PDC World Championship Winner Betting

Phil Taylor starts the PDC World Championship as the clear betting favourite, but current form means he isn’t as short a price as he has been in recent years.

There is no doubting that Taylor remains the man to beat at this winter’s PDC World Championships, however, recent defeats in the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, Championship League and, most recently, the PDC World Cup illustrate that the world’s greatest ever player isn’t unbeatable.

Having been backed at odds as low as 1/3 throughout the early part of the year ‘The Power’ is now out to 4/6 with many of the online bookmakers.

The world’s number two, three and four are next in the betting. James Wade is second favourite at odds of 8/1 after he won the World Grand Prix then finished as runner-up in the Grand Slam of Darts. He also moved up to number two in the rankings earlier this year, overtaking Raymond van Barneveld, as a result of being Taylor’s most consistent challenger over the past 12 months.

Barney himself is the bookmakers’ third favourite at 12/1. Winning the recent PDC World Cup was a much needed confidence booster for the Dutchman who has notoriously struggled with the mental aspect of the game in recent times.

“I'm so proud, both to win the event and to play with Co. He has been brilliant throughout the weekend and he has been telling me for three weeks that he had a dream we would win the tournament,” said Barney after winning the event alongside fellow Dutchman Co Stompe.

And finally, fourth favourite in the betting is last year’s runner-up Simon Whitlock. The Aussie burst onto the PDC scene at this event last year with an enthralling run to the final, where he  was eventually undone by Taylor, but has failed to build fully on that form since then.

Geographical reasons are largely accountable for that failure to build on his success, but those problems have now been solved and ‘The Wizard’ looked to be getting back to near his best at the PDC World Cup two weeks ago. At odds of 14/1 there will be plenty interested in siding with the Aussie at Alexandra Palace over the next three weeks.

With Taylor’s crown slipping over the past two months it promises to be an intriguing and highly entertaining World Championships this year. The question is can anyone wrestle the title from Phil Taylor’s grasp?