The first round of the competition, in which 32 players participated, took place from 6 to 8 January and was held to the best-of-five sets. In this round, King came from 2–0 behind Chris Mason to win three sets in a row and a 3–2 victory; Mason missed two consecutive game-winning opportunities on the double 18 ring in the fifth set. Afterwards, he said "Lady Luck shone on me today." John Walton took the opening two sets against Ritchie Davies before his opponent won the third set. After Davies lost two legs in the fourth set, he won the third leg to return to contention; Walton won the match 3–1 in the fourth leg. Porter defeated fellow Englishman Richardson 3–2 in a closely contested match. Number five seed Co Stompé beat Andy Smith 3–1 to prevent a requite from Smith. On his debut appearance at the BDO World Darts Championship, Marko Pusa overcame the eighth seed Colin Monk 3–2. Pusa took the first two sets before Monk won the next two. Monk claimed the first two legs of the fifth set; Pusa forced a tie-break by taking the third and fourth legs. Pusa compiled two scores of 41 and one maximum score (180) to win the match on the double ten ring with his final dart throw.