Players Championship Finals predictions & darts betting tips

Players Championship Finals betting tips

The big boys of darts will be stepping up their preparations for next month's World Championship when they toe the oche in Minehead for this weekend's Players Championship Finals (ITV4, from 12:45pm Friday)

There’s £600,000 in prize money up for grabs here, as well as the chance to join a small group of stars to have actually won this event.

The Players Championship may be in its 15th year but it’s been dominated first by Phil Taylor and then Michael van Gerwen for much of its existence.

MVG won the Finals in 2022 with a crushing 11-6 victory over Rob Cross. That was his record-seventh success. He is not, however, the outright favourite with betting sites to win this trophy for an eighth time since 2013.

That tag goes to Gerwyn Price, who comes into the Players Championship Finals having won Players Championships 29 at the start of November. Price, though, crashed out in the second round of the recent Grand Slam of Darts, so isn’t in peak form either.

Some bookmakers have even shifted away from Price following the Grand Slam and are instead backing two-time major winner Luke Humphries to continue his breakout year by taking the title in Minehead.

The Players Championship Finals gets underway on Friday 24 November and it’s a straight knockout through to the final on Sunday evening.

Mighty Mike can come good in Minehead

Rarely do you see Michael van Gerwen at odds of 6/1 to win any darts tournament. What’s changed in recent months is that MVG isn’t the all-conquering force he used to be. 

Darts is far more competitive at the top end compared to a few years back and that’s impacted on MVG’s price.

New betting sites are more open to widening their price on the Dutchman. Gone are the days where he was 3/1 to win the World Darts Championship with his next rival out at 10/1.

Van Gerwen still has class on his side and is rightly up there with the favourites in Minehead. 

Humphries is the only other player to win more than one major this season, and Van Gerwen doesn’t always need form to carry him deep into a tournament.

Few appearances in the Players Championship means MVG is the 40th seed here. He faces Callan Rydz in the first round and is on course for a last-eight showdown with top seed Gerwyn Price. 

Bypass the Welshman and Van Gerwen could go on to win the whole thing at 6/1 with Betfred.

Anderson may fly through Finals

The bookies have Humphries as the 2/1 favourite to make the final this weekend. That’s a big call but it takes into account the fact he is on the other side of the draw to MVG and Price, who are in the same quarter.

However, this overlooks Gary Anderson to go all the way. Bet365 have made him the fifth favourite at 15/2 to reach the final, and Anderson is in a favourable section of the draw.

The second seed has won three Players Championship nights this season and reached two further finals.

Winner lies amongst talented top half

If backing Michael van Gerwen to win seems like too much of a stretch then punters may want to consider his half of the draw to house the eventual champion.

This season’s top half of the draw features two past champions (inc. 7x winner MVG) and five previous finalists. The bottom half of the draw has just one past champ in Anderson, and one past finalist (Ryan Searle).

Ranking for the Players Championships Finals is based on the results over the 30 Players Championships nights across the year, not the PDC world rankings. 

That’s why the draw has created an imbalance, where more of the top players are in the top half.

That’s not to say Anderson, Humphries, Michael Smith or Andrew Gilding can’t go all the way here.

But at 8/13 with BetGoodwin, a top-half champion is a bet to consider.

Joe Short is a freelance journalist and former editor at the Daily Express, covering politics, football, tennis and darts, among other things. He contributes sports betting tips for The Independent.