The 64 entrants are drawn into two halves, consisting of two sections each. The players are drawn based on where they rank at that point in the Order of Merit. Each section consists of 16 players, who play in elimination rounds. On the first day, the first round is played to a best of 11 legs. On the second day, the second round starts, with the players who won the first round playing in another match that is played to a best of 11 legs. The day concludes with the third round, which is played to a best of 19 legs. On the third and final day, the two remaining players in each of the sections play each other in a quarterfinal that is played to a best of 19 legs. The winners of each section then are paired and play in the semi-finals, a match played to a best of 21 legs. The two remaining players proceed to the finals, where they play to a best of 21 legs.

The tournament brings with it many betting opportunities, which translate into numerous chances to win money.

Players Championship Finals Betting

Outrights

Outright bets, which are also called future bets, are wagers that can be placed on events that will be determined at the end of the competition. Punters can place their money on any of the players in the competition to win the Players Championship Finals. These bets will be available both before a competition starts, and during the competition, but the odds are usually better when the bets are placed in advance.

There may also be other bets on offer, such as which player will have the highest checkout in the competition, or whether there be a nine-dart finish at any point in the competition.

Match Winner

This is the simplest bet; it is on which player will win an individual match. There are no criteria for how the player may win or by what margin, as long as the chosen player wins the match.

Leg Spreads

Spreads work in the same way as handicaps: they can be used to increase the odds and risk of betting on a player to win, or they can be used to decrease the odds but also decrease the risk of betting on a player to win.

When betting with a spread, a punter needs to pick from one of the spreads available. To increase the odds of betting on a player, a spread of -3.5, -4.5, -5.5, can be set. This will mean that the player will need to win the match by at least 4, 5, 6 legs. The bigger the spread, the longer the odds will be, but it will also increase the risk that the player will not cover the spread.

When placing a positive spread of +3.5, +4.5, or +5.5, this will require the player to either win or not lose the match by more than 3, 4, or 5 legs. These spreads increasingly decrease the odds, depending on how large the spread is, but it will also come with a far greater chance of winning.

There will be several options when it comes to picking a spread, this can depend on how many legs the players are playing to a best of. In the first few rounds when the matches are played to a best of 11 legs, there will not be as many spreads offered as the semi-finals or finals, which are played to a best of 21 legs.

Leg Totals

Punters can bet on how many legs they think will be played in a single match with the leg totals bet. Here, punters can define a range of legs, and if the match finishes with a number of legs that falls into the range, the bet wins. There will be multiple betting lines, and punters can select one and bet on whether the match will end with over or under the number of legs defined by the line.

The number of betting lines depends on whether the match is played to a best of 11 legs, 19 legs or 21 legs. For matches played to a best of 11 legs, there may be betting lines such as 7.5, 8.5, and 9.5 available. For matches played to a best of 21 legs, there may be lines such as 13.5, 14.5, 15.5, and so on, all the way up to 19.5.

Game Props

Game props in darts betting are not difficult to understand, though they can sometimes be difficult to predict. These bets can relate to any aspect of a game, from how a player will win all the way down to specifics such as how big will the highest checkout be in a game.

When it comes to how a darts player may win a game, punters have a variety of options to pick from including: will a darts player win the match in straight sets, what will the exact score (in legs) be at the end of a match, will a darts player win the match after trailing by X legs, will the match go down to the last leg, and many more. Predicting the exact score is one of the most difficult bets in darts, as there are many possible outcomes, but in return, the odds on this bet are extremely long.

There may be bets on finer aspects of a match such as which player will have the higher checkout, how many triple 20s will be thrown, the exact highest checkout, will there be a nine-dart finish in the match, which player will score more bullseye finishes, will the match finish with an even or odd number of legs, and many more. Whilst betting on which player will have the higher checkout is possible to predict, betting on the exact number of the highest checkout is far more difficult. This bet can still be worth a try as it will provide massive returns if the correct checkout is chosen.

Live Betting

Live bets will be available during each fixture in the Players Championship Finals, and these include a mixture of bets on a match as a whole and bets that relate to the following events in a game. All bets will be offered with odds that will update in real time, and some bets will only be available for short periods of time as they relate to events that are determined in the next minutes of a game.

Live bets will include the main bets such as match winner, leg spreads, leg totals, as well as props such as the exact score in legs, will there be an even or odd number of legs, will there be a nine-dart finish at any point during the game, and so on.

There are some fantastic bets such as which player will win the ongoing leg, will a player win two legs in a row, will the checkout in the leg be higher than 150, which player will throw more triple 20s, and more.

Conclusion

The Player Championship Finals can be extremely fun to bet on, as punters have a huge variety of bets to pick from for each match. In addition to this wealth of options, punters will not have to wait long for the next match as they are all played in rapid procession. If a bettor misses the chance to place any pregame bets for the next round of matches in the tournament, they can still turn to the huge selection of live bets that may offer the chance of even larger returns.