one of his poorer years but picked this up after the summer, reaching the final at the Champions League of Darts and the Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost out to Gerwyn Price.

Snakey will have been on the dartboard sorting out his finishing in time for the Worlds, but as ever, the first game remains essential for him. Early form at the Grand Slam propelled him into the final and a similar start here could provide him with the same kind of momentum to run deep. In fact, the only thing that will likely send him on a long journey at this event is a good start, with some equally good stats. Anything less will do him no favours at all and could leave him in trouble.

Betway Price: 14/1

Daryl Gurney

PDC World Ranking: 6
Age: 33
Home Town: Derry, Northern Ireland
Nickname: Superchin
Walk on Music: Superman March (Boston Pops Orchestra and John Williams) followed by Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
PDC Titles: World Grand Prix (2017), Players Championship Finals (2018)
Best World Championship Performance: Quarter-Final (2017)

Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney will open up his campaign against either Justin Pipe or 40-year-old Benjamin Pratnemer of Slovenia in the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship on Saturday Dec 21. While Superchin will remain confident, one would think that Gurney will be hoping for the latter having never beaten Pipe in a competitive match, losing on the two occasions they have matched up in the past.

Should he put Pipe away — if were they to meet — and then draw, it would pit him against Glenn Durrant in a very tricky tie from which a potential winner could emerge. Superchin has great scoring power but does tend to miss plenty of darts at the double in odd legs. This is always costly when closing out sets in an event such as this, but a fairly kind draw means you have to give him a serious chance of winning this.

Betway Price: 40/1

QUICK GLANCE AT THE 2020 PDC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DARTS

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London
Dates: Friday 13.12.2019 to Wednesday 01.01.2020
Format: Best of 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 sets
Current Champion: Michael van Gerwen
Where To Watch: Sky Sports
When To Watch: (1230, 1900 GMT)

November29December 9, 2019

Michael van Gerwen Wins Players Championship Finals

By Peter FryersIn

Darts Betting Tips

Michael van Gerwen collected yet another award at the weekend when he took down the Player Championships Finals in Minehead. He did so at the expense of Gerwyn Price, who had beaten MVG a week earlier when he successfully defended his Grand Slam of Darts title.

This time though it was The Iceman who felt the heat while once again playing like one of the very best players on the circuit right now. The absolute very best, however, is the Dutchman, who hit the year’s first and so far only televised nine-darter on Saturday, and who in the final came out on top 11-9 even if he only just narrowly avoided being dragged into a deciding leg.

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The Dutchman wins another

Despite both players averaging under 100, the final was an entertaining affair, packed full of drama, in which the duo traded legs repeatedly. Oddly, the pair missed 17 darts at double between them before Van Gerwen eventually drew first blood on double two. From there, the game followed a routine pattern until Price led for the first time at 7-6 and later 8-7.

Mighty Mike then began to put the squeeze on proceedings and moved to 10-8 ahead before doubling his lead with double 12. One break later and The Iceman’s momentum looked like deserting him and he could only watch while MVG reeled off three consecutive legs in 15, 14 and 14 darts.

The Welshman fought back though, driven on by the fact that he has finally overcome his MVG hoodoo, and a classy 13-darter kept his hopes alive. These hopes disappeared, however, when Price narrowly missed out on double tops that would have taken the game to a decider but instead allowed the world champion back in to take his 51st individual career TV title and fourth in as many weeks.

Earlier on in the weekend, Mighty Mike had landed a stunning nine-darter against Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis, himself a two-time world champion. He followed this up by triumphing in a poor quality, bad-tempered quarter-final against Mervyn King in which MVG labeled The King as being bad for darts. Diamond Ian White finally made it past the quarter-final stage of a televised tourney only to run into MVG, who dismissed him in an 11-8 semi-final victory on his way to meet The Iceman.

Speaking of The Iceman, who continues to turn jeers into cheers, he met and overcame Mickey Mansell 6-3, whitewashing Keegan Brown before putting Mensur Suljovic away 10-4. He then moved on to Stephen Bunting (10-3) and Chris Dobey (11-8) before appearing in his third major final in four events.

PDC World Championships Darts 2020 Draw

Sunday’s win was the perfect preparation for Van Gerwen, his 14th title of the year so far, ahead of next month’s World Championships, where he’ll be bidding to land a fourth title on New Year’s Day. He is also one step closer to knowing who his first-round opponent will be after the draw for the Ally Pally was made this week.

This year, the Championships run from December 13 to January 1 and, as always, take place at London’s Alexandra Palace. Make no mistake, this festive event is the biggest event in darts featuring 96 players.

On New Year’s Day 2019, Michael van Gerwen beat Michael Smith 7-3 to win the Championships for the third time. Mighty Mike is unsurprisingly the favourite to retain his title and get his hands on the Sid Waddell Trophy once again. Judging on current form, Gerwyn Price looks to be his biggest threat but don’t ever rule out the likes of Peter Wright, Michael Smith or Rob Cross either. Full preview coming up soon.