Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985 in Stoke-on-Trent) is a darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) who is the reigning PDC World Darts Champion. He is nicknamed Jackpot, following a visit to a casino whilst competing at the 2005 Las Vegas Desert Classic when he "won" a $75,000 jackpot but was unable to claim the the phillip danault money as he was under-age by US gaming laws -- despite being eligible in the UK. During the early part of his career until 2007, he was a protégé of multi-world champion Phil Taylor having practised together in their owen power home city Stoke-on-Trent and made his television debut in 2004, aged 19 at the UK Open.
2011--present
Lewis reached the final of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship where he faced Gary Anderson. During the first set of the match, Lewis became the first player to throw a nine dart finish in a World Championship final.[4] Lewis went on to win the match 7--5 and with it the championship.[4]
[edit] World Championship performances
Although Lewis had made his televised debut in 2004, he didn't make his PDC World Championship debut until 2006 when he went on to reach the quarter finals and lost a controversial match 3--5 to Peter Manley. Earlier in the tournament he had beaten former world champion Dennis Priestley and number four seed Roland Scholten and began to raise prospects of a possible final clash against Taylor before Manley ended his hopes.
In the 2007 PDC World Championship, he reached the last 16 stage losing 3--4 to Andy Jenkins. Despite a disappointing result, Sky Sports invited him into the 2007 Premier League, the prestigious tournament for eight top PDC players,[5] with their wildcard selection. Lewis reached the quarter-finals again in 2008, losing 2--5 to Kevin Painter and in 2010 when he was whitewashed by Taylor.
Lewis's victory in the 2011 PDC World Championship came courtesy of victories over Tony Eccles, Mark Dudbridge, Robert Thornton, Vincent van der Voort and Mark Webster en route to the final against Gary Anderson. At the age of 25, he became the youngest winner of the PDC version of scarlett johansson the World Championship (although there have been younger winners of the BDO version). Since the split in darts in the early 90s, Lewis became the first player to win the PDC World Championship without having previously won the BDO version, or even competed full-time on their circuit.
[edit] World Championship Results
* 2006: Quarter-Finals (lost to Peter Manley 3--5)
* 2007: Third Round (lost to Andy Jenkins 3--4)
* 2008: Quarter-Finals (lost to Kevin Painter 2--5)
* 2009: Second Round (lost to Paul Nicholson 3--4)
* 2010: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0--5)
* 2011: Winner (beat Gary Anderson 7--5)
