The 25th PDC World Darts Championship continues tonight so here's the full order of play, predictions, Sky Bet odds and a suggested accumulator.
The retiring Phil Taylor begins his quest for a 17th and final world darts title tonight as he faces relative youngster Chris Dobey in the opening round while rising star Rob Cross is also in action.
We have tonight's full running order, the Sky Bet odds, Chris Hammer's predicted scoreline for each game, his suggested bets and accumulator. You can also click here for his outright bets and click here for the full tournament draw, daily schedule and results.
World Darts Championship: Friday December 15
Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Arena (1900 GMT)
First Round: (Best of 5 sets), Preliminary: (Best of 3 sets)
- Seigo Asada (5/4) v Gordon Mathers (P) (8/13)
You may recognise Seigo Asada from his three appearances at the BDO World Championship but you'd have had to pay close attention as he only won once on the Lakeside stage. Having won the PDJ Japanese Qualifier to earn his debut here, 'the Ninja' will come up against Australia's Gordon Mathers, who is also new to the Ally Pally - or indeed any world championship. Interestingly, he qualified because he topped the Australian rankings at the end of the DPA's Pro Tour season, finishing ahead of the highly-acclaimed Corey Cadby. For that reason he's favourite but I'm not convinced this is one to bet on.
Prediction: 2-1 - Stephen Bunting (4/6) v Dimitri van den Bergh (6/5)
I was hoping all the rave reviews surrounding the dancing Dimitri van den Bergh would have seen the bookies give the World Youth Champion a marginal edge so I could get some value out of Stephen Bunting. I do rate the Belgian highly, like virtually all darts fans, and he'll be a future star for sure but right now I think he'll come up short against the experience of BDO world champion Bunting, who has found some long-awaited form. The St Helens throwing reached his first PDC final for 18 months at a Players Championship event in September and impressive topped his group at the Grand Slam of Darts before losing to Peter Wright. He also claimed the scalps of Benito van de Pas and Mensur Suljovic at the recent Players Championship Finals so he'll be confident of clearing at least the first hurdle here.
Prediction: 3-1 - Phil Taylor (1/8) v Chris Dobey (5/1)
Phil Taylor hasn't got an easy route to the final and may well have to beat Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen to win a fairytale 17th world title - and his opening match tonight is also potentially tricky. However, the Power has never lost in the first round of his 28 world championships in both codes and there's more reason than ever to protect that proud record. Dobey, 27, most notably showed his potential during last year's run to the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals but while his form has slipped off, he showed signs of encouragement at the recent Players Championship Finals where he beat both Kim Huybrechts and Robert Thornton before falling to Daryl Gurney. Nevertheless, I think the Power will be too switched on tonight.
Prediction: 3-0 - Rob Cross (1/66) v Seigo Asada/Gordon Mathers (16/1)
I've already extensively written why I think Rob Cross can win the whole thing in my pre-tournament preview so obviously I don't think there's an upset on the cards whoever he faces!
Prediction: 3-0
Friday's suggested darts bet
Friday's darts accumulator
CLICK HERE FOR OUTRIGHT TOURNAMENT TIPS