This weekend at the famous Butlins resort in Minehead, 64 of the top players in the PDC will battle it out in what is the penultimate big darts event before the start of the World Championship Qualifiers in Wigan next week and the World Championship itself, which starts on the 13th December at the Alexandra Palace in London. The event being the PDC Players Championship Finals.
Over the last few years, Dutchman Michael van Gerwen has an enviable record in the event, winning four tournaments out of the last six contested and finishing runner up last year to Irishman Daryl Gurney in what was the most exciting final in the event since Phil Taylor edged out Gary Anderson 13-12 back in February 2011.
The tournament sees two boards, or two stages as it is called, in use for the opening rounds and players will compete in afternoon and evening sessions from Friday through to Sunday in order to decide who will contest Sunday night’s final.
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Let’s now quickly preview the tournament before we give you our top tips for the event.
PDC Players Championship Finals Preview
Originally held in its early years at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, the venue switched in 2011 to the Doncaster Dome in February that year. However, by then the calendar was about to be reorganised and the next Players Championship would be moved to the end of November/early December as the final big event before the PDC World Championship.
In December 2012, the first event at Butlins, Minehead was contested, won by Phil Taylor and the event has remained at the popular venue ever since, with ITV 4 showing live coverage of the tournament. Prize money has increase from ÂŁ200,000 in the first tournament to ÂŁ500,000 for this latest tournament, with the winner taking home ÂŁ100,000 in cash.
Previous Winners
The 11 previous winners of this tournament are as follows:
- 2009 – Phil Taylor – beat Robert Thornton – 16-9
- 2010 – Paul Nicolson – beat Mervyn King – 13-11
- 2011 (Feb) – Phil Taylor – beat Gary Anderson – 13-12
- 2011 (Dec) – Kevin Painter – beat Mark Webster – 13-9
- 2012 – Phil Taylor – beat Kim Huybrechts – 13-6
- 2013 – Michael van Gerwen – beat Phil Taylor – 11-7
- 2014 – Gary Anderson – beat Adrian Lewis – 11-6
- 2015 – Michael van Gerwen – beat Adrian Lewis – 11-6
- 2016 – Michael van Gerwen – beat Dave Chisnall – 11-3
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen – beat Jonny Clayton – 11-2
- 2018 – Daryl Gurney – beat Michael van Gerwen – 11-9
Draw for the First Rounds
The draw for the first round sees two matches played at the same time in both afternoon and evening sessions on Friday 22nd November. The matches, and odds on each player winning, are shown below in time order. The First Round matches are all best of 11 legs (first to six legs wins).
Afternoon Session (12.45 – 16.15)
12.45
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (8/11) v Stephen Bunting (11/10)
- Harry Ward (11/8) v Darius Labanauskas (4/7)
13.15
- Jose De Sousa (2/5) v James Richardson (2/1)
- Justin Pipe (evens) v Mervyn King (4/5)
13.45
- Brendan Dolan (10/11) v Ross Smith (10/11)
- Glen Durrant (4/11) v Scott Baker (11/5)
14.15
- John Henderson (4/5) v Ryan Joyce (Evens)
- Max Hopp (8/11) v Jelle Klaasen (11/10)
14.45
- Chris Dobey (4/7) v Cristo Reyes (11/8)
- Keegan Brown (8/11) v Andy Boulton (11/10)
15.15
- Jeffrey de Zwaan (8/11) v Simon Whitlock (11/10)
- Steve Beaton (11/10) v Ricky Evans (8/11)
15.45
- Danny Noppert (8/15) v Ryan Searle (6/4)
- Michael Smith (1/3) v Martin Schindler (12/5)
16.15
- Dave Chisnall (1/5) v Matthew Edgar (7/2)
- Ian White (4/11) v Devon Peterson (11/5)
Evening Session (19.00 to 22.30)
19.00
- Jonny Clayton (4/11) v Ryan Meikle (11/5)
- Krzysztof Ratajski (4/9) v Steve Lennon (7/4)
19.30
- Gerwyn Price (1/6) v Mickey Mansell (4/1)
- Joe Cullen (8/11) v Kyle Anderson (11/10)
20.00
- James Wade (4/9) v Ted Evetts (7/4)
- Vincent van der Voort (1/2) v Arron Monk (13/8)
20.30
- Mensur Suljovic (4/11) v Kim Huybrechts (11/5)
- Gabriel Clemens (4/9) v Mark McGeeney (7/4)
21.00
- Adrian Lewis (1/2) v Josh Payne (13/8)
- Daryl Gurney (2/9) v Luke Woodhouse (10/3)
21.30
- Michael van Gerwen (1/6) v Luke Humphries (4/1)
- William O’Connor (10/11) v Steve West (10/11)
22.00
- Jermaine Wattamena (4/5) v Jamie Hughes (Evens)
- Peter Wright (2/7) v James Wilson (11/4)
22.30
- Nathan Aspinall (1/2) v Raymond van Barneveld (13/8)
- Ron Meulenkamp (10/3) v Rob Cross (2/9)
After the first round is completed the Second and Third Rounds take place on Saturday, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and final taking place on Sunday. The Second round is also best of 11 legs, with the third and quarterfinals best of 19 and the final and semifinals both best of 21.
Who should I back to win the event?
Michael van Gerwen is the 6/4 favourite to win this event and after falling short in this past weekend’s Grand Slam of Darts, when he was defeated in the semifinals by eventual winner Gerwyn Price, the Dutchman will be keen to avenge that defeat with a win to take him into the World Championships in good form.
Price is a 7/1 shot after his win in Wolverhampton last weekend and the return to form in that tournament of Peter Wright, who lost to Price in the final, sees him as a 12/1 chance. Rob Cross, who has had a good season even though he didn’t perform to his best at the Grand Slam, is a 14/1 shot, but my outside bet would be Michael Smith, who at 20/1 is in good form and is due to win one of the big titles. He could be worth an each way bet to reach the final, with bet365 paying out at ½ the odds if you back a player each way to win and they reach the final but lose the match.
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