How many legs in a set in darts and how many sets at the World Championships?

DARTS scoring can appear a bit intimidating to the uninitiated.

With the World Darts Championship expected to be the biggest and best ever, plenty of new fans will be wondering how players win matches and progress.

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Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are expected to go far at the World Darts Championship[/caption]

While scoring to win an individual leg will not change, each round at Alexandra Palace sees the players needing to win a different number of sets.

With the darts extravaganza set to start on Sunday, December 15 and run until Friday, January 3, here’s how darts scoring is worked out.

What is a leg in darts and how do players win one at the World Championships?

A leg is the way that darts is scored, with all players starting each leg on a score of 501 and have can only when they get down to 0.

However, players must ‘checkout’ on a double – get themselves down to an even score and then hit the relevant outer ring of the board.

For example, a player might work down to a score of 40 and then checkout on a double 20.

The maximum score during one trip to the oche is 180, which entails players scoring three ‘treble’ 20s – the inner ring on the board.

The quickest way to win a leg is to hit the famed ‘nine-darter’ – using just nine darts to get down to 0.

There have only been 99 televised nine-darters ever with only 14 of those coming at the World Championships.

Darts sponsor Paddy Power have confirmed they will pay players a £60,000 bonus for every nine-dart finish they hit during the tournament – plus another £60,000 to one person in the crowd.

How many legs in a set at the World Darts Championship?

The format is quite simple on this one.

Players simply win three legs to earn a set at the tournament.

How many sets in a match at the World Darts Championship?

This is where things get a little bit more complicated as the matches increase in legs as the tournament progresses.

In rounds 1 and 2, players play the first to three sets, but by the final it will have increased to first to seven sets.

The full breakdown is below:

• Round 1 – First to 3 sets
• Round 2 – First to 3 sets
• Round 3 – First to 4 sets
• Round 4 – First to 4 sets
• Quarter-finals – First to 5 sets
• Semi-finals – First to 6 sets
• Final – First to 7 sets

Who is favourite to win the World Darts Championship?

Luke Littler is the current favourite to win the title with the bookies.

He is narrowly in front of defending world champion and current world No 1 Luke Humphries – who beat Littler in last year’s final as well as the final of the Players Championship just last month.

Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen round out the favourites, with the likes of in-form Wessel Nijman and Mike de Decker followed by former world champions Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross as outside shots.

When is the World Darts Championship and how can I watch it?

• The tournament starts on Sunday, December 15 with the final on Friday, January 3.
• The tournament will run every night during that period bar Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day
• There will be afternnon sessions (12.30pm) and evening sessions (7pm) every day except for the semis and final, which just have evening sessions.
• Seeded players such as Littler and Humphries get a bye into round 2.
• All the action will take place on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Darts.
• Alternatively, SunSport will have a rolling blog covering all the action LIVE for every day of the tournament.