PDC Premier League Darts 2019

The 2019 Premier League Darts is bigger than ever. Ten of the top PDC players compete in a round robin phase to gain points. After round nine, known as the ‘Judgement Night’, the bottom two players in the league table are eliminated. The remaining eight players then continue the round-robin quest until round-fifteen. At this stage, the top four players then progress to the knockout week or knockout finals.

The rules are pretty simple. Every week the players play a best of 14 leg match. If a player wins 8 legs, he gains two points the loser nothing. If the match is drawn 7-7 both players are awarded a point. Players on equal points are then sorted by wins against the throw. i.e. if they have won more legs against the throw, they appear higher on the league board.

Betting opportunities are vast and many who know the sport will be putting a bet on the matches. The options are vast with some sites offering free bets, so little of nothing to lose for some punters. Michael van Gerwen will line-up as the favourite to retain the title. Michael has won the Premier League for the past three years however he faces the ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith in his first round in Nottingham on the 7th February 2019.

Michael Smith has had a massive rise in his ranking after becoming the 2019 World Champion runner-up, losing to Michael van Gerwen in the final 7-3. However, with the Premier League’s short format things could be different and the ‘Bully Boy’ will be out for revenge. Last year Smith lost in the Premier League final again to Michael van Gerwen, so getting off to a good start in this year’s event is essential and any weak weeks could be costly to any of the players.

The 2019 line up sees the top four players from PDC order of merit, an additional four wild card players picked by the PDC for their achievements in 2018 plus a further two players chosen by Sky Sports.

 

2019 Premier League Players

PDC Order of Merit	PDC (Wild Cards)	Sky (Wild Cards)
Michael van Gerwen	Daryl Gurney	Mensur Suljovic
Rob Cross	Michael Smith	Raymond van Barnevald
Peter Wright	Gerwyn Price
Gary Anderson	James Wade

Any of the players are more than capable of winning the overall event but for one it will be the last time they will compete in this event. Raymond van Barneveld announced his retirement and will leave the professional darts scene at the end of the 2020 PDC World Championships. Raymond is a five-time World Darts Champion and won the Premier League in 2014 beating his fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the final. However, 2018, wasn’t the best of years for Raymond and losing in the first round of the 2019 World Championships has seen his ranking fall. Raymond this year is a Sky Wild Card and although many will question whether he has it in him to make a major impact on the Premier League, he is without question one of the fans favourites and could still cause one or two upsets.

 

Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson, the former two-time World Champion and former two-time Premier League Champion will be one of the main contenders for this year’s title. The Scotsman has a massive fan base that follows him to every event. In 2018 Gary won the World Matchplay and the UK Open and he has always played well in the Premier League. Gary is in this year’s event by order of merit, by achievement and will be backed to do well.

 

Rob Cross and Peter Wright

Rob Cross and Peter Wright along with Micheal van Gerwen and Gary Anderson gained their Premier League place automatically by virtue of the PDC Order of Merit.

Rob Cross came to fame as a ranked outsider in 2018 to win the 2018 World Championship. However, Rob, following his success found the media attention a little hard to cope with and achieved little following his title win. A Players Championship stage win and a non-ranking World Series win in Brisbane were his only other successes in 2018. However, he is no longer the current World Champion so the pressure is off a little for Rob and if he produces darts that gave him the 2018 World Championship title he could be a player to watch.

Peter Wright comes into the Premier League as the PDC Order of merit ranked No.3. Besides changes to his hairstyle on each occasion we see him on TV, Peter is renowned to change his darts equipment as nearly as often. Showing fans he can play with various darts set-up including different dart weights has caused Peter one or two issues. An early bath at the World Champions was not on the cards as he was tipped to go far. However, Peter lost his opening match. He has vowed to stick with a darts set-up for a longer period which will encourage his fans as he is overdue a major title.

 

The others

Daryl Gurney, Gerwyn Price, James Wade and Mensur Suljovic. All of these players have shown they have what it takes to win. James Wade won last year’s European Championship and backed this up by winning the World Series finals. Gerwyn Price won the Grand Slam of Darts and had a bit of a confrontation with Gary Anderson during the final which always makes a return match a bit more interesting!

Daryl Gurney and Mensur Suljovic have both tasted title success. Daryl won the Players Championships last year while Mensur won the Champions league in 2017. For an outside bet, both players could be worth a punt.

 

 

Past Premier League Winners

Year	Winner	Score		Score	Runner-up
2018	Michael van Gerwen	11	-	4	Michael Smith
2017	Michael van Gerwen	11	-	10	Peter Wright
2016	Michael van Gerwen	11	-	3	Phil Taylor
2015	Gary Anderson	11	-	7	Michael van Gerwen
2014	Raymond van Barneveld	10	-	6	Michael van Gerwen
2013	Michael van Gerwen	10	-	8	Phil Taylor
2012	Phil Taylor	10	-	7	Simon Whitlock
2011	Gary Anderson	10	-	4	Adrian Lewis
2010	Phil Taylor	10	-	8	James Wade
2009	James Wade	13	-	8	Mervyn King
2008	Phil Taylor	16	-	8	James Wade
2007	Phil Taylor	16	-	6	Terry Jenkins
2006	Phil Taylor	16	-	6	Roland Scholten
2005	Phil Taylor	16	-	4	Colin Lloyd