PDC World Darts Championship Draw and Odds – Darts Betting December 14 – January 1

Could a repeat of last year's Darts World Championship Final be on the cards?

Darts Betting

The draw has been made for the first round proper of the World Darts Championship. Michael van Gerwen will begin the defence of his title against 2012 BDO champion Christian Kist and is only a best 4/5 with William Hill to win a third PDC title.

MvG has won the Players Championship, Grand Slam of Darts, World Series of Darts and European Championship in recent weeks and is in red-hot form. But, for once, attention will not be solely focussed on the Mighty Mike.

This year marks the final appearance of Phil Taylor at the World Darts Championship. Arguably the most successful darts players of all time, The Power retires in the New Year having won the PDC world title 14 times. He also won the BDO version in 1990 and 1992, though is now only ranked sixth in the world and facing a potential banana skin in the first round against highly-regarded Chris Dobey. The 57-year-old from Stoke is available at 14/1 this year with Dublin-based bookmaker Boylesports, who have the 2015 and 2016 winner Gary Anderson at a best 7/1. The Somerset-based Scot reached the final for the third year in succession 12 months ago and thrives in the special atmosphere of Alexandra Palace so will probably be the main threat again to van Gerwen being in the opposite half of the draw.

Boylesports are currently also best odds of second seed Peter Wright (12/1), who begins his challenge against Diogo Portela. Wright, another Scot, did reach the World Darts Championship final in 2014 but lost in the semi-finals last year to Anderson, whom he will meet again at that stage if both players progress according to rankings. At a general 40/1, Daryl Gurney looks overpriced considering he is currently the world number four.

PDC World Darts Championship First Round Draw

(Seeds in brackets)

(1) Michael van Gerwen v Christian Kist

(32) James Wilson v Krzystof Ratajski

(16) Gerwyn Price v Ted Evetts

(17) Ian White v Willard Bruguier/Cody Harris

(8) Dave Chisnall v Vincent van der Voort

(25) Steve Beaton v William O’Connor

(9) Raymond van Barneveld v Richard North

(24) Kyle Anderson v Peter Jacques

(5) Mensur Suljovic v Kevin Painter

(28) Robert Thornton v Alan Ljubic/Brendan Dolan

(12) Jelle Klaasen v Jan Dekker

(21) Stephen Bunting v Dimitri Van den Bergh

(4) Daryl Gurney v Ronny Huybrechts

(29) John Henderson v Marko Kantele

(13) Michael Smith v Steve Lennon

(20) Rob Cross v Seigo Asada/Gordon Mathers

(2) Peter Wright v Diogo Portela

(31) Jonny Clayton v Kenny Neyens/Jamie Lewis

(15) Alan Norris v Kim Viljanen

(18) Kim Huybrechts v James Richardson

(7) Adrian Lewis v Aleksandr Oreshkin/Kevin Munch

(26) Cristo Reyes v Antonio Alcinas

(10) Simon Whitlock v Martin Schindler

(23) Darren Webster v Devon Petersen

(6) Phil Taylor v Chris Dobey

(27) Justin Pipe v Xiao Chen Zong/Bernie Smith

(11) James Wade v Keegan Brown

(22) Mervyn King v Zoran Lerchbacher

(3) Gary Anderson v Jeff Smith/Luke Humphries

(30) Mark Webster v Kai Fan Leung/Paul Lim

(14) Benito van de Pas v Steve West

(19) Joe Cullen v Jermaine Wattimena

PDC World Darts Championship Selected Current Best Odds

Michael Van Gerwen 4/5, Gary Anderson 7/1, Peter Wright 12/1, Phil Taylor and Rob Cross 14/1, Daryl Gurney 40/1, Adrian Lewis and Mensur Suljovic 50/1, Raymond Van Barneveld 66/1, Dave Chisnall and Simon Whitlock 125/1, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson and James Wade 150/1, Gerwyn Price, Kim Huybrechts and Benito Van De Pas 200/1