At the start of January, Scotland’s Peter Wright (who was my tip for the tournament) claimed his second PDC World Darts Championship with a 7-5 victory over Michael Smith in the final.
It was a fitting end to a high-quality competition that saw a number of shocks and surprises throughout.
Usually, at the end of that tournament, the players that will compete in the Premier League of Darts would be announced, but with the PDC re-organising how this year’s tournament would be played out, this announcement has been delayed until the completion of this weekend’s PDC Masters 2022 tournament.
Of course, this means
that there is now renewed interest in the second big PDC Darts tournament taking place in January and bet365 Sport is ready with a whole host of pre-match and In Play betting for the event.
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What Is The PDC Masters Tournament?
The Masters was first contested back in 2013 and originally featured the top 16 players in the PDC Rankings competing against each other in a straight knockout tournament across Friday, Saturday and Sunday in January/February.
However, for this year’s tournament, the field has been increased to 24 players. This means that the top eight seeds in the tournament will be seeded through to the second round, while the seeds from 9th to 24th will contest the first round of the tournament.
The final will be contested over the best of 21 legs (first to 11) and there is a total prize fund of £220,000 available in the event, £60,000 of which will. Go to the winner.
Although a non-ranking event, it is still a coveted prize on the PDC circuit, as evidenced by the very strong field that will head to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes this weekend. From that field, Jonny Clayton will be the defending champion after he beat Mervyn King 11-8 in last year’s final.
It is also the final tournament where the Unicorn dartboard will be used, as after this event their association with the PDC will come to a close after 25 years.
Who Has Won The PDC Masters?
A total of five players have won the PDC Masters tournament since it was first competed for in 2013. Four of those winning the tournament just once.
Michael van Gerwen dominated the event from 2015 through to 2019, winning five times in succession.
Phil Taylor won the first ever Masters tournament in 2013 and in 2014, James Wade was the second winner of the event before van Gerwen dominated the tournament. In 2020, Peter Wright became the fourth player to add his name to the trophy when he beat Michael Smith in the final and last year Jonny Clayton was the victor.
Mervyn King and Raymond van Barneveld have both lost twice in the final, while Dave Chisnall, Gary Anderson, James Wade, Adrian Lewis and Michael Smith have all been runner-up on one occasion.
2022 PDC Masters – Seedings & First Round Draw
The new-look for the 2022 Masters sees 24 players qualify for the event, based on their PDC Rankings following the World Championship earlier this year.
The top eight seeds in the draw that are seeded through to the second round of the draw are as follows:
- Gerwyn Price
- Peter Wright
- Michael van Gerwen
- James Wade
- Michael Smith
- Gary Anderson
- Jose de Sousa
- Jonny Clayton
The remaining 16 players in the draw have seen
two replacements called up. 14th seed Nathan Aspinall pulled out due to injury, while 18th seed Danny Noppert withdrew for family reasons. They were replaced by 25th seed Simon Whitlock and 26th seed Devon Petersen.
The First & Second Round Draws for the tournament is as follows:
- Ryan Searle (16) v Mervyn King (17) – Winner to face Gerwyn Price (1)
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (9) v Ian White (24) – Winner to face Jonny Clayton (8)
- Dave Chisnall (13) v Stephen Bunting (20) – Winner to face James Wade (4)
- Krzysztof Ratajski (12) v Gabriel Clemens (21) – Winner to face Michael Smith (5)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode (15) v Simon Whitlock (Alt) – Winner to face Peter Wright (2)
- Rob Cross (10) v Brendan Dolan (23) – Winner to face Jose de Sousa (7)
- Devon Petersen (Alt) v Luke Humphries (19) – Winner to face Michael van Gerwen (3)
- Joe Cullen (11) v Daryl Gurney (22) – Winner to face Gary Anderson (6)
The First Round ties are played over the best of 11 legs, with the second round and quarterfinals contested over the best of 19 and the semifinal and final the best of 21 legs.
Premier League Announcement
The PDC has announced that it will provide us
with further details of the new look Premier League tournament, which is due to start next Thursday night, including the names of the eight players that will contest the event.
It seems as though Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton appear to be four of the names in the tournament, although this has yet to be confirmed officially.
However, there is speculation over whether the popular female player Fallon Sherrock may be given an opportunity to compete in the event, given the fact she has plenty of fans across the country and has performed very well in tournaments over the last year, reaching the final in one, only to lose to Michael van Gerwen.
The full announcement is expected from the PDC upon the completion of the tournament on Sunday and it is believed that there may be a place available for the winner of this event, if they have not already earned their place in the tournament already.
The Masters 2022 – Betting Tips And Odds
Gerwyn Price is the 7/2 favourite with bet365 to win the tournament ahead of the 5-time winner Michael van Gerwen who is 4/1 and the current World Champion Peter Wright is a 9/2 chance. Outside of those three the odds tail off to Jonny Clayton at 7/1 and Michael Smith at 9/1.
After that you can get odds of 20/1 or better on any of the other competitors right up to odds of 100/1 for Ian White, Gabriel Clemens, Simon Whitlock and Devon Petersen.
Picking a winner I think is relatively easy. In these types of games, one of my best darts betting tip is that players who make quick starts in matches tend to be at an advantage and I think in recent years, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright have suffered a bit with that.
In a 21-leg final, there is a chance to come back from a slow start, but it isn’t easy and the problems tend to come in the shorted best of 19 games, when a player opens up a 3 leg or more lead, it can be incredibly difficult to come back from that.
So, my money is on Gerwyn Price here, which I know is not a great bet given he is the favourite, but I think this tournament does match up to his game well. However, for a good outside bet, Jose de Sousa is well worth a closer look at 25/1.
The action starts on Friday night with the First Round and the tournament ends Sunday evening.
