Phil Taylor is unsurprisingly the red hot 1/2 favourite, with layers taking no chance this year about the 13 times world champ. He failed to reach the final for the first time last year after making some changes to his game, such as a new set of arrows. He drifted out to 4/1 to win the 2009 edition, which looks like a huge price now. ‘The Power’ is back to his best throwing insane averages, meaning that punters are happy to take short prices about him. He made few mistakes in his opener against Steve Grubb, and he should breeze past his next opponent, Michael van Gerwen. 

Next in the betting is Raymond van Barneveld, 7/1 with Victor Chandler and Hills. He was on fire against Mark Stephenson, where he averaged an impressive 100.8. He rarely missed a double and looks like a decent bet to repeat his 2007 heroics. Unfortunately for me, neither of the best-priced bookmakers are offering each way terms.

Boylesports are refunding all outright winner bets on the tournament if 3rd seed James Wade wins. They are also the only firm to offer each way terms on quarter betting.

Also priced at the top end of the markets are 10/1 James Wade and 26/1 Andy Hamilton, who averaged 101.59. Mervyn King needs to be considered at 33/1 and 50/1 Jelle Klaasen has been cut from 240/1 after beating 10th seed Colin Lloyd.

Hamilton reached the semis 2 years ago, but he’ll have to see to Raymond if he’s to progress past his quarter. I am tempted to back 30/1 Anthony Lewis, who beat Barney 9-2 at the European Championship and has a seemingly safe passage into Round 3. 

79/1 Colin Osborne was clinical against Charles Losper on Tuesday night, and looks like a player to follow. I will be particularly interested in his price for ‘Most 180s’ in his next fixture. 

In other darts news, Eric Bristow has agreed to take on women’s champ Anastasia Dobromyslova in a ‘battle of the sexes’. Anastasia is the 4/9 favourite to win the £10,000 match, which won’t be the only thing at stake. Anastasia has recently been averaging about 80, so she should have too much for the 13/8 ‘Crafty Cockney’, who averaged 74 in the Betfred League of Legends. 

bookies.com compares Darts odds from the best UK bookmakers:

PDC World Championship Outright Winner Betting

PDC World Championship Match Betting

BDO World Championships Outright Winner Betting