With the summer upon us and the business end of the darting calendar away to commence this is an exciting time for players and fans alike.

The summer months of June and July come immediately after the new crowning of a Premier League Champion (the prize money won for this competition does not add to the rolling order of merit totals)

Over these hopefully sunny months we have 2 Majors - the UK Open at the beginning and the World Matchplay rounding off at the end of July. Sandwiched in between these events are 4 Players championship floor tournaments and 2 of the new European Tour events, so as you can imagine a lot of prize money is up for grabs!

The events always throw up new faces to the darting public, those who have a good run at either of the majors then usually take confidence to the floor tournaments and pick up some additional prize money pushing themselves further up the rankings!

So that's all the good news, but like all sports as new players climb and win, other have to lose and slide/fall.

Below is a summary of who is defending what £'s in prize money and who you can expect to naturally climb the rankings before the 1st of August 2012.

Firstly Dave Chisnall, Kim Huybrechts, John Henderson, James Richardson and Magnus Caris in the top 64 are all defending ZERO!

Based on performing to an equal level of the players around them they could all move up 2/3 places (potentially more) naturally.

Other players defending nothing are some of the 2011 & 2012 tour card winners which include rising stars Devon Petersen, Shaun Griffiths, Micky Mansell, Richie Howson, James Hubbard and of course the popular Dean Winstanley.

One of the biggest surprises could be that technically Phil Taylor could be knocked off the No.1 ranked spot; Phil defends £150,000 this summer albeit he usually defends it pretty well! Adrian Lewis meanwhile defends a 10th of this (£15,000) and if Adrian outperforms Phil in every event between now and the end of July he will go 1st in the Order of Merit.

Simon Whitlock and Andy Hamilton could be set to battle for 5th, 6th & 7th with Wes who has opened up a gap. Simon defends £35,000 against the Hammer's £15,000. Could the Hammer move into the Top 6?

It also promises to be a big summer for Barney, he defends only 1 prize but it's a £50k prize! Paul Nicholson should gain as he defends only £8,000 whilst Wayne Jones has a fair bit of pressure to maintain his position as he is protecting £23,000.

Outside the Top 16 - Alan Tabern defends £18k, Co Stompe a mammoth £24k...which could see him slip out of the top 32 dependant on performances around him and his own of course :)

Jelle Klaasen loses £20,000 and Barrie Bates £8,000 as they have the potential to slip in to the late 30's/early 40's bracket where the likes of Huybrechts, Hendo, Rand, Mike Smith and Joe Cullen all lurk in darting predatory fashion!

Finally it opens up a massive opportunity for the newer card holders, Tony Ayres non UK Open qualification results in him slipping to 67th place best case scenario ( he was defending, or not technically £10,000) As things stand The Spartan Devon Peterson would climb into the top 64.

Perilously close to falling out of the automatic card slots are Steve Maish, Steve Evans, Chris Thompson, Kirk Shepherd, Jyhan Artut, Steve Hine and Alex Roy. Of those players only Steve Evans and The Ace Of Herts Roy have been picking up regular prize money in 2012. The gap between these players and 65th will be only a few thousand pounds...so it's all to play for this summer then!

Thanks for reading and if any player wants to know exactly what they are defending, feel free to drop me a line

Big Hauser