There is one tournament left before the PDC World Championships and it begins on Friday when 64 top men head to Minehead for the Players Championship Finals, a three day battle for a pot of cash and a pre-Ally Pally confidence boost.
Michael van Gerwen has owned this tournament in recent years but he isn’t the number one seed this week so it will be interesting to see if that changes his fortunes around. He is in Minehead to defend his title.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Gary Anderson
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Kevin Painter
2010 – Phil Taylor
2009 – Paul Nicholson
2008 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The 64 men are placed into the draw bracket determined by their final position on the Players Championship Order of Merit rather than their world ranking which makes for a different looking draw this weekend. The first two rounds take place on Friday and Saturday afternoon over the best of 11 legs with the last 16 on Saturday evening over the best of 19 legs. The quarter finals are the best of 19 on Sunday afternoon with the best of 21 semi-finals and final all taking place on Sunday evening.
Top Quarter
It is Ian White who is the top seed in the draw this week and as such he is in the top quarter of the draw. He is joined by one of the form horses of recent times in James Wade while Dave Chisnall and Daryl Gurney are other leading players in the world of darts who are in this first quarter. They will all fancy their chances this weekend.
Josh Payne and Robert Thornton will hope to go well from this section of the draw while Nathan Aspinall and Martin Schindler will realise the opportunity they have ahead of them here too. Jamie Lewis is another who could do with a decent weekend while Chris Dobey is good enough to make it through a few rounds.
Second Quarter
Peter Wright is the number four seed and he heads up the second quarter this weekend. He is likely to face some pretty stiff competition from Adrian Lewis who is also in this section while Danny Noppert and Stephen Bunting are the other men who finished in the top 16 of the order of merit ranking used for this tournament.
Two men who stand out among the rest in this quarter are Gerwyn Price and Krzysztof Ratajski and they meet in the first round. Mervyn King, Max Hopp and Steve West will all be looking for big runs and as ever there is the chance for those a little further down the world rankings such as Toni Alcinas and Madars Razma to impress.
Third Quarter
The World Matchplay and Champions League winner Gary Anderson is the second seed for this tournament and he is in the third quarter as a result. He is joined by Michael Smith, Jeffrey de Zwaan and Steve Beaton as men who are ranked inside the top 16 in this field. Smith goes in search of a first TV title this week.
Three men jump off the page when we go through the lower ranked players in this section. Simon Whitlock was the finalist in the European Championship recently while Kyle Anderson and Kim Huybrechts are all top players on their day. Joe Cullen showed at the World Matchplay that he can play the game too. Vincent van der Voort and the runner-up last year Jonny Clayton will look for big weekends as will Jelle Klaasen.
Bottom Quarter
Michael van Gerwen will look to defend his title as the third seed from this bottom quarter. If everything goes to the seedings then he will face world champion Rob Cross in the quarter final but a lot of darts will be thrown between now and then. James Wilson and Jermaine Wattimena make up the top 16 seeds here.
Dimitri Van den Bergh and Darren Webster stand out among the names outside the top 16 seeds but the path to the latter stages has been made easier for some with Mensur Suljovic pulling out for family reasons ahead of the tournament. Cristo Reyes will look to do a bit of damage this weekend.
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Outright Betting
With Anderson and van Gerwen both in the bottom half of the draw this weekend it makes perfect sense to attack the top half of it for the outright bets and there are a couple which catch my fancy. In the top quarter you really have to have your main bet there given that Ian White is the top seed and his TV record is questionable at best. James Wade is in the form of his life at the minute and I think he can run very hot at 20/1 again. Daryl Gurney is entitled to go well but he keeps failing to get over the line in tight matches. Wade doesn’t. Provided he can come through the two race to sixes he should kick on to threaten a third title in the space of a few weeks.
Steve West has shown that he likes ITV tournaments having made the quarter final of the two he has qualified for this year including a win over Michael van Gerwen in the European Championship. He has Peter Wright in his quarter but if he has to face him he’ll do it early which might be the best time. If he comes through that it opens right up so at a three figure price I’ll pay to see how far he goes in a tournament he’s perfectly capable of winning.
Quarter Betting
I will take a bet in the third quarter where Jonny Clayton looks a big price. He beat van Gerwen and ran him close again at the Grand Slam of Darts and will have positive memories of this tournament last year where he made the final. Gary Anderson is a clear favourite for this quarter but he is going to have to overcome one of Simon Whitlock or Kyle Anderson in a best of 11 match. Were he to come up short in what is effectively a lottery of a format the quarter would open right up. Clayton is 16/1 to win it and with the form he showed in Wolverhampton last week and here last year that is a touch too big.
Tips
Back J.Wade to win Players Championship Finals (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 21.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back S.West to win Players Championship Finals (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Clayton to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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