One of the big sporting events of the festive season in the UK gets underway this week. Wednesday evening will see the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship get underway at the Alexandra Palace in London with 96 players hoping to become the new Champion of the World. With the disbanding of the BDO, a number of players formerly from that organisation have qualified for the PDC event, which makes it arguably the toughest competition, certainly in the earlier stages of the event, in the history of the tournament. The current champion is Welshman Gerwyn Price, who won his first World Championship last year. The most successful player in this field in the PDC is Michael van Gerwen, a 3-times World Champion, although Raymond van Barneveld has won five World Titles if you include his BDO performances. As is now customary in the PDC, the top 32 ranked players in the organisation are given a bye into the second round of the tournament. There they face off against the winner of a first round match comprising of the best 32 players from the Pro Order of Merit as well as 32 players from a range of international qualifiers that took place around the world this year. The first round and second round start concurrently and both rounds will be completed by the 23^rd December, with the third round starting after Christmas on the 27^th December. Betting on the tournament is available with bet365 Sport in the UK, with a wide selection of outright markets, match betting and In Play betting available. You can also get a great selection of bets on the tournament in the United States with BetRivers Sportsbook.

Pre-Tournament Betting

A look at the odds for this year’s tournament reveals that there are four players that the bookies feel stand a great chance.

• Gerwyn Price – 4/1 favourite
• Michael van Gerwen – 9/2
• Peter Wright – 6/1
• Jonny Clayton – 13/2
• Dmitri van den Bergh – 16/1
• Michael Smith & Nathan Aspinall – 25/1
• Jose de Sousa & Rob Cross – 28/1
• Ryan Searle – 33/1
• Gary Anderson – 35/1
• James Wade – 40/1
• 50/1 bar

It is hard to disagree with that assessment when you look at the season as a whole. Price is the defending World Champion and recently won the Grand Slam of Darts. Michael van Gerwen is a 3=times World Champion while Peter Wright won the Players Championship Finals and the World Matchplay. Jonny Clayton has had the most amazing year though winning the Premier League title, the World Grand Prix and the World Series Finals. Let’s now take a look at how the first and second round games will stack up.

PDC First & Second Round

1. Round 1 – Richie Edhouse v Lihao Wen
2. Round 1 – Ricky Evans v Nitin Kumar
3. Round 1 – Adrian Lewis v Matt Campbell
4. Round 2 – Gerwyn Price v Winner of Match 1
5. Round 1 – Steve Lennon v Madars Razma
6. Round 1 – Scott Mitchell v Chris Landman
7. Round 1 – Chas Barstow v John Norman Jr.
8. Round 2 – Daryl Gurney v Winner of Match 2
9. Round 1 – William O’Connor v Danny Lauby Jr.
10. Round 1 – Ryan Meikle v Fabian Schmutzler
11. Round 1 – Ron Meulenkamp v Lisa Ashton
12. Round 2 – Gary Anderson v Winner of Match 3
13. Round 1 – Ryan Joyce v Roman Benecky
14. Round 1 – Keane Barry v Royden Lam
15. Round 1 – Jermaine Wattimena v Boris Kotsov
16. Round 2 – Krzysztof Ratajski v Winner of Match 5
17. Round 1 – Joe Murnan v Paul Lim
18. Round 1 – William Borland v Bradley Brooks
19. Round 1 – Ross Smith v Jeff Smith
20. Round 2 – Peter Wright v Winner of Match 10
21. Round 1 – Jamie Highes v Raymond Smith
22. Round 1 – Callan Rydz v Yuki Yamada
23. Round 1 – Darius Labanauskas v Mike De Decker
24. Round 2 – Ian White v Winner of Match 6
25. Round 1 – Adam Hunt v Boris Krcmar
26. Round 1 – Ted Evetts v Jim Williams
27. Round 1 – Rowby-John Rodriguez v Nick Kenny
28. Round 2 – Michael van Gerwen v Winner of Match 7
29. Round 1 – Maik Kuivenhoven v Ky Smith
30. Round 1 – Jason Heaver v Gordon Mathers
31. Round 1 – Alan Soutar v Diogo Portela
32. Round 2 – Stephen Bunting v Winner of Match 19
33. Round 1 – Martin Kleermaker v John Michael
34. Round 1 – Florian Hempel v Martin Schindler
35. Round 1 – Steve Beaton v Fallon Sherrock
36. Round 2 – Jonny Clayton v Winner of Match 14
37. Round 1 – Luke Woodhouse v James Wilson
38. Round 1 – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez v Ben Robb
39. Round 1 – Raymond van Barneveld v Lourence Ilagan
40. Round 2 – James Wade v Winner of Match 29
41. Round 1 – Lewy Williams v Toyokazu Shibata
42. Round 1 – Jason Lowe v Daniel Larsson
43. Round 2 – Mervyn King v Winner of Game 13
44. Round 2 – Dave Chisnall v Winner of Game 23
45. Round 2 – Vincent van der Voort v Winner of Game 25
46. Round 2 – Michael Smith v Winner of Game 11
47. Round 2 – Dmitri van den Bergh v Winner of Game 34
48. Round 2 – Devon Petersen v Winner of Game 21
49. Round 2 – Ryan Searle v Winner of Game 18
50. Round 2 – Glen Durrant v Winner of Game 9
51. Round 2 – Luke Humphries v Winner of Game 27
52. Round 2 – Joe Cullen – Winner of Game 26
53. Round 2 – Nathan Aspinall v Winner of Game 17
54. Round 2 – Dirk van Duijvenbode v Winner of Game 15
55. Round 2 – Kim Hutbrechts v Winner of Game 35
56. Round 2 – Simon Whitlock v Winner of Game 33
57. Round 2 – Damon Heta v Winner of Game 37
58. Round 2 – Brendan Dolan v Winner of Game 22
59. Round 2 – Mensur Suljovic v Winner of Game 31
60. Round 2 – Jose de Sousa v Winner of Game 42
61. Round 2 – Danny Noppert v Winner of Game 30
62. Round 2 – Gabriel Clemens v Winner of Game 41
63. Round 2 – Rob Cross v Winner of Game 39
64. Round 2 – Chris Dobey v Winner of Game 38

PDC World Championship Tournament Facts

• Phil Taylor has won the tournament the most times with 14 wins. He has also been runner up on five occasions.
• The prize money in the tournament has increased from £64,000 and £16,000 for the winner in 1994, to £2,500,000 and £500,000 for the winner in each year from 2019 to 2022.
• There have been ten nine-dart finishes in the tournament’s history, but only one in the final, by Adrian Lewis when he beat Gary Anderson in 2011.
• 18 players have reached the PDC World Championship final, and ten different players have won the tournament. They are Dennis Priestley, Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, John Part, Raymond van Barneveld, Peter Wright, Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price.
• The 2022 Finals is the 29^th tournament to be contested since the PDC World Championship was formed in 1994.
• The winner’s trophy was renamed the Sid Waddell Trophy after the late darts commentator.

Who To Back To Win The Tournament?

If you wanted to have a bet on who would win the tournament, who are the smart options to pick? Well the shorter odds on four players does help you narrow the selection down and I do feel the winner is most likely to come from that quartet. Jonny Clayton is the intriguing pick and has enjoyed the best season but I think Peter Wright has come into form at the right time for this and at 6/1 he is a great option. For a good each way bet, look at Jose de Sousa, who has also had a good year and is remarkably consistent and at 28/1, he is a very good value option as an each way punt.

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