2013 World Darts Championship Outright Preview

Posted on December 14th, 2012

Oh the big ship sails on the Ally Pally Oh and we are in uncharted waters this year. A new trophy, a new era, and an unusually tough tournament to predict.

The 2013 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship kicks off on Friday 14 December as the Alexandra Palace once again opens its doors to thousands of braying darts fans and 72 darts players contesting the £1 million prize fund.

Not since John Part defeated the karate kicking dark horse, Kirk Shepherd, to win his third world crown in 2008 has a world championship looked so open.

Top seed Phil Taylor goes off as 7/4 favourite but the major trophies are shared out these days and the 15-time World Champion is no longer the shoe-in we’ve come to expect. In fact last year was the second year on the trot that The Power did not feature in the final and this had never happened before. A third consecutive Taylor-less final seems unthinkable but is highly possible.

And how he would love to get his hands on the new Sid Waddell Trophy. The grand Eritrean marble piece was commissioned in memory of the late, great darts visionary and will be presented to the winner by Sid’s son Dan on the evening of January 2nd.

There is also the trifling matter of the £200k winner’s cheque.

The Sid Waddell Trophy – does it have Taylor’s name on it?

Number two seed Adrian Lewis is the defending champion and goes for his third straight title. Only four other men (Taylor, Bristow, Barney & Adams) have won back to back world titles of any version. Only Taylor & Bristow have won three on the bounce. Dennis Priestley is the only other player to have featured in three successive finals.

That is the measure of the task facing 12/1 shot Lewis who is defending £200k from the 2011 event; an early exit here could also see him lose his No. 2 spot in the Order of Merit, should one of his upper echelon rivals reach the final.

£100k to the runner up is not to be sniffed at either. It can be a launchpad to the upper reaches of the PDC rankings and open the door to a lucrative Premier League spot. Just ask Andy Hamilton who has enjoyed a bright 2012 on the back of his runners up spot last year.

The likes of Robert Thornton, Dave Chisnall, Mervyn King, Justin Pipe, and even Raymond van Barneveld (currently languishing at number 13 would you believe?) can all take inspiration from The Hammer. Each will fancy their chances.

33/1 shot Robert Thornton has knocked Taylor out of two majors this year and bagged the UK Open as a 100/1 outsider in June.

Dave Chisnall (25/1) has won six times on the Pro Tour in 2012 to head the Pro Tour Order of Merit. Chizzy also knocked out Phil Taylor in the second round here last year.

Mervyn King (50/1) was runner up to Michael van Gerwen at the World Grand Prix in October, giving the PDC’s hottest player a run for his money and igniting a welcome return to form.

Justin Pipe (50/1) has contested five Pro Tour finals this year, winning two and finishing 5th in the Pro Tour OoM. Pipe’s ponderous style has made him a force to be reckoned with and he is improving all the time.

Raymond van Barneveld (16/1) has also been bubbling up nicely, winning three Pro Tour events before a sensational return to the big time last month when he took down the Grand Slam of Darts. The laconic Barney throw is making a comeback and 2012 has seen the Dutchman hit some of the highest match averages of his career. Can he maintain it for six high octane matches on the Ally Pally stage?

Fellow Dutchman and the man Barney pipped to the GSOD title, Michael van Gerwen, has finally realised his potential and will look back on 2012 as the year he came of age. Will he also look back on his first world title?

The number 7 seed has won eight titles in 2012, won the World Grand Prix in October, almost added the Grand Slam in November, and will never have a better chance of becoming world champion. He’s in the better half of the draw and William Hill are in agreement making MvG second favourite with a 9/2 chance of glory. It’s hard to look past van Gerwen but at those odds? I’m not so sure.

So where can we throw our money? As ever there are two questions to ask – who can win it and where is the value? – so let’s discount a few straight off the bat.

A vulnerable Taylor is too short at 7/4. The Stoke man is currently in possession of four major titles (Premier League, Matchplay, Players Champs, Champ League)  but he usually comes into this event holding the majority and is getting used to losing on the big stage.

It seems like James Wade is still in a bad place. Since capitulating to Adrian Lewis in last year’s semi final, when he had Jackpot by the short & curlies, Wade has only a World Matchplay runners up place to show for a difficult year both on and off the oche. The Machine will rise again but it doesn’t look like happening over the next 15 days.

Adrian Lewis may be the double defending champion but his 2012 form is frankly woeful and he hasn’t featured at the sharp end of any major since his defining moment last January. Whether it is over work on the exhibition and PR circuit or off-oche distractions with his private life, Jackpot is definitely not the same player one year on and he is the first to admit this.

All three are off our shortlist along with around 60 others too numerous to mention individually. With the field trimmed we are left with a smattering of potential world champions that we can make a case for.

Thornton, Chisnall, King, Pipe & Barney all have a genuine chance as we have discussed. To these we can add Simon Whitlock, Gary Anderson, Andy Hamilton & Wes Newton.

With Lewis & Wade in the bottom half of the draw, it is the top half that looks the trickiest. Whitlock, Chisnall, Anderson & Barney are all slated to meet before the quarter finals but the winner could perceivably come from this quartet.

Simon Whitlock is the reigning European Champion and is in hot form. The 12/1 shot was runner up in 2010 and currently has the form to negotiate this tough section of the draw.

After a barren year there are signs that Gary Anderson (16/1) may be finding his game again, perhaps inspired by that ridiculous new shirt. I have a sneaky feeling for the Scotsman and envisage a quarter final shootout between these two with the victor having a great chance of reaching the final.

Wes Newton (28/1) makes interesting reading. Up to number six in the PDC OoM but yet to win a major. He came close in September when Simon Whitlock denied him the European Championship and he has a decent draw. His section includes an unfortunate Kim Huybrechts (33/1) who has just lost his father so could be distracted and Justin Pipe, the man who dispatched Newton in round two last year. Revenge will be high on The Warrior’s agenda and the semi finals look to be within reach for the Fleetwood chucker.

One last name to throw into the crucible is that of Dean Winstanley. Sitting in the better half of the draw he has a tough first round match against Mervyn King. But should he come through that he has the game to make serious inroads. At 66/1 Over The Top could be worth an each way punt on reaching the final.

My tentative stab at predicting the semi finals is Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock and Michael van Gerwen v Wes Newton.

As ever, the World Championship brings together a colourful cast of characters from around the world. 21 countries are represented and with the outright market covered we can turn our attention to the rest of the 72 man field and see if we can highlight the potential first round shocks. Read our accompanying article to get an idea of where the first round value is.

As ever we encourage you to utilise our huge ‘Dartabase‘ and Player Head to Head stats to help you steal a march on the bookies, and for a change we are also reaching out to OLBG.com and their regular tipsters to give you some of their tungsten picks.

At the foot of the page you will also find the outright odds from William Hill. Don’t forget to collect your free £25 from them here.

2013 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship Links

Draw | Schedule of Play | Roll of Honour | Head to Heads | Beat The Tipster | 9 Dart Club | All Time Player Ratings | 2012 Results

2013 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship Tips from OLBG.com

Here are some selected quotes from the OLBG.com forum tipsters in relation to outright winners and also a video roundup . Do you agree with the OLBG tipsters?

Drobgod says, In the outright winner market I’m going to back four players at odds of 33/1, 40/1, 40/1 and 100/1 meaning I’ll be on those four at odds of roughly 10/1 to win the tournament. Chisnall, Huybrechts, Hamilton & Winstanley.

Of the others Adrian Lewis will do well to make it three in a row after the season he’s had, James Wade and Simon Whitlock have probably seen better days, Gary Anderson is the perennial under-achiever and Raymond Van Barneveld has probably fared worse than anybody in the draw with Brendan Dolan waiting in round two, Gary Anderson in round three and Whitlock or Chisnall in the quarter-finals so I couldn’t back the revitalised Dutchman. 

Rounder says, Phil Taylor - The further he gets into this the more likely he is to win and his first 3 games appear to me to be jelly. Coming off the back of the players championship with 100+ ave in 5 rounds against top opposition each time (Webster, Aidey, Hamilton, Whitlock and Huybrechts) he is obviously ready and hungry to take back his crown. I take the 9/4.

From the bottom half, looking like a mouth watering Aidey Lewis v Van Gerwen Quarter final. Don’t see too much trouble for them. But my pick from the bottom is Wes Newton. Always looks like he can beat anyone, if he can keep his head together. I don’t fancy James Wade too much so his draw seems favorable for a long run at 33/1.

SJP1985 says, In the outright market I have to agree with drobgod in that I find it easy to oppose Taylor and Van Gerwen. Taylor is now beatable and van gerwen still has his flaws (having said that i do hope van gerwen wins having been on him at 50/1 back in sept).

On to my picks, Justin Pipe (50/1), my second pick is Andy Hamilton 40/1 & finally I think it would be to unfair, but easy to overlook Adrian Lewis. And 10/1 is value for the guy who has won this two years in a row. Outside of the worlds Lewis has not really shone, but on the main stage he ups his game. He would have a tough route to the final but he can overcome this and pick up a third title.

2013 Ladbrokes World Championship Outright Winners Odds

From William Hill (correct as of 14/12/12)

Tags: Alexandra Palace, Darts Betting, Ladbrokes World Darts Championship, PDC Darts, Phil Taylor
Filed under News, PDC, Tournament News, World Championship |

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