Well now we are in a position to put a lot more meat on the bones of that article, with our preview of what promises to be one of the biggest and bests World Championships of modern times.
In what has been a very open year in the world of darts, with the top trophies being shared amongst a number of first-time winners and previous major winners, we have also seen a number of both new and familiar old faces come to the fore in the world of darts.
This heady mix means that the forthcoming World Championships could be one of the most open ever and picking a winner could be tricky!
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Let’s now take a look back at the history of this famous tournament.
The PDC was formed in 1992 when a group of leading players from the now defunct British Darts Organisation (BDO) splintered from the organisation to form their own “World Darts Council” (WDC) with Barry Hearn heavily involved in setting up the new organisation.
The split was caused ostensibly by Darts losing many sponsors during the 1980s and falling revenue and a lack of TV coverage saw its top stars demand more of the BDO, who seemed unwilling to try and change the status quo.
What followed was a bitter split in darts with the BDO banning WDC players from all levels of the game. A protracted, and expensive, lawsuit followed which eventually saw the WDC rename itself the Professional Darts Council (PDC).
Over the years, the PDC has grown in popularity and has been recognised as the home of the best players pretty much since its first World Championship in 1994 and with the BDO finally going out of business a few years back, the PDC is now the leading organisation in professional darts.
Now led by Chairman Eddie Hearn, the PDC has brought darts back into the mainstream and it is now a regular part of TV broadcasts on both free-to-air and satellite TV channels.
PDC World Champions
The first PDC World Championship was contested in 1994 and it has been contested every year since.
Ten players have managed to win the tournament in that 28 year period, half of those titles being won by one player, darting legend Phil Taylor.
The trophy has been named the Sid Waddell Trophy in honour of the now deceased darts commentator who helped popularise the game on BBC TV and latterly on Sky Sports.
The full list of PDC World Champions is as follows:
14 – Phil Taylor (Eng) – 1995 to 2002, 2004 to 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.
3 – Michael van Gerwen (Neth) – 2014, 2017, 2019
2 – John Part (Can) – 2003, 2008
2 – Adrian Lewis (Eng) – 2011, 2012
2 – Gary Anderson (Sco) – 2015, 2016
2 – Peter Wright (Sco) – 2020, 2022
1 – Dennis Priestley (Eng) – 1994
1 – Raymond van Barneveld (Neth) – 2007
1 – Rob Cross (Eng) – 2018
1 – Gerwyn Price (Wal) – 2021
Players to have reached a final but not to have won the World Championship are listed below:
Rod Harrington – 1995
Peter Manley – 1999, 2002, 2006
Kevin Painter – 2004
Mark Dudbridge – 2005
Kirk Shepherd – 2008
Simon Whitlock – 2010
Andy Hamilton – 2012
Michael Smith – 2019, 2022
9 Dart Finishes
There have also been a total of 13 nine-dart finishes in the tournament, the first achieved by Raymond van Barneveld in 2009. Only one nine-dart finish has been made in the final, by Adrian lewis in 2011 and in 2022 we saw a record three nine-dart finishes in the tournament by William Borland and Darius Labanauskas in the first round and by Gerwyn Price in the quarterfinal.
Players who have achieved a World Championship nine dart finish – Raymond van Barneveld (2009 and 2010), Adrian Lewis (2011 and 2015), Dean Winstanley (2013), Michael van Gerwen (2013), Terry Jenkins (2014), Kyle Anderson (2014), Gary Anderson (2016), James Wade (2021), William Borland (2022), Darius Labanauskas (2022), Gerwyn Price (2022)
Adrian Lewis' 9 Dart Finish in the 2011 World Final
PDC World Darts Championship 2023
Venue – Alexandra Palace in London
Dates – Thursday 15th December to Tuesday 3rd January
Prize Money – £2,500,000
Winner’s Prize – £500,000
Defending Champion – Peter Wright (Scotland)
Tournament Organisation
The First Round and Second Round games in the tournament will be played concurrently initially before all the first round games are completed and the matches then focus solely on the second round through until Friday 23rd December.
After a three day break the second part of the tournament begins with the third round on the 27th December culminating in the final on the 3rd January.
Christmas officially start a week tomorrow, when The PDC World Darts Championship begins. 🎯🎯🎯
1st Round – from Thursday 15th December to Wednesday 21st December
2nd Round – from Thursday 15th December to Friday 23rd December
3rd Round – from Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th December
4th Round – from Thursday 29th to Friday 30th December
Quarter Finals – Sunday 1st January
Semi Finals – Monday 2nd January
Final – Tuesday 3rd January
The 32 Seeds Seeded Into the 2nd Round
Less than two weeks to start the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship, let's look at the age of the seeded players. We have 32 seeds since 2006 and for the first time we have more than 20 seeded players under the age of 40. #pdc#dartspic.twitter.com/OdFVUWCtLq
The winners of these games go on to face one of the 32 seeds in the second round, the draws for which have already been made and are outlined below.
Second Round Matches
Peter Wright v Mansell/Robb
Kim Huybrechts v Barry/Simpson
Michael Smith v Wattimena/Rafferty
Daryl Gurney v Soutar/Cuming
Dmitri Van den Bergh v Rodriguez/Ilagan
Damon Heta v Lewis/Larsson
Nathan Aspinall v Krcmar Suzuki
Jose de Sousa v Whitlock/Perez
Gerwyn Price v Woodhouse/Omelchenko
Raymond van Barneveld v Meikle/Ashton
Callan Rydz v Rock/Justicia
Dave Chisnall v Gilding/Owen
Mervyn King v Campbell/Baggish
Gabriel Clemens v O’Connor/Greaves
Michael van Gerwen v Zonneveld/Williams
Stephen Bunting v Nentjes/Gates
Krzysztof Ratajski v Jansen/Nebrida
Ryan Searle v Gawlas/Burnett
Mensur Suljovic v De Decker/Smith
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Sedlacek/Smith
Gary Anderson v Razma/Jiwa
James Wade v Williams/Bialecki
Luke Humphries v Brown/Hempel
Vincent van der Voort v Menzies/Portela
Brendan Dolan v Hughes/Hendriks
Chris Dobey v Kleermaker/Han
Ross Smith v O’Shea/Labanauskas
Rob Cross v Williams/Joyce
Martin Schindler v Lukeman/Yamamoto
Danny Noppert v Edhouse/Cameron
Jonny Clayton v Beaton/van Trijp
Joe Cullen v Evans/Sherrock
Latest PDC World Darts Championship 2023 Outright Winner Betting
The current odds for an individual to win the tournament are outlined below. Please note these odds are taken from bet365 Sport and were correct at the time of writing but may have changed in the meantime.
5/2 – Michael van Gerwen
6/1 – Gerwyn Price
15/2 – Michael Smith
10/1 – Peter Wright
14/1 – Luke Humphries
16/1 – Josh Rock, Jonny Clayton
25/1 – Rob Cross
28/1 – Dmitri van den Bergh, Dirk van Duijvenbode
33/1 – Nathan Aspinall, Dave Chisnall, Danny Noppert
40/1 – Joe Cullen
50/1 – Gary Anderson, James Wade
55/1 – Ross Smith
66/1 – Damon Heta, Ryan Searle
80/1 – Chris Dobey, Raymond van Barneveld
100/1 – Jose de Sousa
125/1 bar
Smart Money Bet – Michael Smith (15/2) – Smith has always had the talent to win Majors, but it took him until the recent Grand Slam to finally do so. However, now that he has won one, he should have the confidence to go deep in this tournament.
One to Watch – Josh Rock (16/1) – Josh Rock has exploded onto the darts scene in 2022 and hit a nine-darter against Michael van Gerwen at the recent Grand Slam of Darts. He’s racing up the rankings and he has the potential to be another Rob Cross at this year’s tournament.
You can catch every dart of the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship live on Sky Sports from the 15th December and remember, you have the chance to enjoy In Play betting on every game as it is played with bet365 Sport!
Ian John is a seasoned Sports Writer and UK gambling expert with over a decade of experience at Bonus Code Poker. For the past 10 years, he has been providing readers with insightful analysis and expert opinions on sports betting and poker.
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