The 2022 PDC World Darts Championship begins on Wednesday evening at Alexandra Palace with defending champion Gerwyn Price (Outright 7/2) hoping to get off to the perfect start.
The ‘Iceman’ won his first-ever world crown behind closed doors in January when he defeated Gary Anderson 7-3.
It marked a phenomenal ascent for the Welshman who turned his attention to darts in 2014 after previously being a semi-professional rugby player back in his homeland.
The win also elevated him to world number one, overtaking Michael van Gerwen who had been the game’s dominant figurehead, post-Phil Taylor.
There will be 95 other players competing in the tournament with entrants coming from every corner of the planet.
Games will be played in a set format of increasing length throughout the tournament, with the first player to win three legs taking a set.
The top 32 seeded players enter in the second round with mix of PDC Pro Tour and international qualifiers battling it out in round one.
Sessions up until December 22 are a mix of first and second round games and all third-round matches will be confirmed by the evening of December 23.
There will be an afternoon and evening session every day apart from Monday December 20 so there is plenty to look forward to before Christmas.
The rewards are sky high with first-round losers pocketing £7,500 while the overall winner collects a cheque for £500,000 – a far cry from the first PDC Worlds in 1994 where the winner bagged £16,000.
January 3 is the date for the final and Price, one of Betfred’s five players to watch at Ally Pally, will be feeling bullish after a typically strong end to 2021 in which he claimed his third Grand Slam title.
He will face the winner of the tie between Ritchie Edhouse and Peter Hudson (Match betting – Edhouse 2/9, Hudson 16/5) – the latter a late replacement for Chinese qualifier Lihao Wen who failed to obtain a UK visa in time.
Double world champion Adrian Lewis is also in action in round one with ‘Jackpot’ hoping to climb back up the rankings after slipping to number 35.
He faces Canadian Matt Campbell (Match betting – Lewis 1/3, Campbell 23/10) who will become a PDC tour card holder in 2022 due to his exploits on the European Challenge Tour.
The final first-round game on Wednesday will see the lightning-quick thrower Ricky Evans face Indian qualifier Nitin Kumar (Match betting – Evans 1/16, Kumar 8/1), who is playing in the World Championship for the third time.