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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Michael Van Gerwen Wins World Championship To Kick Off 2017

Michael Van Gerwen
 

Could he do it? Of course he could.

As if it had never been in doubt, Michael Van Gerwen tightened his stranglehold on top-flight darts as he claimed his second ever PDC World Championship last Monday. And my, wasn’t it impressive?

His dismissal of reigning champion Gary Anderson 7-3 (winner here in 2015 and 2016 don’t forget) took no more than 90 minutes to complete and was a match that set a new record with 42 separate 180s thrown.

Anderson can be pleased with his performance, as can Dutchman Raymond Van Barneveld who, in an all-Dutch semi, threw a personal record 109.34. That wasn’t good enough against a stunning MVG who, on his way to a 6-2 victory, posted a World Championship record average of 114.05, beating the previous record of Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s 111.21 back in 2002.

The other semi, an all-Scots affair, saw Peter Wright’s bid for a first televised tourney triumph extinguished by Anderson who, despite hitting 22 180s and averaging 104.93 on the night, simply could not match Mighty Mike’s incredible average of 107.79 in the final.

The best darts betting events for 2017

As another calendar year gets underway, we will, as ever, look to find the best darts betting tips available online.

So what are the major events to look forward to in the coming year? First up at the end of January is The Masters in Milton Keynes featuring the world’s top 16 players.

Then, on February 2, The Premier League of Darts gets running at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena, taking place in different venues on Thursday nights for three months until we reach the playoffs at London’s O2 Arena. In March, The European Tour begins its supersized eleven-event run, which starts in Hildesheim, Germany.

The summer will see numerous global trips to far flung corners of the world, including The U.S. Darts Masters in Las Vegas, as well as other runs for the World Series of Darts, events for which will be announced further down the line.

The Betway World Cup of Darts will be held in June, while The World Matchplay runs at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in July. In September, The Champions League of Darts gets its second running and October sees The World Grand Prix plus the conclusion of The European Championship.

November features The World Series of Darts Finals, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals before, in December, the 2017/18 World Darts Championship gets underway again concluding the year’s action at the Ally Pally one year from now.

Enjoy!

January

  • January 27-29: Darts Masters

February

  • February 2: Premier League Darts (Match day 1, Newcastle)
  • February 9: Premier League Darts (Match day 2, Nottingham)
  • February 16: Premier League Darts (Match day 3, Leeds)
  • February23: Premier League Darts (Match day 4, Brighton)

March

  • March 2: Premier League Darts (Match day 5, Exeter)
  • March 9: Premier League Darts (Match day 6, Glasgow)
  • March 16: Premier League Darts (Match day 7, Rotterdam, Netherlands)
  • March 23: Premier League Darts (Match day 8, Manchester)
  • March 24-26: European Tour 1 (Hildesheim, Germany)
  • March 30: Premier League Darts (Match day 9, Cardiff)

April

  • April 6: Premier League Darts (Match day 10, Dublin, Ireland)
  • April 13: Premier League Darts (Match day 11, Liverpool)
  • April 15-17: European Tour 2 (Jena, Germany)
  • April 20: Premier League Darts (Match day 12, Belfast)
  • April 21-23: European Tour 3 (Saarbruecken, Germany)
  • April 27: Premier League Darts (Match day 13, Birmingham)

May

  • May 4: Premier League Darts (Match day 14, Sheffield)
  • May 5 – 7: European Tour 4 (Sindelfingen, Germany)
  • May 11: Premier League Darts (Match day 15, Aberdeen)
  • May 12-14: European Tour 5 (Gibraltar)
  • May 18: Premier League Darts Play-Offs (London)

June

  • June 1-4: World Cup (Frankfurt, Germany)
  • June 9-11: European Tour 6 (Hamburg, Germany)
  • June 22-23: European Tour 7 (Vienna, Austria)
  • June 30-July 2: European Tour 8 (Leverkusen, Germany)

July

  • July 22-30: World Matchplay (Blackpool)

August

September

  • September 1-3: European Tour 9 (Maastricht, Netherlands)
  • September 8-10: European Tour 10 (Mannheim, Germany)
  • September 22-24: European Tour 11 (Riesa, Germany)
  • September TBC: Champions League of Darts

October

  • October 1-7: World Grand Prix (Dublin, Ireland)
  • October 13-15: European Tour 12 (Goettingen, Germany)
  • October 27-29: European Championship

November

  • November 4-5: World Series Finals (Barnsley)
  • November 11-19: Grand Slam (Wolverhampton)
  • November 24-26: Players Championship Finals (Minehead)

December

  • December TBC: World Darts Championship (London)
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