The Darts Premier League will finally kick off on Thursday. After witnessing a great World Cup and an even more exciting World Championships, the Premier League has never looked tougher to win.

Phil Taylor is 7/4 on to win the Premier League this year

Taylor is 7/4 On to win 2012 Premier League

‘The Power’ 7/4 Favourite to Win it All

Phil Taylor showed us all last weekend that although he is lacking form, he certainly does not lack the will to win. It was amazing to see how much 15-time World Champion still wants to win. His 7/4 on odds by most bookies suggests that they have faith in Taylor’s ability to regain form.

The man of the moment, Adrian Lewis, is the second favourite. Lewis is full of confidence and playing great right now and I think that will continue. Sportingbet and Ladbrokes have him best priced at 9/2 which seems nice considering he has not lost in 2012.

Last year’s champion, Gary Anderson, can also be found at 9/2. The Scot has not played badly this year but not been near his top form. Maybe a return to a place of success for the 41-year-old will be just what he needs to kick start his year.

Simon Whitlock is always a good bet if you want an outside bet. ‘The Wizard’ is lightly priced at 15/2 (Bet Victor) considering his World Championship performance. The Aussie is consistent in his play and could take advantage if inconsistency plagues some of the better players.

Taylor and Lewis go from World Cup winning team-mates to Premier League Rivals

From Team-mates to Enemies

Taylor and Lewis headline Thursday’s action

Thursday night will kick off the event with the World Cup winners taking on each other. Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis will be the last match, expecting the arrows to start flying around 10.40 PM on Sky Sports. ‘The Power’ is odds on to win at 4/5 while ‘Jackpot’ is chalked up at 11/5 (Bwin).

The night’s action is kicked off with an interesting match-up between Andy Hamilton and James Wade. It will be interesting to see what kind of form the ‘Hammer’ is in after his amazing performance in January. Bookies have Wade is the unanimous Favourite at 8/13 (Paddy Power, Ladbrokes) while Hamilton is a listed as a 14/5 outsider by Sportingbet.

The next match up is an interesting one for me. Simon Whitlock is chalked up at 5/6 by Sportingbet to oust Raymond van Barneveld. Barney’s slump seems to be in full swing and the bookmakers do not give him much of a chance as he is best priced at 9/4 by (Bwin).

The last match to be discussed sees the defending champion take on the Cash Converter’s Player’s Championships Finals winner, Kevin Painter. ‘The Artist’ is the clear underdog, priced at 3/1 by Bet Victor and (Bwin). Anderson can be found best priced by Sportingbet and Ladbrokes at 8/15.

Thursday’s matches will be a great way to start things off, especially with so many great match ups. I think that Wade, Whitlock, Anderson and Taylor will win. I think that Lewis might struggle playing such a good friend in a big event leaving Taylor the victor.

I got my journalism degree from Mississippi State University and have been offering advice on many sports for a fair few years now. I started off offering tips on tennis during the big tournaments (I played a lot as a junior) and really enjoyed helping out my Dad with tips.

After doing this for a few years, I realised that looking for value could be found in other sports that I enjoyed such as darts, snooker and football. This led to many accumulators no matter what the sport and then offering on advice on anybody that asked.

I am looking forward to putting my ideas down on paper and always appreciate comments from the reader.

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