The race for places at November's Players Championship Finals is nearing its conclusion as PDC darts stars gather in the Netherlands for a two-day double header.
Players Championship 29 will take place at the Maaspoort on Tuesday, with the field returning to the Den Bosch arena on Wednesday for PC30.
Naturally, a whole host of Dutch stars are taking part, with Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen and six-time PC winner Wessel Nijman heading a powerful home contingent.
But a stack of star absentees are also missing just a couple of days after the prestigious World Series Finals in Amsterdam, won by Ross Smith.
Smith sits out PCs 29 and 30 as do Gerwyn Price, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton and perhaps more surprisingly world No.1 Luke Littler.
Littler, whose dream of a clean sweep of the 2026 darts majors ended at the hands of Clayton in the World Series quarter-finals on Sunday, still has to book his place in the season-ending Players Championship Finals in Minehead, the final major before the World Championship gets underway.
The Players Championship is a series of 34 non-televised stand-alone events with prize money helping to determine the top 64 players who will go on to play in the Players Championship Finals.
Given that The Nuke declined to play in any of the first 26 events, he has a mountain to climb to reach Minehead.
Missing out on PCs 29 and 30 and a potential £30,000 windfall would leave Littler, currently 125th in the Players Championship order of merit, with just four more shots at making the top 64, and time is definitely not on his side.
Players Championship 29 Tips Summary
Best Bet - Krzysztof Ratajski each-way @ 40/1
Alternative Bet - Sebastian Bialecki each-way @ 100/1
Alternative Bet - William O'Connor each-way @ 100/1
Players Championship 29 Prediction
Best Bet - Krzysztof Ratajski each-way @ 40/1
Krzysztof Ratajski is an eight-time Players Championship winner and a three-time European Tour winner, a pedigree that suggests he should be a major contender at PC29 at the Maaspoort in Den Bosch.
The third of those European Tour wins came as recently as July at the European Open in Leverkusen, where he saw off the likes of Van Veen and Nathan Aspinall to come good.
The Polish Eagle, a former top-16 player still ranked No.20 in the world, is always a threat, especially on the floor away from the big stage.
This type of event looks like the sort where he ought to flourish.
Alternative Bet - Sebastian Bialecki each-way @ 100/1
If Ratajski doesn't deliver, then how about his compatriot and World Cup team-mate Sebastian Bialecki?
The 22-year-old is a player on the rise, with six Development Tour titles this season and a second Players Championship success, triumphing at PC26 in August, where wins over Damon Heta and Gian van Veen were the highlights.
That is two PC wins in two years for the Bolt who also reached the semi-finals of the European Open (losing to Ratajski) after beating William O'Connor, Danny Noppert, Kevin Doets and James Wade.
At an event like this, stripped of several star turns, he does look overpriced.
Alternative Bet - William O'Connor each-way @ 100/1
O'Connor remains a steady threat week in, week out.
The World Cup quarter-finalist started off this month nicely by reaching the last eight of the Czech Open - wins over Ryan Searle and Josh Rock the highlights - and he did land the place bet at PC20, where he was pipped by Ross Smith in the final.
Smith is among the many stars not lining up in Den Bosch, where O'Connor, aka The Magpie, is well capable of stealing a win.
Key Players Championship 29 Stats
This is the 29th of 34 Players Championship events which form the qualifying campaign for November's 64-player Players Championship Finals staged at Butlin's Minehead
The previous 28 PC events this year have produced 19 different winners, most recently Luke Humphries at PC28 on 26th August
Four players are multiple PC winners this season with Wessel Nijman having triumphed six times, Humphries three times and Chris Dobey and Ross Smith twice each
Read more darts betting tips and predictions on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
