17 and 19 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively, leading up to the best-of-25 legs final. Bookmakers installed Taylor as the favourite to win the competition. He said he would like to retain the title at the Circus Tavern for the second successive year and commented on its format: "It's a short format in the first round but that will suit me because I've not played competitively since the World Championship. I haven't had a lot of time to prepare properly for this but I'm going into the tournament very relaxed." Prize fund The Professional Dart Players Association donated £50,000 to raise the overall prize fund from £200,000 in 2009 to £250,000 in 2010, with the winner receiving £60,000. The breakdown of prize money for the 2010 tournament is shown below. Qualification The top 32 players from the PDC Players Championship Order of Merit after the last Players Championship of 2009 qualified for the event. Tournament summary Round 1 The first round of the competition, in which all 32 players participated, took place from 28 to 29 January. Colin Lloyd tied Denis Ovens four times before winning 6–5 on the double 16 ring in the final leg. Steve Beaton took a 5–0 lead and then won 6–2 over Tony Eccles after the latter prevented a whitewash with two finishes on the double 16 ring. Paul Nicholson, the 2009 Australian Open champion, defeated two-time world champion Dennis Priestley 6–2; Nicholson failed to complete a 170 checkout when he missed the bullseye ring in leg eight. Priestley said some errors lost him opportunities early on: "I may be getting too long in the tooth now but it didn't seem to go for me." Andy Hamilton led Alan Tabern 4–2 but Tabern tied at 4–4 with a 130 checkout and a finish on the double 13 ring. Hamilton then took legs nine and ten to win 6–4. Terry Jenkins was 5–3 behind Vincent van der Voort but achieved a 15-dart finish and a double 3 ring finish to win 6–5. Taylor used Peter Manley's misses at the double rings to win 6–2, while 2009 finalist Robert Thornton lost 6–3 to Kevin Painter after being 5–0 down but stopped a whitewash by winning three successive legs on checkouts of 121 and 77. Lewis overturned a 3–1 deficit to defeat Brendan Dolan 6–5 with a 100.49 three-dart average. Wayne Jones beat the unwell Andy Smith