The Top 5 Darts Matches Of All Time

The Top 5 Darts Matches Of All Time

Top 5 Darts Matches Of All Time

Darts has gone from being a pub game to one of the most entertaining, if a tad silly, sports in the world.

Despite its lowly status, it’s become a real money-spinner for the TV companies as well as its organisers and is today one of the most-watched sports on the telly with millions of people around the world tuning in every week to watch.

Darts is also one of the most bet on sports in the UK and globally too and, increasingly, we are seeing more and more participants from a growing number of different countries.

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But how did we get here?

Well, for one thing, it is a great laugh, but otherwise to answer that, here, in no particular order, is our collection of the top five darts matches of all time.

Phil Taylor vs Raymond van Barneveld (2007)

Ask most darts fans what they believe is the greatest darts match in history and they will probably say the 2007 PDC World Championship final between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld.

Not only was it an epic, but it was also the last year the Circus Tavern hosted the World Championships before proceedings relocated to the Alexandra Palace where they famously remain today.

Here, Barney was playing in his first PDC final after moving over from the BDO, where he had been a four-time champion. 

His opponent, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor was already a 13-time world champion, and it was Taylor, looking to continue a 21 match winning streak at the Circus Tavern, that was to race into a three-set lead.

Taylor had held the trophy since 2004, racking up a 21-match unbeaten run prior to this match but, with a whitewash looking increasingly on the cards, van Barneveld turned the match on its head starting with his, and the tourney’s, first 170 checkout.

Barney went on to take the next three sets to bring the match to 6-6, forcing a deciding set in the process.

The drama didn’t end there. With Barney missing three match darts, the first 10 legs of the decider went with throw before van Barneveld once again failed to take his chance.

Even then, Taylor couldn’t take advantage leaving Barney to eventually hit tops for the title and secure a debut PDC World Championship victory.

Adrian Lewis vs Phil Taylor (2013)

At the 2013 Grand Slam of Darts, we were treated to one of the most exciting matchups in living darts memory.

The reason that it has gone down in legend is that there aren’t many matches that manage to contain a stunning 32 maximums thrown inside of 25 legs.

It’s hard to recall now because his drop-off has been so considerable, but there was a time when Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis was a true king of the darting world. 

He is a two-time, back-to-back world champion after all, banking the big one in both 2011 and 2012.

In his 2013 Grand Slam clash with fellow Potter Phil Taylor, who has claimed this was the best he ever played, Lewis finished the match with a 110.99 average with his opponent posting 109.46.

In a sign of things to come, Taylor opened with 180 with his first three darts of the match and would go on to finish the game with a 16-9 triumph over his own darting protégé.

By the end of the match, the triple 20 was completely destroyed such was the quality the two Stoke chuckers showed on the night.

To this day, there has never been more 180s hit in a PDC match and never has anyone with such a high average as Jackpot posted that night finished on the losing side.

Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross (2018)

Going into the 2018 World Championships, no one had really heard of Rob Cross.

Only a year earlier, Voltage, as the former electrician is known, was watching the event on TV like the rest of us while he was still a member of the Challenge Tour.

Having been encouraged by his uncle to have one last shot at pro darts, Cross set off on his first season with the PDC, where he cashed over £300,000 in prize money and banked four tournament wins.

Nothing could prepare him for what was to follow, though. 

Making it to the Alexandra Palace, Cross went more than deep, reaching the semi-finals, where he was to face the world number one, Michael van Gerwen.

While this was supposed to be a banker for MVG, Cross stayed with his man, helped admittedly by Mighty Mike missing un unlikely 58 doubles during the match.

Unfortunately for the world number one at the time, five of his missed doubles came in the deciding set with the match at 5-4.

With the match firmly in the balance in the sudden-death leg, Cross missed a double 16 for what would have been a 140 checkout.

MVG then repeated the trick which allowed Cross to finally keep his composure and land double eight for the match and complete a remarkable victory. 

Even more remarkably, a retiring Phil Taylor awaited in the final for a fairy tale finish to a glittering career only to be upstaged by Cross, who would finish his first year on the tour as the world champion. 

Raymond van Barneveld v Michael van Gerwen (2016)

Although Taylor was still playing in 2016, and in fact still had another Ally Pally final in him, darts was by now under new command.

Its new number one was the Green Machine, Mighty Michael van Gerwen. 

In the season building up to that year’s World Championships, MVG had taken down The Masters, the UK Open, the World Darts Matchplay, the Grand Slam of Darts, the European Championship and the Players Championship.

On top of this, he was also unbeaten in more than two months and in 25 televised darts matches overall.

In short, van Gerwen was the heavy favourite going into the 2016 PDC Darts World Championships.

However, he was to meet a compatriot in the third round where that year’s title challenge would come unstuck.

That compatriot was, of course, Raymond van Barneveld, who boasted 11 defeats in 14 meetings with fellow Dutchman MVG.

And yet, van Barneveld won 4-3 in sets, despite Mighty Mike boasting an average of 105.78 on the night.

The turning point came in the fifth set when MVG, on whose throw it was, landed a 180 on his way to, what he hoped would be, a cruise into a 3-2 lead in sets.

At this point, van Barneveld needed 304 and somehow duly dug out a maximum, followed by a 124 finish on double 11 to turn the set, and eventually the tie, in his favour and bring an end to van Gerwen’s unbeaten run.

Phil Taylor v Eric Bristow (1997)

Two of the most famous darters of all time went head to head in 97 when the master took on his apprentice.

True their eras of dominance never really collided, and everything pointed to the young Taylor, then coming into his peak years, comfortably seeing off the challenge of his former mentor, who was, by then, some way past his own prime.

As loved as The Power was, and is, the sporting romantics couldn’t help but hope for one last show from the veteran Crafty Cockney

Think along the lines of Tiger’s Masters win in 2018 but considerably more low-key.

Sometime earlier in the 90’s Bristow had been diagnosed with Dartitis, a repetitive strain injury that had left his game compromised, hence Taylor going into the game as the heavy favourite in the darts betting that year.

As a little background, it was Bristow who had discovered the young Taylor back in Stoke, seeing in him instantly the raw talent that would later see The Power unquestionably go on to become the greatest darts player of all time.

The setting was the Circus Tavern in Essex, which back then hosted the World Championships and we’re at the semi-final stage.

And, while Taylor did lead for most of the game, the former protégée was unable to shake off the threat from his close friend in a first to five format match.

Things looked like they were going the way of The Power as he moved ahead 4-3 in sets and 2-1 up in legs.

Requiring only one more leg for victory, Taylor’s visit left a double four hanging, and with Bristow on 141, up stepped The Crafty Cockney to work his way down to 24, where he pinned the double 12 to take things to a deciding set.

Although Taylor would later end up winning the match – despite missing three darts at 32 – it was one last show of defiance from the legendary Bristow, without whom not only would we not have Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor but who was also behind the reinvention of darts as we know it today.

Of course, come the final, Taylor would become world champion once again.

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World Cup of Darts 2021 Darts Betting Tips

World Cup of Darts 2021 Darts Betting Tips

2021 World Cup Of Darts

Live televised PDC darts makes its return this week when the 2021 World Cup of Darts takes place in Jena, Germany. The Darts World Cup begins on Thursday with games taking place in evening and afternoon sessions over the weekend until we reach the final on Friday night.

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32 nations will be represented by two-player teams the top seeds of which are England are the top seeds. James Wade and Phil Chisnall will be turning out for England, but it’s reigning champions Wales that catch the eye.

Since they took the title last year, Welsh darts has enjoyed something of a bumper year. Gerwyn Price was ranked third in the world this time in 2020 but has since usurped Michael van Gerwen as the world number one after he won the PDC World Championship in January. But, while that was largely expected, the rise of his Wales teammate Jonny Clayton has been more surprising. 

The Ferret is now the Darts Masters and Premier League of Darts champion as well as being ranked 13th in the world. Clayton’s successes as well as those of the Iceman, means Welsh darts is thriving right now. This dangerous pairing, which has improved since conquering this event last year, are very much the team to beat.

The Iceman also travels to Germany on the back of winning the Hungarian Darts Trophy, while Clayton has banked four event wins this season and almost made it five in last month’s Players Championship.

Who is favored to win World Cup of Darts 2021?

Wales open up against Finland on Thursday and bet365 have priced them up at 15/8 to retain their title and it’s hard to argue against that. In addition to Finland, the Welsh quarter of the draw includes Hungary, Lithuania, Australia, Italy, the USA and Sweden.

While there isn’t too much in that quarter to worry the Welsh team, the threat of Australia can’t be overlooked. Australia will be represented by Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock, who will be hoping to do as well as possible to honour Australian darter Kyle Anderson, who died last month. 

When teamed up with Paul Nicholson back in 2012, Whitlock came close to winning this event and has made the last eight three times and the last four on three other occasions. The Aussie pair met recently at the Hungarian Darts Trophy, where Heta beat Whitlock. Their pooled talents here could prove to be a danger for the Welsh. 

Another home nation, Scotland, will be represented by Peter Wright, who is now joined by John ‘The Highlander’ Henderson following the withdrawal of Gary Anderson. At 12/1, Scotland represents real value and will begin their campaign against Chinese debutants Jianfeng Lu and Wenqing Liu in a match where it is hard to see the Scottish pair struggling, especially given how well the recently-crowned World Matchplay champion, Snakebite, performed when we last saw him.

That’s not to say that you don’t get shocks in this event. One year before they became World Champions, Wales was beaten by Singapore, who have also beaten Scotland in the past, but won’t come up against them in the early rounds this time thanks to the draw.

England’s James Wade and Dave Chisnall are the top seeds based on their respective rankings. The 4/1 shots find themselves in the first quarter of the draw alongside their first opponents Brazil, Spain, South Africa, Canada, Russia, Japan, and the host nation, Germany.

England is the odds-on favourites to win their draw but together Chizzy and The Machine haven’t won much of late, save for the UK Open in Wade’s case and an excellent and memorable win over Michael van Gerwen at the last World Championship in the case of Chisnall. This is hardly inspiring stuff from the English.

Speaking of Michael van Gerwen, he is partnered by debutant Dirk van Duijvenbode, which should make The Netherlands more than dangerous at 9/2. Drawn in the fourth quarter alongside the likes of Denmark, Gibraltar, Singapore, China, the Czech Republic, Poland and Scotland, the Netherlands — who open up against Denmark — should make it through to the final stages, although Scotland and Poland might prove tricky.

There is some top talent on show in the Second Quarter as well, where Belgium should prevail. Dimitri Van Den Bergh is partnered by Kim Huybrechts in a group that boasts Greece, Austria, Philippines, Northern Ireland, Hong Kong, the Republic of Ireland and Portugal, for whom world number eight and PDC Grand Slam holder Jose De Sousa will star.

Belgium has been knocking at the door for some years now, reaching the final in 2013, but are now more threatening than ever due to the emergence of world number-five and former Matchplay winner Dimitri Van den Bergh.

The Dream Maker played superbly in the recent Matchplay renewal, where despite chucking some stunning numbers, ultimately came up short against a Peter Wright who was himself throwing his best darts in years. Teamed with the 2013 runner-up Kim Huybrechts, Belgium look well worth their 6/1 price.

The fourth and final home nation, Northern Ireland, is also in this quarter and looks like providing a nice each-way bet at 14/1 with bet365. Their team consists of Brendan Dolan, who recently beat Michael van Gerwen on his way to the Hungarian Darts Trophy quarters, where he lost to eventual winner Gerwyn Price and whose average of 96 is the 12th highest here. He teams up with Daryl Gurney with whom he reached the semis during 2017 and neither should be troubled by their opening fixture against Hong Kong on Friday.

Darts World Cup 2021 Teams

  • England – James Wade & Dave Chisnall
  • Wales – Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton
  • Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen & Dirk van Duijvenbode
  • Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh & Kim Huybrechts
  • Northern Ireland – Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
  • Scotland – Peter Wright & John Henderson
  • Australia – Simon Whitlock & Damon Heta
  • Germany – Gabriel Clemens & Max Hopp
  • Austria – Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez
  • Brazil – Diogo Portela & Artur Valle
  • Canada – Jeff Smith & Matt Campbell
  • China – Jianfeng Lu & Wenqing Liu
  • Czech Republic – Karel Sedlacek & Adam Gawlas
  • Denmark – Andreas Toft Jørgensen & Niels Heinsøe
  • Finland – Marko Kantele & Veijo Viinikka
  • Gibraltar – Sean Negrette & Justin Hewitt
  • Greece – John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
  • Hong Kong – Kai Fan Leung & Man Lok Leung
  • Hungary – János Végső & Patrik Kovács
  • Italy – Danilo Vigato & Michele Turetta
  • Japan – Matsuda Jun & Yoshihisa Baba
  • Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas & Mindaugas Barauskas
  • Philippines – Lourence Ilagan & Christian Perez
  • Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk
  • Portugal – Jose de Sousa & Jose Marques
  • Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor & Steve Lennon
  • Russia – Boris Koltsov & Evgenii Izotov
  • Singapore – Paul Lim & Harith Lim
  • South Africa – Devon Petersen & Carl Gabriel
  • Spain – Jesus Noguera & Jose Justicia
  • Sweden – Daniel Larsson & Johan Engström
  • USA – Danny Lauby & Chuck Puleo

2021 World Cup of Darts Fixtures

Thursday September 9

First Round (Best of nine legs – doubles)

  • Hungary v Lithuania
  • Czech Republic v Poland
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Top 5 Most Prestigious Darts Tournaments

Top 5 Most Prestigious Darts Tournaments

PDC Darts Tournaments

In a normal year, darts tournaments are running most weeks meaning there is pretty much always something going on and darts bets to make.

But the game has been running on a bit of a broken and beaten schedule for the past few seasons and it’s easy to lose track of which tourneys are the biggest and most prestigious in the game.

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So, for those new to the sport or for experienced bettors simply looking to refresh here is a quick run-through of the best tournaments that darts has to offer.

With an uncomplicated scoring system and a simple list of rules, darts must be one of the easiest sports to start following. After all, “It’s just fat blokes throwing arrows at a board.”

There really is no need for you to be an expert on all things tungsten to get involved with darts betting as you can pick things up pretty quickly.

Here then are the top 5 most prestigious darts tournaments.

PDC Grand Slam of Darts

PDC Grand Slam Of Darts

The darting highlight of November and the last big tourney before the almighty World Championships are held in December, the PDC Grand Slam of Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation that originally encouraged entries from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). This agreement folded when the BDO collapsed into liquidation in 2020.

Since 2015, the PDC have given this event ranking status. The event is held each year in Wolverhampton, for the most part at Wolverhampton Civic Hall and later, temporarily, at Aldersley Leisure Village. Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor is the event’s most successful ever player with six wins.

It was actually Stoke-born Taylor that won the first three Grand Slam titles, beating Andy Hamilton, Terry Jenkins, and Scott Waites in the first three ever finals. Michael van Gerwen won this event three times in a row from 2015 through 2017 after which Gerwyn Price won back-to-back titles, the only two so far to be held at Aldersley Leisure Village.

Grand Slam participation is made up of finalists from the PDC’s televised events over a 12 month period. Ten of these places have already been taken and there are only four tournaments – The World Cup of Darts, World Grand Prix, European Championship and World Series of Darts – remaining.

If all 16 places have not been filled from those televised events then winners from the PDC’s European Tour and Players Championship events can receive entry into the Grand Slam. There will also be eight players selected from the PDC Tour Card Holder Qualifiers, plus UK and European Challenge and Development Tour Orders of Merit, as well as two Women’s Series qualifiers.

Venue: Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton

Format: Best of 9 legs, 19 legs and 31 legs

Current champion: Jose De Sousa (Portugal)

Most successful darter: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (6 wins)

Prize money: £550,000

PDC World Grand Prix

PDC World Grand Prix Darts

The World Grand Prix is a PDC darts tournament that takes place each October in Dublin, Ireland. The event has been held in Ireland since 2000 when it was originally held at the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, County Wexford. A year later, the tournament was moved to the Citywest in Dublin.

When the World Grand Prix was launched in 1998, it was designed to replace the World Pairs tournament, which only lasted for three seasons. The most successful player in this event is, unsurprisingly, Phil Taylor, who claimed this crown a record 11 times. That said, The Power was actually knocked out in round one five times during his career.

Venue: Citywest, Dublin

Format: Best of 3 sets, 5 sets, 11 sets, 13 sets and 15 sets

Current champion: Gerwyn Price (Wales)

Most successful darter: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (11 wins)

Prize money: £450,000

PDC Premier League of Darts

PDC World Darts

The third part of the darts triple crown, the Darts Premier League traditionally gets going in February to help kick the darts season, which begins with the Darts Masters at the end of January. The action takes place weekly until May when the play offs are held at the O2 in London. 

When the tournament was launched in 2005, the event was contested by seven players in a series of fortnightly fixtures. Today, there are ten players involved each year, drawn from the top four players in the PDC Order of Merit plus six wildcard selections.

For the first round, event nights are staged in various venues across the UK and Ireland, plus now there are some European nights too. The players all take on each other over these fixtures with earned points being added to the ten-man table. On Judgment Night (around night nine), the two bottom-based players will be eliminated from the tournament while the remaining eight players attempt to qualify for the London play offs, which take place over the May bank holiday.

There have been six overall winners of the Premier League so far in its history. Phil Taylor has dominated the Premier League, winning six out of the thirteen tournaments he starred in and actually went unbeaten in his first three seasons. Taylor eventually lost to James Wade after 44 matches.

Michael van Gerwen has also won the event multiple times with five wins to his name. James Wade, Gary Anderson, Raymond van Barneveld, Glen Durrant and Jonny Clayton are the other players to lift the Premier League of Darts trophy. 

Venue: Numerous host cities, London play offs

Format: Best of 12, 19 and 21 legs

Current champion: Jonny Clayton (Wales)

Most successful darter: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (6 wins)

Prize money: £825,000

PDC World Matchplay

PDC World Matchplay

Dart’s second-largest event and part of the Darts Triple Crown, the prestigious PDC World Matchplay is held in Blackpool each year in July. This is another event that is famed for the fans who really make it what it is inside the Winter Gardens, its home since its inaugural event in 1994. The tournament itself is built around a legs format and is the third of seven ranking events of the year.

The field is made up of 32 darters, 16 of which are the highest-ranked in the game. These are then joined by 16 unseeded ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers. When the event was first held, it was won by an American darter called Larry ‘The Bald Eagle’ Butler, who won against Dennis Priestley 16–12 in the first-ever final back in 1994. 

In 1997, Phil Taylor won the Matchplay for the first time and would go on to collect a trophy haul of 16 Matchplay titles over his career, some 14 more than Rod Harrington and Michael van Gerwen, who have two wins each. Following The Power’s retirement in 2017, the PDC renamed the Matchplay trophy the Phil Taylor Trophy in honour of the completion’s record-breaking champion. 

Venue: Winter Gardens, Blackpool 

Format: First to 10 legs, 11 legs, 16 legs, 17 legs and 18 legs 

Current champion: Peter Wright (Scotland)

Most successful darter: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (16 wins)

Prize money: £700,000

PDC World Championship

PDC World Championships

The biggest, loudest, messiest and most lucrative darts tournament on earth and one that has established itself as essential British Christmas viewing, the PDC World Championship takes place each year in mid-December and finishes sometime around the new year lasting for around three weeks. 

The action comes from North London’s Alexandra Palace, known lovingly by darts fans as the Ally Pally, which has been home to the tournament since 2008, and basically acts as an inebriated celebration of all things darts at that special time of year. The atmosphere in the crowd is strictly party time but on the oche, fierce rivalries emerge as the world’s best darters slug it out for the biggest prize in the sport.

Around 96 players enter the event in the hope for winning the Sid Waddell Trophy, which is named in honour of the legendary darts commentator Sid Waddell who passed away in 2012.

The tournament is the final leg of the Darts Triple Crown and dates back to 1994 as a result of the split in darts, which saw the eventual emergence of the PDC. The PDC was born out of the World Darts Council following their break from the now defunct BDO.

Over the years, there have been ten different winners of the World Championships including one-time winners Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price, who won in 2021. There are also two times winners John Part, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson, plus three times winner Michael van Gerwen.

No one has won this tournament more than the now retired Phil Taylor who, in 25 appearances, took the crown a stunning 14 times, to go with his two alternative world titles.

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London

Format: Best of 5 sets, 7 sets, 9 sets, 11 sets and 13 sets

Current champion: Gerwyn Price (Wales)

Most successful darter: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (14 wins)

Prize money: £2.5 million

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