A Pro Darts “Starter Pack”, Part 1
What do we mean when we say “Pro Darts”?
(Peter Wright probably had the same questions I did when he started; Alamy Stock Photo, Pacific Press Assoc.)
As I started following pro darts at the end of 2020/beginning of 2021, I learned the hard way that there’s no simple “How to become a darts fan” guide out there. I watched the 2021 World Championship and kept having questions. Many of these questions would probably have been considered “dumb” to a lifelong darts fan: “What do the broadcasters mean by this?” “Why is this player doing this?” “What is the scoreboard telling me?” and so on. I had to find the answers myself. Searches through Wikipedia, YouTube and various random darts web sites gave me most of them. Over years of searches and watching way more events, I can now consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable fan of the sport. That said, I wish I had a simple guide available to me when I started watching.
In the spirit of a Bluesky “starter pack” (Speaking of, find me on Bluesky! I talk about more than just darts there!), I wanted to put together a pro darts version of a “starter pack.” These are some (but not all) questions that will hopefully explain some of the nuances of this niche sport. Part 1 here focuses on the structure/organization of what is considered the pros. (We’ll explore more about the actual in-match play of pro darts in part 2.)
When you say “professional darts”, what exactly do you mean?
Let’s keep this as simple as possible. For my purposes, pro darts refers to a specific game and a specific organization.
The Game: 501, with steel-tip darts. If you’ve played darts in bars, there are many kinds of darts (soft vs steel tip) and games (cricket, 301, baseball, etc.) available to you. For the pros, they play with steel-tip darts and their game is 501, where players start on a score of 501 and work their way down to 0. To get to zero, they must “finish” or “checkout” on a double (outer ring) or the Bullseye.
The Organization: The Professional Darts Corporation or PDC. The PDC is the main professional organization for darts in the world. They organize, promote and host tournaments around the UK, Europe and the World for professional players. While “pro” darts has been around since the 1970s, the PDC itself has only been around since 1992. The PDC began as a breakaway organization of a group of players from the previous governing body, the British Darts Organization (BDO). The “Split in Darts” in the early 90s is a separate topic worthy of a deeper dive, but for now, let’s put that aside and keep it simple. Pro darts to me and for the purposes of this site means the PDC.
How does the PDC work?
The simplest way to think about how pro darts is run to think about how professional golf is run today. It starts with the Pro Tour. This is what you see on TV, the highest level of darts in the world with the biggest prize pools. Like the PGA, you must have a “tour card” to compete on this tour, earned through various methods (including Q-school) and kept by staying high enough in the rankings. In 2024, there are 128 tour card holders on the tour. More on the Pro Tour structure to come.
Below the Pro Tour, the PDC also runs or partners with various other tours including:
The PDC Challenge Tour: Meant for those who just missed out on getting a tour card at Q-School. The top two players on this tour earn Pro Tour cards.
The PDC Development Tour: Meant for youth players aged 16-24. The top two players on this tour earn Pro Tour cards.
The PDC Women’s Series: Meant for, as expected, women’s players.
Partnership agreements with plenty of regional darts organizations around the world where players can win their way into certain PDC events. This includes the Championship Darts Corporation (CDC) in North America.
(Note: For non “tour card” holders, there are other “professional” avenues to earn prize money, including World Darts Federation events, the Modus Super Series and the newly-formed World Seniors Tour. Again, for our purposes, “Pro Darts” means the PDC.)
How does the PDC determine their player rankings?
It’s all based on the amount prize money players win in “ranking” events. The PDC rankings are determined by their “Order of Merit”, which is based on prize money (in British pounds) won over a rolling two-year period. As of November 21, 2024, Luke Humphries has won the most money since November 21, 2022, totaling more than 1.7 million pounds. Thus, Humphries is the current “World Number 1”. Michael van Gerwen has won 912,500 pounds in that time frame, and thus he is the current “World Number 2”.
As the calendar moves, money that was previously won “falls off” a player’s ranking if it falls out of the two-year window. Because of this, you may see fluctuations in rankings that might not make sense on the surface. Let’s use Michael Smith as an example. He entered the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts ranked second with Michael van Gerwen ranked third. Both players won the same amount of prize money (8,000 pounds) at the Grand Slam, yet after the tournament, Smith fell to third and van Gerwen jumped to second. Why? It’s because of what “fell off” their ranking money from the 2022 Grand Slam. Smith won that tournament and 153,500 pounds. Van Gerwen only made the quarterfinals and got 28,500 pounds. Both lost that money from their rankings, with Smith losing way more than van Gerwen and thus dropping below him on the overall standings.
The other thing to note about the rankings is that the money on the “Order of Merit” only counts from what the PDC call “ranking” events. There are a handful of events on the PDC calendar that are for prize money, but that money will not count towards a player’s ranking, with the Premier League and World Series events being the most-common “non-ranking” events. (More on this to come.)
What a does a pro darts “season” look like?
A new PDC season begins in January just after the completion of the previous World Championship and goes through to the next World Championship. Thus, the current 2024 PDC season will end with the 2025 PDC World Championship, which begins in mid-December 2024 and finishes on January 3, 2025.
The 2024 PDC season featured 60 different competitions leading into the finale at the World Championships. While TV events and crazy crowds get all the darts love, about half of the PDC season is played without crowds. Here is how it breaks down:
Players Championships: These events take up most of the calendar and count towards the Order of Merit rankings. They’re held without crowds in various halls throughout the UK and Germany and are otherwise known as “floor events” (whereas the ones with crowds are called “stage events”). These events are open to all 128 tour card holders, with “alternates” filling the slots if players cannot participate. The PDC will usually host 2-3 Players Championships in a row in a single venue over 2-3 days. There were 30 Players Championship events held in 2024 with first place in each event taking 15,000 pounds.
European Tour Events: Held on weekends throughout various venues in Europe (most in Germany), these events are played in front of full (and often boisterous) crowds. The highest-ranked players get automatic qualification to these stage events with the additional spots made up of a mix of regional qualifiers and Tour Card holders who win mini-qualifying tournaments for invitations. Each event contains 48 players with first prize in 2024 taking 30,000 pounds. There were 13 Euro Tour events in 2024.
The Ranking Majors Before the Worlds: The big ones. The TV events. These events garner the most attention, have the most prestige and award the most prize money (We’re talking six-figure payouts to the winner), all counting on the Order of Merit. They are also the hardest ones to earn qualification and a spot. The 2024 season had six ranking majors ahead of the 2025 World Championship. We’ll explore each major more in future posts, but each major is “unique” its own right:
UK Open: Open to all Tour Card holders with the draw being completely random every round (It’s called “The FA Cup of Darts” for a reason).
World Matchplay: The second-most prestigious event behind the Worlds, held in the famous Winter Gardens in Blackpool every summer.
World Grand Prix: The one with the weirdest match format, as players have to start as well as finish on a double.
European Championships: The capstone to the European Tour with qualification/seeding determined by results on the Euro Tour.
Grand Slam of Darts: Arguably the hardest one to qualify for (easiest way is to win or finish runner-up in a major) with the most unique tournament structure (Group play followed by a knockout round like the UEFA Champions League).
Players Championship Finals: (This one starts today, 11/22!) The capstone to the Players Championships, with qualification/seeding determined by results in the 30 Players Championship events.
The Non-Ranking Majors Before the Worlds: Prestigious? Sure. Important? You bet. On TV? Of course. Big prize money? Yes! The only difference to the majors above is winning money in these events do not count towards the Order of Merit. 2024 had 3 individual non-ranking majors (The Masters, the Premier League and the World Series of Darts Finals) and 1 team event (World Cup of Darts) in this category. We’ll explore the Premier League in depth in a future post as it is worthy of a longer discussion.
World Series of Darts Events: Think of these as the way the PDC is trying to promote the sport around the world in places where darts isn’t as popular as the UK. They are invitational non-ranking events made of a mix of top players with regional stars. The PDC held 7 World Series events in 2024, including the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
This hopefully gives you a decent overview of what the “professional” world of darts looks like. If there are questions you’re curious about that I didn’t cover, hit me up.
In Part 2 of our “Starter Pack”, we’ll talk more about how the game is played, what darts stats mean and how you can watch a TV event like a pro.