We are in November which means that it is time for the annual PDC and BDO get together at the Grand Slam of Darts. The tournament remains in Wolverhampton but has moved away from the Civic Hall for a year but a top class nine days of darts is still expected.
The leading lights in the PDC take on the top boys in the BDO in a tournament which always guarantees thrills and spills and shocks and surprises. We’ll get all that and more over the course of the competition.
Recent Winners
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Phil Taylor
2013 – Phil Taylor
2012 – Raymond Barneveld
2011 – Phil Taylor
2010 – Scott Waites
2009 – Phil Taylor
2008 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The 32 men go into eight groups of four for the first round of the tournament. Each man plays the other three in their group once over the best of nine legs and at the end of all that the top two progress to the knockout stages. Any ties for the top two are sorted by a nine dart shootout.
The knockout stages begin with the last 16 which is the best of 19 legs and then the remainder of the tournament is played over the best of 31 legs so much like the World Matchplay this is as much a stamina test as it is a quality one. The winner waltzes away with a cool £110,000.
Group A
The defending champion and world number one Michael van Gerwen heads the field and he is in Group A this week. He will do battle with Wales World Cup player Jonny Clayton, qualifier Joe Murnan and the BDO veteran Gary Robson for a place in the knockout stages. Even allowing for a couple of poor weekends it is hard to see MVG not coming through here.
Group B
We always get the phrase ‘Group of Death’ chucked at us when tournaments have groups and if there is one this week it is this one. World Series finalist Michael Smith is the seeded player in it but former champion Raymond Barneveld will expect to win it. Krzysztof Ratajski arrives in Wolverhampton in outstanding form and they are joined by the Winmau World Masters winner Adam Smith-Neale.
Group C
European champion and World Series Finals winner James Wade is the top dog in Group C. He will expect to ease into the knockout stages but he has to come past qualifiers Keegan Brown and Mark Webster in order to progress. It could be that the BDO star Wesley Harms could prove to be his biggest threat for top spot in the group.
Group D
The World Matchplay, UK Open and Champions League of Darts winner Gary Anderson is the main man in Group D of the tournament. Ian White will look to take his floor form up onto the stage to come through in behind him while qualifier Steve Hine will look to continue his form from the qualifying event. Michael Unterbuchner is the BDO representative in this group.
Group E
Peter Wright is the top seed in Group E of the tournament as he looks to make up for a poor showing in Vienna last weekend. Max Hopp had a great weekend at the European Championship a couple of weeks ago and he will be expected to qualify in behind Wright. PDC youngster Josh Payne and BDO man Jim Williams will be out to upset the applecart.
Group F
This is where the main action will be taking place in the first round as this group looks as tough as it gets. European finalist Simon Whitlock heads the way in it while UK Open runner-up Gerwyn Price is also in this section of the draw. Andrew Gilding came through qualifying nicely to make his way into this group and they are all joined by the BDO world champion Glen Durrant.
Group G
The World Matchplay finalist Mensur Suljovic is the main man in Group G. He has lost in his first match of the last two tournaments and looked way below his best and that will give encouragement to the other two PDC players in this group who are Stephen Bunting and Martin Schindler. Former BDO world champion Scott Mitchell makes up a competitive quartet in this group.
Group H
Finally we get to the PDC world champion Rob Cross. He is another who has not shown his best darts in recent times so he could also be vulnerable. The World Youth champion Dimitri Van den Bergh is in this group and will be out for big success. Another youngster in Ryan Searle is also in this section while BDO world finalist Mark McGeeney completes what looks like another tasty group.
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Outright Betting
I usually avoid the half of the draw that Michael van Gerwen is occupying anyway but when you throw Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Raymond Barneveld and the form horse James Wade in that section I’m heading off to the bottom half for certain this week and I can’t get past Glen Durrant. His group isn’t the easiest but I think there is a genuine case to be made for him being the best in it. If Durrant was a PDC player he’d be the third favourite to come through the bottom half. If anything were to happen to Peter Wright, who Durrant beat in this last year, then this bottom half opens right up. In TV tournaments in 2018 Durrant’s averages stand up to most with the exception of Anderson and MVG. They read 95.29, 99.43, 100.92, 96.61, 93.93, 98.56, 102.90, 100.27, 98.62, 97.00, 99.62, 97.18, 101.99, 98.70 and 99.68. He won all those matches apart from the last one. That sort of play has him a major contender this week with this draw.
Someone in Group G and H will make the semi-finals of this tournament. Rankings would suggest that would either be Rob Cross or Mensur Suljovic. Both men have shown vulnerabilities in the last few weeks though so best of nine legs sprints in which they are overwhelming favourites against competent campaigners may not be the best thing for them. That could open the door for someone else. I remain convinced that Stephen Bunting is approaching a return to the top of the game, he just needs to avoid running into monster performances in short formats like the one Darren Webster produced against him in Dortmund two weeks ago. Bunting gets three pops at it this week and if he can come through two of them and get into the latter stages where the draw will have opened up I can see him going very deep this week.
Group Betting
There are three bets I like in the groups this week. The first of them comes in Group B where I think Michael Smith has to be taken on after last weekend. Raymond Barneveld showed enough signs in Vienna last week to suggest that his preparations for the World Championship are going along well. He generally performs well in this tournament and although Krzysztof Ratajski is in decent form much of his best stuff has come on the floor so I do have this group between Smith and Barneveld. Barneveld is no 5/2 poke to beat Smith so he’s where the value lies in this section.
Gary Anderson will qualify from Group D but the race to join him in the last 16 should be well worth a watch. Ian White is the favourite but he never shows his best darts on the TV and is yet to come out of his group in this tournament. Steve Hine will need to show something we’ve not seen from him in a while to be competitive which leads me to think the consistency of Michael Unterbuchner could see him come through. The German will need to avoid meltdowns on the doubles but we’ve seen enough of him on the TV now to know he should be comfortable enough on the big stage. I don’t think he’s a 7/4 shot to come through this section.
While Mark McGeeney and Ryan Searle merit respect, I believe Group H is all about Rob Cross and Dimitri Van den Bergh. We saw them produce a ding dong of epic proportions in the World Championship and with that in mind it is a shame that they will only be doing battle over the best of nine legs here. That said DVDB is not going to go into that match as an 11/4 shot like he is to win the group. Cross isn’t playing well enough to convince me at the minute. I’ll take the chance the Belgian comes through here.
Tips
Back G.Durrant to win Grand Slam of Darts (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back S.Bunting to win Grand Slam of Darts (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back R.Barneveld to win Group B for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Unibet
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Unterbuchner to qualify from Group D for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back D.Van den Bergh to win Group H for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with William Hill
Back him here:
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