A short time ago, we brought you a quick overview of the 2023 PDC World Darts Championships.
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!
As always. bet365 Sport is one of the top places you can bet on the World Championship this year with a huge amount of pre-match and pre-tournament outright betting available right now.
Plus, you can enjoy an extensive range of In-Play darts betting with bet365 throughout the tournament as the matches are played.
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Let’s now take a look back at the history of this famous tournament.
PDC World Darts Championship – History
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)
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.
Key Dates
- 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
- Gerwyn Price (Wales)
- Peter Wright (Scotland)
- Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
- Michael Smith (England)
- Luke Humphries (England)
- Rob Cross (England)
- Jonny Clayton (Wales)
- James Wade (England)
- Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
- Nathan Aspinall (England)
- Gary Anderson (Scotland)
- Dave Chisnall (England)
- Joe Cullen (England)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
- Ryan Searle (England)
- Jose de Sousa (Portugal)
- Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland)
- Ross Smith (England)
- Damon Heta (Australia)
- Stephen Bunting (England)
- Chris Dobey (England)
- Callan Rydz (England)
- Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
- Gabriel Clemens (Germany)
- Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
- Mervyn King (England)
- Vincent van der Voort (Netherlands)
- Martin Schindler (Germany)
- Mensur Suljovic (Austria)
- Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)
- Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
First Round Matches
- Mickey Mansell v Ben Robb
- Keane Barry v Grant Simpson
- Jermaine Wattimena v Nathan Rafferty
- Alan Soutar v Mal Cuming
- Boris Krcmar v Toru Suzuki
- Adrian Lewis v Daniel Larsson
- Rowby-John Rodriguez v Lourence Ilagan
- William O’Connor v Beau Greaves
- Keegan Brown v Florian Hempel
- Martin Lukeman v Nobuhiro Yamamoto
- Simon Whitlock v Christian Perez
- Adam Gawlas v Richie Burnett
- Ryan Meikle v Lisa Ashton
- Cameron Menzies v Diogo Portela
- Josh Rock v Jose Justicia
- Madars Razma v Prakash Jiwa
- Karel Sedlacek v Raymond Smith
- Luke Woodhouse v Vyadyslav Omelchenko
- Mike De Decker v Jeff Smith
- Scott Williams v Ryan Joyce
- Matt Campbell v Danny Baggish
- Andrew Gilding v Robert Owen
- Danny Jansen v Paolo Nebrida
- Niels Zonneveld v Lewy Williams
- Geert Nentjes v Leonard Gates
- Ritchie Edhouse v David Cameron
- Steve Beaton v. Danny van Trijp
- Jim Williams v Sebasiian Bialecki
- Jamie Hughes v Jimmy Hendriks
- Ricky Evans v Fallon Sherrock
- John O’Shea v Darius Labanauskas
- Martijn Kleermaker v Xicheng Han
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!
