Darts Premier League 2013

History is usually a pretty good indicator of future successes in darts betting, especially when the oche has been ruled by Phil Taylor for so long. The 2013 Premier League darts season pulls together ten of the top darts stars from around the world. This season’s format will take on a new tilt, instead of just eight players going head to head, the season will start with ten. The top four ranked players in the world automatically qualify, plus another six who have gained entry through performance related criteria. The ten players each face off against each other once, and after round nine, the bottom two will get relegated out of the competition. The remaining eight will all play each other once again in the race to make it to the play off spots.

Going back to history, it has been pretty much all Phil Taylor. The Power has won six of the eight previous seasons and with him getting back on top of the world at the turn of the year, claiming yet another World Championship title, he is the front runner again in the 2013 Premier League darts betting. Taylor beat out Simon Whitlock in the final of last year’s event, losing just one match in the league season. Taylor has never failed to finish top of the league stage in Premier League Darts history and he doesn’t look as if he is going to lose his grip on things very soon. He just has the consistency to turn up week in, week out and produce. The stop-start nature of the tournament is something that others, especially newcomers, have problems dealing with. Given the power of Taylor, even if he isn’t at his best, you would still back him to finish in the top four to move ahead to the knockouts.

Among the three players making their debut in this year’s tournament, is Michael van Gerwen. The young flying Dutchman could well be the biggest threat to Taylor’s dominance in Premier League darts. The Dutchman is the next big thing on the block and after running to the final of the World Championships, where he pushed Phil Taylor hard on New Year’s Day, he is getting closer to taking the game by storm. This is a natural talent, and he, like Taylor is probably naturally suited to the wham-bam rapid action of Premier League Darts. Van Gerwen is heavy scorer and can just power through legs. Newcomers to this format usually struggle to make an impact in their debut seasons, but Van Gerwen’s stock is rising all the time and really could be a major challenger. The opening week of the season will see Van Gerwen square off against Taylor. The 2013 Premier League season runs from February 7th, 2013 to finals night on May 16th

Australia’s Simon Whitlock is going to be a decent bit of value. He lost out in the final last year after a good season. Whitlock’s consistency gets called into question a bit, but he can be a dangerous floater who flies under the radar. He needs to develop more of a clinical, finishing edge though as he seems to come up short at the business end of things. Raymond vanBarneveld is usually calm, solid and steady through the Premier League season, but stamina and lack of drive seems to be his downfall. Double world champion Adrian Lewis slumped badly last season. Power is not a question with him, consistency is. England’s James Wade therefore may be offering some value in having a good season. After a slow start in 2012 he rallied really well to make the playoffs. He is also one of only two other men besides Taylor to have won the Premier League darts title.