The Premier League 2012 starts on 9 February and the 14 regular season games will be completed on May 10. the top 4 of the ranking will qualify for the playoffs which will be played on 17 May at the O2 Arena in London. The participants in the Premier League this year are: Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Adrian Lewis, James Wade, Gary Anderson, Simon Whitlock, Kevin Painter and Andy Hamilton. Again in 2012 Taylor rules with a firm hand in the competition. He hits a nine darter against Kevin Painter in the second week and throws a record average of 117.35 in his match against Simon Whitlock. The rest of the field is very close together so it stays exciting until the last week on who will miss the playoffs. Raymond van Barneveld comes up a leg short against James Wade and has to settle for place 5. Adrian Lewis does not make it because he loses in the last week to Simon Whitlock. The Australian does finish in the top 4, as do Wade and Hamilton. The latter has an impressive second half of the season. That doesn't apply to the defending champion Gary Anderson, partly through a difficult time in his private life he finishes last. Both semi-finals and finals are particularly exciting, although the level is significantly lower than in the regular season. Whitlock wins, with a nine-darter, against Hamilton and Taylor is too strong for Wade. In the final, Taylor seems to be winning easily, but a 7-2 disappears when Whitlock comes back to 7-7 But after that comeback Taylor is simply the better player in the last couple of legs and wins 10-7. He is crowned Premier League champion for the sixth time.