This week Darts fans will get their first taste of action in the 2022 PDC World Championship. The action begins at the Alexandra Palace on Wednesday night with three First Round games, followed by the first Second Round tie between the winner of the opening match of the tournament and last year’s champion, Gerwyn Price.
A total of 96 players will contest the tournament with the top 32 seeded players in the PDC give a bye into the second round. There they will face the winner of one of the winners of 32 First Round matches featuring 64 of the best players from all over the world.
Betting fans will be thrilled to hear that the event will feature all the top stars and that bet365 Sport will be offering an extensive range of betting for the tournament and on the individual matches, with extensive pre match and In Play betting available.
If you live in the United States and want to follow the action, then BetRivers Sportsbook offers good quality darts betting on these top tournaments.
PDC World Championships Factfile
- This year’s event will be the 29th PDC World Darts Championship. The first one was contested back in 1994 and was won by Dennis Priestley who beat Phil Taylor in the final.
- The first championship saw a total prize pool of £64,000, with the winner pocketing £16,000.
- Since 2019, the prize pool for the tournament has risen to £2,500,000 with the winning player taking home a cheque for £500,000.
- Phil Taylor is the most decorated player in the tournament’s history winning 14 times and being runner up a further 5 times. The second most successful player is Michael van Gerwen with three victories.
- The trophy was renamed the Sid Waddell Trophy in 2013 after the late great Darts commentator.
- A total of 18 players have reached a PDC World Championship Final, ten of those have landed victories in that time.
- The tournament is held each year at the Alexandra Palace and the venue has been the home of the tournament since 2008.
- The tournament has seen a total of ten nine-dart finishes in its history, the last coming last year by James Wade. However, only one nine-dart finish has come in the final, and that came in 2011 when Adrian Lewis achieved the feat on his way to beating Scotsman Gary Anderson.
- Other than Taylor and van Gerwen, only Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson and John Part have won the title multiple times (all three winning twice).
- Dennis Priestley, Peter Wright, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price have all won the tournament once each.
- Peter Manley has reached the most finals without winning (three). He lost all three to Phil Taylor including two by a 7-0 scoreline.
PDC World Championships – 1st & 2nd Round
Draw
- Round 1 – Richie Edhouse v Lihao Wen
- Round 1 – Ricky Evans v Nitin Kumar
- Round 1 – Adrian Lewis v Matt Campbell
- Round 2 – Gerwyn Price v Winner of Match 1
- Round 1 – Steve Lennon v Madars Razma
- Round 1 – Scott Mitchell v Chris Landman
- Round 1 – Chas Barstow v John Norman Jr.
- Round 2 – Daryl Gurney v Winner of Match 2
- Round 1 – William O’Connor v Danny Lauby Jr.
- Round 1 – Ryan Meikle v Fabian Schmutzler
- Round 1 – Ron Meulenkamp v Lisa Ashton
- Round 2 – Gary Anderson v Winner of Match 3
- Round 1 – Ryan Joyce v Roman Benecky
- Round 1 – Keane Barry v Royden Lam
- Round 1 – Jermaine Wattimena v Boris Kotsov
- Round 2 – Krzysztof Ratajski v Winner of Match 5
- Round 1 – Joe Murnan v Paul Lim
- Round 1 – William Borland v Bradley Brooks
- Round 1 – Ross Smith v Jeff Smith
- Round 2 – Peter Wright v Winner of Match 10
- Round 1 – Jamie Highes v Raymond Smith
- Round 1 – Callan Rydz v Yuki Yamada
- Round 1 – Darius Labanauskas v Mike De Decker
- Round 2 – Ian White v Winner of Match 6
- Round 1 – Adam Hunt v Boris Krcmar
- Round 1 – Ted Evetts v Jim Williams
- Round 1 – Rowby-John Rodriguez v Nick Kenny
- Round 2 – Michael van Gerwen v Winner of Match 7
- Round 1 – Maik Kuivenhoven v Ky Smith
- Round 1 – Jason Heaver v Gordon Mathers
- Round 1 – Alan Soutar v Diogo Portela
- Round 2 – Stephen Bunting v Winner of Match 19
- Round 1 – Martin Kleermaker v John Michael
- Round 1 – Florian Hempel v Martin Schindler
- Round 1 – Steve Beaton v Fallon Sherrock
- Round 2 – Jonny Clayton v Winner of Match 14
- Round 1 – Luke Woodhouse v James Wilson
- Round 1 – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez v Ben Robb
- Round 1 – Raymond van Barneveld v Lourence Ilagan
- Round 2 – James Wade v Winner of Match 29
- Round 1 – Lewy Williams v Toyokazu Shibata
- Round 1 – Jason Lowe v Daniel Larsson
- Round 2 – Mervyn King v Winner of Game 13
- Round 2 – Dave Chisnall v Winner of Game 23
- Round 2 – Vincent van der Voort v Winner of Game 25
- Round 2 – Michael Smith v Winner of Game 11
- Round 2 – Dmitri van den Bergh v Winner of Game 34
- Round 2 – Devon Petersen v Winner of Game 21
- Round 2 – Ryan Searle v Winner of Game 18
- Round 2 – Glen Durrant v Winner of Game 9
- Round 2 – Luke Humphries v Winner of Game 27
- Round 2 – Joe Cullen – Winner of Game 26
- Round 2 – Nathan Aspinall v Winner of Game 17
- Round 2 – Dirk van Duijvenbode v Winner of Game 15
- Round 2 – Kim Huybrechts v Winner of Game 35
- Round 2 – Simon Whitlock v Winner of Game 33
- Round 2 – Damon Heta v Winner of Game 37
- Round 2 – Brendan Dolan v Winner of Game 22
- Round 2 – Mensur Suljovic v Winner of Game 31
- Round 2 – Jose de Sousa v Winner of Game 42
- Round 2 – Danny Noppert v Winner of Game 30
- Round 2 – Gabriel Clemens v Winner of Game 41
- Round 2 – Rob Cross v Winner of Game 39
- Round 2 – Chris Dobey v Winner of Game 38
Who Will Win The Tournament?
So who will be the player celebrating a win in this event? The bookmakers reckon it is a four horse race in the main with Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton the four players all ranked as having the best chance.
It is hard to argue with that given the records of these players over the past year and van Gerwen’s record in this tournament as a whole.
Clayton has had the best year in terms of winning major tournaments but Price and Wright have found top form just heading into the Championship and as previous winners, they must be respected as potential winners.
For me, Wright is the clear pick and he is 6/1 with bet365 Sport at the time of writing.
Tune in from Wednesday night on Sky Sports to watch the action!
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