None of us should forget what Christmas is really all about. But, in the season of goodwill to all men, forget trees and turkeys and fighting over the last bunch of flowers at the filling station. Tickets for the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace are already like gold dust and the countdown is firmly under way for this now traditionally festive event. It’s the European Championship in Mulheim at the end of this week and all the big names will be in attendance.
World champion Michael van Gerwen is the number one seed and favourite (a best 5/2 with sportingbet). The world’s top 16-ranked players are joined by another 16 who have qualified through various events on the Pro Tour and the lesser European Tour. But van Gerwen doesn’t have a great record in the tournament. He was beaten in the semi-finals by eventual winner Adrian Lewis last year having been beaten in the second round by Raymond van Barneveld in 2012. ‘Jackpot’ is a general 12/1 to retain his crown while ‘Barney’ is available at 28/1 in several places. Of course, if you don’t follow van Gerwen the default selection is Phil Taylor (3/1 general). ‘The Power’ won the European Championship every year between 2008 and 2011 but he hasn’t gone beyond the quarter-finals in the last two years and all of that travelling, promoting his new book, must be taking its toll – he looked physically and mentally shattered last time out in Dublin.
I like the look of James Wade at the general 12/1. He was in red-hot form in the World Grand Prix in Dublin and made van Gerwen fight all the way. He probably has Lewis to beat in the bottom half of the draw but you never know what you are going to get with the latter. Gary Anderson hit 25 maximums in Dublin en route to the semi-finals and has already won six times in 2014. He’s reached the last four in the World Matchplay and Premier League as well so is having a good season so the general 14/1 looks fair. Simon Whitlock is 25/1 with bwin, Unibet and 888sport and that’s also a bit of value. He won the European Championship in 2012 at the RWE Sporthalle, though it was a sub-standard tournament that year scoring-wise.
