However, it would turn out to be the last time the tournament would be held at the Tavern: in April 2007, the PDC announced that the event would be moving to Alexandra Palace from 2008.

Barneveld was close to defeat against top seed Colin Lloyd in the second round, but then never dropped another set on his way to the final, which was much anticipated between the best players of the current era.

He lost to eventual champion Raymond van Barneveld in the 1st round – ironically both players were making their Circus Tavern debuts despite their vastly different levels of experience.

172 players lined up at the Holte Suite, Villa Park, Birmingham for the qualifiers for the World Championship on 2 December 2006.

They included four former World Champions, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Richie Burnett and Keith Deller.

The big upset came when Ronnie Baxter, twice a finalist in the BDO World Championship went out in the first round for the second year running.

Former World Champion John Part struggled through to the second round against Merseyside debutant Alan Green 3–2, when the final set went right down to the wire.

Wynand Havenga, the first ever South African at the PDC World Darts Championship reached the second round by eliminating 26th seed Steve Maish.

The Limestone Cowboy had been struggling with a trapped nerve in his neck, but battled back to win the third set, but Webster closed out the match with two 14-dart legs.

Dutch teenager, Rico Vonck had earlier defeated world number 16 Mark Walsh, who it seemed may be struggling with dartitis.

The evening session went more in favour of the seeds as world number 1, Colin Lloyd defeated Tomas Seyler, who missed ten darts to win the first set.

Raymond van Barneveld's debut match at the PDC World Championship was a successful one, beating 16-year-old Australian qualifier Mitchell Clegg 3–0.

Caves stormed into a two-set lead before Mardle started to show any signs of the form that took him to number eight in the world.

Earlier in the afternoon session, the seeds continued to tumble as both Colin Monk and Lionel Sams suffered first round exits at the hands of Denmark's Per Laursen and Scunthorpe's Dave Ladley respectively.

In the evening session, 1996 BDO World Champion Steve Beaton was untroubled as he beat Canadian Gerry Convery without dropping a single leg.

In-form third seed Dennis Priestley beat Josephus Schenk in straight sets, and rising star James Wade defeated his opponent Warren French 3–1.

In the last match of the night and the first round, former BDO World Champion Richie Burnett, who had to qualify this year, managed to win only one leg against Alex Roy.

After the match in an exclusive interview, Barneveld revealed that the recollection of an inspiring meeting with an exceptional fan by the name of Alex Schoelcher back in the Netherlands at the cinema, was what kept him going despite being 3–0 down.

Peter Manley, a three-time Purfleet finalist came back from 0–3 to level his match but then lost the final set in a major upset against South African qualifier, Wynand Havenga.

Earlier in the evening, 9th seed Denis Ovens missed a dart at double twelve as Purfleet's first-ever nine-dart finish remained elusive.

Dudbridge came back from 1–3 to pull level, but Hamilton produced 11 and 13 dart legs in the final set to win the match 4–3.

In the final match of the night, Dave Askew shot to a 3–0 lead over Alan Caves, who had beaten Wayne Mardle in the first round.

Wade led early on 2–1 and looked quite comfortable until Ladley took the lead by winning the next two sets (the last leg of which was won with a 156 finish).

In the final match of the afternoon rising star Colin Osborne, who had beaten Kevin Painter in the first round, defeated 20th seed Wes Newton 4–2.

The third round got underway and Raymond van Barneveld had no trouble in dispatching fellow countryman, Rico Vonck.

South African Wynand Havenga's Purfleet adventure was brought to an end by 38-year-old Norwich qualifier, Darren Webster by 4 sets to 2.

Jenkins only resilience came in the third set when he had two darts at double top to narrow the gap to 1–2, but he missed and Barneveld stepped in and then also took the next six legs to go 5–0 up.

Barneveld then started to turn the match around by winning all three legs in the fourth set, closing it out with the tournament's highest three-dart checkout, the maximum 170.