2013 Premier League Darts
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| 2013 McCoy's Premier League Darts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament information | |||
| Dates | 7 February–16 May 2013 | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
 Michael van Gerwen (NED) | |||
| |||
The 2013 McCoy's Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; the ninth edition of the tournament. The event began at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on 7 February, and ended at The O2 Arena, London on 16 May. The tournament was shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.
Phil Taylor was the defending champion and he reached the final again this year, but lost 10–8 against Michael van Gerwen who won his first Premier League title on his debut appearance in the competition.
The qualification format was different from the last edition of Premier League Darts.[1] The top four players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship automatically qualified. Alongside them, six (instead of four) additional players were chosen on the basis of their performance in the past year or in earlier editions of the Premier League. After the first nine rounds, the bottom 2 players were relegated. All players played each other once at that point. The remaining eight then competed against each other in the final five rounds for the play-offs places. All games in the league stage were played "best of 12 legs" (instead of "best of 14 legs"), thus games could be drawn by 6–6.
| Player | Appearance in Premier League |
Consecutive Streak |
Order of Merit rank |
Previous best performance | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Phil Taylor |
9th | 9 | 1 | Winner (2005–2008, 2010, 2012) | 1st in the PDC Order of Merit |
| Adrian Lewis |
6th | 4 | 2 | Runner-up (2011) | 2nd in the PDC Order of Merit |
| James Wade |
6th | 6 | 3 | Winner (2009) | 3rd in the PDC Order of Merit |
| Michael van Gerwen |
1st | 1 | 4 | Debut | 4th in the PDC Order of Merit |
| Raymond van Barneveld |
8th | 8 | 8 | Semi-finalist (2006–09, 2011) | Five-time World Champion/2012 Grand Slam of Darts Winner |
 Simon Whitlock |
4th | 4 | 5 | Runner-up (2012) | 2012 European Championship Winner |
 Gary Anderson |
3rd | 3 | 11 | Winner (2011) | 2011 Premier League Darts Champion |
| Andy Hamilton |
2nd | 2 | 6 | Semi-finalist (2012) | 2012 Premier League Darts Semi-finalist |
| Wes Newton |
1st | 1 | 7 | Debut | 2012 European Championship Finalist |
| Robert Thornton |
1st | 1 | 15 | Debut | 2012 UK Open Champion |
Venues
The venues remained the same as in the last Premier League Darts edition.[2]
 Belfast |
Aberdeen |
Bournemouth |
Exeter |
Nottingham |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odyssey Arena Thursday 7 February |
AECC Thursday 14 February |
Bournemouth International Centre Thursday 21 February |
Westpoint Arena Thursday 28 February |
Capital FM Arena Thursday 7 March |
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| Manchester |
 Cardiff |
Glasgow |
Brighton |
Sheffield |
| Manchester Arena Thursday 14 March |
Motorpoint Arena Thursday 21 March |
SECC Thursday 28 March |
Brighton Centre Thursday 4 April |
Motorpoint Arena Thursday 11 April |
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 |
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 Dublin |
Birmingham |
Liverpool |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
London |
| The O2 Thursday 18 April |
National Indoor Arena Thursday 25 April |
Echo Arena Thursday 2 May |
Metro Radio Arena Thursday 9 May |
The O2 Arena Thursday 16 May |
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Prize money
The prize-money was increased to £520,000 from £450,000 in 2012.[3]
| Stage | Prize money | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | £150,000 | |
| Runner-up | £75,000 | |
| Semi-finallists (x2) | £55,000 | |
| 5th place | £45,000 | |
| 6th place | £40,000 | |
| 7th place | £35,000 | |
| 8th place | £30,000 | |
| 9th place | £20,000 | |
| 10th place | £15,000 | |
| Total | £520,000 | |