Gary Anderson heads the betting for Saturday's Players Championship event, but is certain to face stiff competition from an array of big names this weekend.
The Flying Scotsman is the 8/1 favourite with
Sportingbet to pick up the title and a brief glimpse of his best in Bolton last week suggests he is certain to be among the contenders.
Anderson fired in a nine darter in his opening game at the UK Open before losing out to fellow countryman and eventual winner Robert Thornton in the next round, but appeared at ease with his new darts and showed a new-found composure on the doubles.
He is a consistent performer in floor events and could do damage should he match his finishing with his relentless scoring power.
All eyes will be on Robert Thornton as returns to action for the first time following his sensational UK Open victory last weekend; The Thorn was in sublime form throughout the tournament in beating the likes of Mark Webster, Gary Anderson and Dave Chisnall before thrashing Phil Taylor in the final.
Despite claiming his first major PDC title, he still has some work to do in ProTour events if he is to secure World Matchplay qualification and he is priced at 28/1 for more glory this weekend, a good each-way bet should he carry on from where he left off in Bolton.
Dave Chisnall picked up back-to-back titles in the last double-header of tour events in Crawley and will undoubtedly be there or there abouts this time around as he looks to continue his surge up the order of merit.
Chizzy is the 10/1 joint second favourite alongside World Champion Adrian Lewis, multiple major winner James Wade and recent Premier League runner-up Simon Whitlock.
Justin Pipe and Wes Newton can never be discounted from the running and boast a superb track record in these events, occupying top and fourth position in this season's current ProTour order of merit respectively.
Newton is on offer at 14/1, with Pipe offering value at 22/1 to add to his growing list of successes on the non-televised circuit.
Terry Jenkins is among the form horses coming into the weekend's events; he reached the final of UK Open qualifier in April and may offer value at 28/1 to go one step further.
Michael van Gerwen showed signs that he is coming into form when he defeated Mervyn King in last week's FA Cup of Darts and he could prove a tough nut to crack at 50/1 for glory in the second city.
Bad boy Ted Hankey appeared in front of the TV cameras for the first time as a PDC player last Thursday but failed to come through three rounds unscathed as he fell at the hands of Mervyn King. The Count is in desperate need of a series of strong runs in these events if he is to have any chance of gracing the Winter Gardens stage and is a 40/1 chance this weekend.
In terms of possible outsiders, former Lakeside world finalist Dean Winstanley appears to be finally finding his feet with the PDC and is well on his way to appearing in July's World Matchplay should he keep up his fine form on the floor.
He is priced at a huge 150/1 to win his first ProTour title and is capable of doing so with his dangerous all-round game.
Confident youngster Michael Smith has enjoyed success on the circuit this year having won the second event of the year in Benidorm; he is one of many fearless youth stars plying their trade with the big boys on the ProTour and he has a realistic chance of going far despite being dismissed at 200/1.
Action gets underway at 12pm on both days from the NIA Community Hall in Birmingham, with both tournaments a straight knockout format and each round played over the best of 11 legs.
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Players Championship 7 & 8 June 16/17
Outright Odds courtesy of Sportingbet (same odds for both events)
E/W 1-2 @ 1/2
Gary Anderson 8/1
Adrian Lewis 10/1
Dave Chisnall 10/1
James Wade 10/1
Simon Whitlock 10/1
Raymond van Barneveld 14/1
Wesley Newton 14/1
Andy Hamilton 18/1
Kim Huybrechts 20/1
Mark Webster 20/1
Mervyn King 20/1
Justin Pipe 22/1
Paul Nicholson 28/1
Robert Thornton 28/1
Terry Jenkins 28/1
Ian White 40/1
Peter Wright 40/1
Ted Hankey 40/1
Andy Smith 50/1
Brendan Dolan 50/1
Jamie Caven 50/1
Joe Cullen 50/1
Kevin Painter 50/1
Mark Hylton 50/1
Michael Van Gerwen 50/1
Steve Beaton 50/1
Wayne Jones 50/1
Colin Lloyd 66/1
Colin Osborne 66/1
Denis Ovens 66/1
Dennis Priestley 66/1
Jelle Klaasen 66/1
John Part 66/1
Michael Barnard 66/1
Nigel Heydon 66/1
Richie Burnett 66/1
Richie Howson 66/1
Steve Farmer 66/1
Vincent Van Der Voort 66/1
Aaron Monk 100/1
Alan Tabern 100/1
Andy Jenkins 100/1
Antonio Alcinas 100/1
Barrie Bates 100/1
Co Stompe 100/1
Darren Johnson 100/1
Gino Vos 100/1
James Hubbard 100/1
Johnny Haines 100/1
Kevin McDine 100/1
Magnus Caris 100/1
Mark Dudbridge 100/1
Mark Frost 100/1
Mark Walsh 100/1
Matt Clark 100/1
Paul Barham 100/1
Ronnie Baxter 100/1
Steve Brown 100/1
Steve Hine 100/1
Tony West 100/1
Toon Greebe 100/1
Adrian Gray 150/1
Brian Woods 150/1
Darren Webster 150/1
Dean Winstanley 150/1
Dennis Smith 150/1
Devon Petersen 150/1
John Henderson 150/1
Roland Scholten 150/1
Scott Rand 150/1
Steve Maish 150/1
Stuart Kellet 150/1
Alex Roy 200/1
Andrew Gilding 200/1
Andy Relf 200/1
Chris Aubrey 200/1
Chris Thompson 200/1
Damien Sherwood 200/1
Darren Whittingham 200/1
Dave Ladley 200/1
Gareth Pass 200/1
Gary Butcher 200/1
Gaz Cousins 200/1
Ian Jopling 200/1
Ian Moss 200/1
Jack Hill 200/1
James Richardson 200/1
Jerry Hendriks 200/1
Jim Walker 200/1
John Bowles 200/1
John Scott 200/1
Josh Jones 200/1
Keith Stephen 200/1
Kevin Dowling 200/1
Kurt van de Rijck 200/1
Les Wallace 200/1
Mareno Michels 200/1
Mark Jones 200/1
Matt Padgett 200/1
Michael Mansell 200/1
Michael Smith 200/1
Mick Todd 200/1
Mike Veitch 200/1
Nick Fullwell 200/1
Paddy Meaney 200/1
Paul Rowley 200/1
Peter Hudson 200/1
Prakash Jiwa 200/1
Reece Robinson 200/1
Ross Smith 200/1
Ryan Harrington 200/1
Sam Hill 200/1
Shaun Griffiths 200/1
Steve Evans 200/1
Steve Grubb 200/1
Steve Hardy 200/1
Terry Temple 200/1
William O'Connor 200/1
Adam Smith-Neale 500/1
Anthony Littleton 500/1
Daniel Starkey 500/1
Jamie Lewis 500/1
Jeff Smith 500/1
Keegan Brown 500/1
Liam Kelly 500/1
Matthew Edgar 500/1
Murnan, Joe 500/1
Scott Coleman 500/1
(Others available on request)
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