Simon Whitlock suffered a surprise defeat to Andy Hamilton, but still became the second man to qualify for the Premier League play-offs.
Wade, Lewis, Barney, Painter and Hamilton all still in contention
Simon Whitlock suffered a surprise defeat to Andy Hamilton in Birmingham, but still became the second man to qualify for the Premier League play-offs.
Whitlock was convincingly beaten 8-4 by Hamilton who, in the process, maintained his own semi-final ambitions.
However, results elsewhere ensured the Australian joined Phil Taylor in confirming his spot in the end-of-season play-offs.
After a spate of breaks early in the match, Hamilton - who produced a ten-darter in an excellent display - held his own throw to assume a 5-3 lead.
From that point he did not let his opponent back in and took out 53 via double-top to close out a victory that takes him to 11 points in the standings - just one point behind James Wade, Adrian Lewis, Raymond van Barneveld and Kevin Painter, with all five men still able to progress.
All square
Van Barneveld took just a point on Thursday night after a 7-7 draw with defending champion Gary Anderson who is now the only player unable to make the play-offs.
A see-saw match tilted first one way then the other - the Dutchman fighting back from a 3-2 deficit to lead 5-3 courtesy of the second 170 check-out of this year's competition.
Anderson responded to lead 6-5 and then 7-6, but van Barneveld held his nerve to take out 60 and walk away with what could prove a valuable point.
Painter on song
Kevin Painter kept alive his semi-final chances with a quite superb 8-3 triumph over world champion Adrian Lewis.
Having raced into a 2-0 advantage, The Artist then produced six perfect darts in leg three before hitting big five with his seventh - much to the disappointment of the crowd at the National Indoor Arena.
But he clinched the leg regardless and, having led 4-2 at the interval, then motored into a commanding 7-2 lead after a superb 150 finish.
Lewis did earn a brief stay of execution, but Painter got the job done as he landed double-12 in the next and told
Sky Sports afterwards: "I'm loving it.
"I get written off every week but, like The Hammer (Andy Hamilton) I will fight and fight and fight in every match.
"I don't think many people thought I could do it at this level, but I've proved I can and I'll keep on battling away and see where it takes me."
Taylor powers on
In the final match of the night, Phil Taylor produced something of a master-class as he thrashed James Wade 8-1.
The Power was at his brilliant best early on as he raced into a 6-0 lead at the interval; indeed, Taylor was threatening to produce a new world-record as he averaged 122 for those first six legs.
At that point Wade had not even had a dart at a double, but he stopped the rot on the resumption with a check-out of 100 as Taylor's remarkable standards slipped slightly.
But the 15-time world champion still took the next two legs to close out victory and finished with a three-dart average of 116.
