Michael van Gerwen swept past Germany’s Andree Welge to reach the second round of the European Darts Open, and will be joined by Premier League Play-Off rivals Phil Taylor, James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld, who all returned to winning ways. The Dutch ace claimed the biggest triumph of his career on thursday night by taking glory in the McCoy’s Premier League Darts, and began his bid to win the £20,000 PDC European Tour event in Dusseldorf just 24 hours later. Welge took the lead in their first round … Read the full story >>

Nicholson, who reached the European Championship quarter-finals on the Maritim Hotel stage two years ago, dropped just one leg as he swept past Stephen Hardy, sealing a 6-1 win with a 127 finish. Belgian ace Huybrechts laid down the gauntlet to brother Ronny - who plays Peter Wright - by winning through to the second round with a 6-1 romp against Steve Maish, hitting four 180s and a 170 checkout in a fine display. March's UK Masters European Tour winner John Part was another 6-1 winner as he defeated Holland's Jerry Hendriks, with Mark Webster and Wayne Jones winning by the same scorelines against Darren Johnson and Bobby Biemans respectively. Scotland's Gary Anderson averaged just over 100 in his 6-1 defeat of youngster Shaun Griffiths, while Dave Chisnall - last year's European Darts Open runner-up to Raymond van Barneveld - won in the same fashion against Chris Aubrey. Wes Newton, a European Tour winner in Stuttgart last month, began his bid for back-to-back titles with a 6-3 win over Holland's Mareno Michels, while Terry Jenkins saw off Mark Jones 6-2. Mervyn King, meanwhile, hit back from behind to edge out popular Prakash Jiwa 6-5 in the afternoon session's closest game on the main stage. Brendan Dolan also took victory in an 11-leg thriller on Stage Two, with Jelle Klaasen hitting a 180 to leave 36 in the decider only to see the Northern Irish ace finish 125 with bullseye, 25 and bullseye. Bristol's debutant Andy Parsons came from 5-2 down to cause an upset with a fine comeback win over Colin Lloyd, who missed five match darts as he exited in the first round. Andy Smith was another seed to be knocked out on the opening afternoon as he went down 6-2 to Swindon's Mark Cox, while Ian White saw off Kevin Dowling by the same scoreline and Kevin Painter hit a superb seven 180s in his 6-3 defeat of David Pallett, with Jamie Caven seeing off Paul Amos in the same style. European Darts Open - European Tour Event Three Friday May 17 First Round Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm) Main Stage Dave Chisnall 6-1 Chris Aubrey Wes Newton 6-3 Mareno Michels Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Steve Maish Paul Nicholson 6-1 Stephen Hardy Terry Jenkins 6-2 Mark Jones Gary Anderson 6-1 Shaun Griffiths Mervyn King 6-5 Prakash Jiwa Kevin Painter 6-3 David Pallett Stage Two Wayne Jones 6-1 Bobby Biemans Ian White 6-2 Kevin Dowling Brendan Dolan 6-5 Jelle Klaasen Mark Webster 6-1 Darren Johnson Colin Lloyd 5-6 Andy Parsons Andy Smith 2-6 Mark Cox John Part 6-1 Jerry Hendriks Jamie Caven 6-3 Paul Amos Evening Session (7pm-12am) Main Stage Robert Thornton 6-5 Kurt Van De Rijck Andy Hamilton 6-5 Mensur Suljovic Adrian Lewis 6-1 Keith Stephen Justin Pipe v Max Hopp - live scores Richie Burnett v Steve Beaton Phil Taylor v Matt Clark James Wade v Jyhan Artut Michael van Gerwen v Andree Welge Simon Whitlock v Tomas Seyler Raymond van Barneveld v Adam Hunt Stage Two Arron Monk 6-5 Kevin McDine Mark Walsh 2-6 Alex Roy Peter Wright 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts Colin Osborne v Terry Temple - live scores Ronnie Baxter v Maik Langendorf Stuart Kellett v Dennis Smith

Michael van Gerwen's hard work has made him the most in-form darts player on the planet.

European Tour Event 3; Draw and Results from Dusseldorf There’s no rest for darts fans, and after last night’s fantastic Premier League final (wasn’t it a cracker!), eyes turn towards Germany, for the 3rd European tour event of the year.  These tournaments have big £20,000 first prizes, and are really having big effects on players rankings; for those who qualify, there’a a MINIMUM £500 prize money, which for some is making the difference between qualifying for the worlds or not. The action starts later today – and it’s going to be STREAMED LIVE on the official livepdc service (subscribe here for just £2.99 the month).  Live Scores can be followed through the PDC Live Scores Website at live.dartsdata.com. Full results later, today’s 1st round games are… First Round Dusseldorf venue euro open – picture take by Justin Pipe today Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm UK) Main Stage Dave Chisnall v Chris Aubrey Wes Newton v Mareno Michels Kim Huybrechts v Steve Maish Paul Nicholson v Stephen Hardy Terry Jenkins v Mark Jones Gary Anderson v Shaun Griffiths Mervyn King v Prakash Jiwa Kevin Painter v David Pallett Stage Two Wayne Jones v Bobby Biemans Ian White v Kevin Dowling Brendan Dolan v Jelle Klaasen Mark Webster v Darren Johnson Colin Lloyd v Andy Parsons Andy Smith v Mark Cox John Part v Jerry Hendriks Jamie Caven v Paul Amos Evening Session (6pm-11pm UK Time) Main Stage Robert Thornton v Kurt Van De Rijck Andy Hamilton v Mensur Suljovic Adrian Lewis v Keith Stephen Justin Pipe v Max Hopp Richie Burnett v Steve Beaton Phil Taylor v Matt Clark James Wade v Jyhan Artut Michael van Gerwen v Andree Welge Simon Whitlock v Tomas Seyler Raymond van Barneveld v Adam Hunt Stage Two Arron Monk v Kevin McDine Mark Walsh v Alex Roy Peter Wright v Ronny Huybrechts Colin Osborne v Terry Temple Ronnie Baxter v Maik Langendorf Stuart Kellett v Dennis Smith

Michael van Gerwen is the 2013 McCoy’s Premier League Darts Champion Michael van Gerwen won the 2013 McCoy’s Premier League darts title in style, hitting bull for a brilliant 132 checkout to beat defending champion Phil Taylor 10-8, in a high quality game of darts that saw both players post 100+ averages. Premier League debutant Van Gerwen, who topped the table after 14 weeks of league play drew first blood in the final – taking the opening leg with throw in 13 darts. However, it was Taylor who commanded the game early on and established a 5-2 lead. Double trouble for … Read the full story >>

Michael van Gerwen claimed the Premier League title at London's O2 with a thrilling 10-8 triumph over Phil Taylor.

Michael van Gerwen beats Phil Taylor 10-8 to win the 2013 McCoy's Premier League Darts title.

2013 Premier League Finals Night & World Youth Final Tonights Trophies – this (and £150,000) is what it’s all about! This is it then, and I hope you’re able to watch tonight, as we arrive at finals night at the O2.  Get yourself a pizza, crack open a beer, and shut the rain out and turn the TV to Sky Sports at 7pm as it’s DARTS TIME! Check my quick review and info here. Can you call tonight’s results?   I think it’s going to be an MvG vs Phil Taylor final… and the night may again show that the new talent is taking over, as MvG will pick up the win and the trophy and the £150,000.  So in that case, bet all over a Barney vs Wade final if I was you And the Youth World Champ? I have to go for Michael Smith to edge it – he’s got a little more big stage experience.  Although, if Ricky takes an early lead, then watch for Smith’s head – if he starts shaking it, he may be in trouble.  If he can keep his concentration it should be Mike’s night… time will tell.   I think both players in the youth final have a big future in darts. I interviewed Ricky Evans earlier this year - check it out here. Don’t forget there’s loads of darts fans and players on twitter, you can follow me @dartsbeerscheer – usually chatting about darts with the #dartsfamily on there. UPDATE:  For those who like to know these things, The Power is using Unicorn Sigma darts tonight with Catalyst stems. UPDATE:  Well done to MvG – who played fantastic.. although he almost let Taylor back in, but then wrapped it up to win another title.  He’s going to be world champ one day surely?! May 16 – The O2, London McCoy’s Premier League Darts Semi-Finals Best of 15 legs Raymond van Barneveld (102.08) 4-8 (104.68) Phil Taylor Barney:  5×180 & 116 c/o.  Taylor:  0×180 and 164 c/o Michael van Gerwen (97.59) 8-4 James Wade (93.59) MvG:  4×180 and 87 c/o.  Wade:  2×180 and 112 c/o. PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship Final Best of 11 legs Ricky Evans (79.26) 1-6 (89.13) Michael Smith Evans: 0×180 and 106 c/o.  Smith:  2×180 and 95 c/o. Finalists on top of prize money receive invitation to 2013 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts, plus a PDC Tour Card for 2014 and 2015 with 2014 entries paid for. McCoy’s Premier League Darts Final Best of 19 legs Michael van Gerwen (103.29) 10-8 (104.1) Phil Taylor MvG: 9×180 and 132 c/o.   Taylor:  4×180 and 160 c/o MvG wins the Premier League – as I predicted!

Bash The Bookies With The Tungsten Tipster’s Darts Betting Tips Our Tipster is back! We lost touch with him a few weeks back (our fault) but today he’s returning in style to see his pre-tournament predictions through and bring some Play-Off night selections to your attention. Let’s remind ourselves of those early tips. Outright Betting (Points 1-5, 5 points being a Max Bet) 4 Points Taylor to win @ 2/1, Most Bookies 4 Points van Gerwen w/o Taylor @ 11/8, Bet Victor 2 Points Lewis to be relegated @ 7/1, William Hill 3 Points van … Read the full story >>

Darts Marathon to Help Beat Blood Cancer A team of supporters held a Darts Marathon to help beat blood cancer, and below they share their story: “We decided to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research after hearing of the sad news about Trish Hanley being diagnosed with leukaemia, of which she sadly lost her battle on the 28th July 2012. Left to right: Ian Grayson, Steven Grayson, Scott Craig, Nigel Bennett, Paul Grayson and Danny Devos. We all wondered what we could do. Being a darts fan the idea of 12-hour Darts Marathon came to me, but with a twist - the loser had to face a dreaded leg wax. The evening was also to comprise of an auction of signed items such as CDs, darts, and DVDs. For these items I hit Twitter, asking kind darts players and celebrities to donate what they could spare. Everyone asked was more than generous. Although they wanted to remain anonymous, they will know who they are and the items spoke for themselves. The night was a great success, and after a long, long 12 hours of da