The Grand Slam of Darts begins on Saturday and it does so with a frantic day of action in which 16 matches will be played across the two sessions inside the Wolverhampton Civic Hall as the first round of group fixtures are played out.
All 32 players are on show across the day looking to win their best of nine leg match and put themselves in a good position to make it out of their group. Those who lose will be under pressure so this is a big day even this early in the tournament.
Afternoon Session
This is the session where groups E-H are played out. It begins with a tasty clash between Michael Smith and James Wilson before Stephen Bunting and Jeffrey de Zwaan do battle in Group F. Simon Whitlock faces the World Youth Championship finalist Berry van Peer before Alan Norris takes on the winner of that tournament Corey Cadby.
There are some tasty matches after that including Dave Chisnall against Scott Mitchell who do battle for the second time in three years in this event. Mensur Suljovic then takes on the BDO number one Mark McGeeney before Gary Anderson plays Cameron Menzies. The match of the opening day finishes off the afternoon when Peter Wright takes on the Lakeside world champion Glen Durrant.
Evening Session
The evening session sees the opening matches of groups A-D played. They start out with Gerwyn Price facing Steve Lennon before James Wade plays Robbie Green. There is an all-Webster battle in the third match of the night as Darren takes on Mark before Rob Cross faces Joe Murnan.
Phil Taylor kicks off the second half of the evening when he plays the BDO World Trophy winner Peter Machin while Michael van Gerwen goes up against the experienced BDO player Ross Montgomery. The last two matches look cracking contests when Raymond Barneveld plays Jamie Hughes and Daryl Gurney meets the Lakeside runner-up Danny Noppert.
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Betting
I’m going with four bets over the course of the day. In the afternoon session I like Jeffrey de Zwaan to see off Stephen Bunting. If de Zwaan is ever going to be confident it will be here. I say that because he only qualified for the event on Monday and he did so by beating Jonny Clayton, Ian White and Robert Thornton. Bunting qualified on Monday too but had an easier run. He is coming back into form but he still looks timid on the big stage. De Zwaan doesn’t have a lot to lose here and I think he is value to win.
Later in the afternoon Scott Mitchell has to be overpriced to see off Dave Chisnall at 2/1. These two met in the tournament two years ago and Mitchell won 5-1 and I would not be surprised to see him win this time around too. Chisnall has been struggling over the last couple of weeks and we have seen more and more missed doubles creeping into his game. Mitchell is a solid scorer and he’ll finish well and with nothing to lose in this match he looks a great price.
Gerwyn Price must know if he is going to come through his group he can’t afford to slip up against Steve Lennon. That is pressure in itself but he isn’t called the ‘Ice Man’ for no reason. I actually think he might be getting the Irishman at the right time. Lennon is a good young player but his big stage experience doesn’t exist so I can see Price getting off to a quick start and riding it out to victory.
We’ve seen Mark Webster on our screens a couple of times over the last month and he has really struggled. He has done so to the point it has actually been hard to watch. He is only here by virtue of making the World Cup final and he had a partner on that occasion. He has no partner here and I’m expecting Darren Webster to get the better of him. Darren Webster is a confident soul who fears nobody and plays his own game. I expect that to be enough to see off a struggling Mark Webster.
Tips
Back J.de Zwaan to beat S.Bunting for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back S.Mitchell to beat D.Chisnall for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Betfred
Back him here:
WON – Back G.Price (-1.5 legs) to beat S.Lennon for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with NetBet
Back him here:
Back D.Webster (-1.5 legs) to beat M.Webster for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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