Luke Humphries claims first blood in Belfast with Premier League Darts Night One title
Luke Humphries stormed to the opening weekly title of the 2025 Premier League Darts season in Belfast on Thursday with a 6-1 demolition of Chris Dobey in the final.
Humphries continued his blistering start to the year as he followed up Sunday’s Winmau World Masters triumph by clinching the first £10,000 bonus of the Premier League campaign.
The world number one overcame Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen at the The SSE Arena before thrashing Dobey to pick up all five points.
Humphries averaged 105 to run out an emphatic 6-2 winner over Aspinall in the quarter-finals, before edging out seven-time champion Van Gerwen in a dramatic semi-final.
The 29-year-old survived a match dart at the bull and a 101.5 average from Van Gerwen to book his place in the final.
Humphries then put in a devastating display of doubling to sweep aside Dobey, firing in a trio of ton-plus checkouts and pinning six of his seven attempts at doubles.
The 2024 World Champion seized the initiative with 128 and 100 checkouts in the opening two legs, with Dobey’s solitary leg coming courtesy of a superb 126 finish on the bull.
“I thought I played pretty well tonight,” said Humphries. “I was very fortunate against Michael. It’s not usually like him to miss that amount of doubles, and then I finished really well against Chris.
“I’m really happy to make a good start. My goal was just to get into the top four – that’s all that matters.
“Whether you finish first, second, third or fourth, it does not matter, as long as you’re in that top four, so it’s a great start for myself, following on from last weekend.
“I’m always striving to be better, because there are so many great players in this tournament, and I think this is the toughest Premier League line-up for a very long time.”
Dobey was bidding to make it consecutive triumphs in Belfast, having picked up the title on his debut two years ago, and the Bedlington ace made a strong start by defeating former World Champions Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross.
Dobey pinned six of his ten attempts at doubles to dispatch Price in the tournament’s curtain-raiser, before landing successive checkouts of 170 and 120 against Cross, overturning a 4-3 deficit to prevail.
Cross had seen off Stephen Bunting in his earlier quarter-final clash, producing a polished display on the outer ring to condemn the Bahrain Masters champion to an early exit on his return to the Premier League for the first time in a decade.
Meanwhile, Van Gerwen edged out reigning champion Littler in a pulsating quarter-final, defying a 113.91 average to topple the teenage sensation in a deciding-leg thriller.
The pair crashed in six 180s apiece in a contest littered with quality, as Littler registered the second highest losing average in Premier League history.
The BetMGM Premier League continues in Glasgow next Thursday, as Dobey and Humphries go head-to-head in a repeat of the Night One decider at the OVO Hydro.
Premier League Darts 2025 Night One Results
Thursday February 6
Quarter-Finals
Chris Dobey 6-4 Gerwyn Price
Stephen Bunting 4-6 Rob Cross
Luke Littler 5-6 Michael van Gerwen
Nathan Aspinall 2-6 Luke Humphries
Semi-Finals
Chris Dobey 6-4 Rob Cross
Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Luke Humphries
Final
Luke Humphries 6-1 Chris Dobey
