Apprentice Ready to Shine at Alexandra Palace

Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis begins his quest for the PDC World Championship title as he takes on Tony Eccles in the first round at Alexandra Palace this Friday evening.

Although Lewis has always loathed the title of being Phil Taylor’s protégé it hasn’t stopped pundits comparing Jackpot to the 15-time world champion throughout his career. Jackpot relieved a huge burden from his shoulders when finally beating Taylor in a televised event at the World Grand Prix in October and is now looking to realise his potential at the biggest event in the darts calendar.

His opening round match could have been easier than world number 33 Eccles but nevertheless the bookmakers are expecting him to progress to the next round with relative ease. Most firms are quoting odds of 1/5 on a Lewis win whilst it is 4/1 that he crashes out at the first round.

Co Stompe also begins his campaign this Friday night after he claimed his first major title when winning the PDC World Cup for Netherlands alongside Raymond van Barneveld earlier this month. He faces Peter Wright, a player who tends to get more publicity because of his eccentric hairstyles than his darting ability. The Dutchman is also long odds-on to go through to the second round of the World Championships.

2005 World Matchplay champion Colin ‘Jaws’ Lloyd has enjoyed a resurgence up the rankings this season and is now ranked at number nine in the PDC list. He beat Barney in the group stages of the recent Grand Slam of Darts before coming unstuck against Stompe in the last 16.

He is faced with a potentially tricky opening match against German player Andree Welge. Although Jaws is the clear 1/5 favourite he may not get things all his own way against a player that recently beat Lewis, Gary Anderson and Andy Hamilton, amongst others, at a Players Championship event in Germany.

Another list of odds-on favourites from the bookmakers but things might not be so straight forward for favourite backers at Alexandra Palace this evening.