The Grand Slam of Darts gets underway on Saturday and it does so with all 32 players competing over two sessions of a busy opening day. The entire field will be looking to get off to fast starts to release some of the pressure of coming through their groups.
In all across the two sessions we’ve got 16 matches to be played and the only thing we can be certain of going into them is that there will be shocks and surprises and if previous editions of this tournament is anything to go by there will be plenty of them.
Big names are on show throughout the day as is often the case with this tournament. The show begins with Groups E-H being played in the afternoon which means we gets stars such as Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson, James Wade and Raymond Barneveld in action straight away.
All four men look to have comfortable opening matches although it should be noted that Martin Phillips is full of experience and if Taylor lets him hang around he might just do so but really the competitive matches lie in the other four games of the afternoon.
Geert de Vos against Robert Thornton will have the BDO vs PDC attention attached to it although you would expect the reigning World Grand Prix champion to have too much for the Belgian if he hits doubles. Terry Jenkins should come past Jonny Clayton but the other two afternoon games look much more level and the odds suggest that.
Keegan Brown made a name for himself in this tournament last year and will hope to put those good memories to his advantage when he takes on Mark Webster. Webster seems to have found his game again though so that could go either way.
The other match is the first one of the tournament between Rowby-John Rodriguez and Robbie Green. Rodriguez continues to gain experience although as we saw last weekend not all of it is good experience! Robbie Green has had an up and down first year back on the PDC circuit. Injuries haven’t helped him but he’s over those now and is finding his game again.
With Green coming back to form and Rodriguez visibly suffering with his confidence last weekend I’m all for ‘Kong’ here. He’s a power scorer, solid finisher and he’s used to the big stage. He can begin with a win.
The evening session waters the mouth just by looking at the card it has to be said. PDC stars Michael van Gerwen, Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright and Kim Huybrechts are joined by two of the best the BDO has to offer in Martin Adams and Scott Mitchell.
All eyes will be on the final two matches of the night as Adams takes on Ian White while Mitchell plays Wright in what should be two high quality encounters. Andy Fordham returns to big time darts earlier in the night when he faces Adrian Lewis in another intriguing match. In that group Michael Smith faces the local lad Wayne Jones.
Michael van Gerwen is probably the headline player on the card. He takes on the BDO qualifier Mark Oosterhuis while in the same group Kim Huybrechts faces Steve West. There are some big matches on the night and Dave Chisnall against Mervyn King could just prove to be the best of the lot.
As far as betting potential goes in the evening session I’m looking to Jelle Klaasen. Klaasen is in good form at the minute and he takes on a Steve Beaton who often flatters to deceive.
In fairness to Beaton if he goes well anywhere it is often here and he can revoke memories of a famous win over Phil Taylor at this venue but the way Klaasen is playing right now I’m not sure that will matter.
Klaasen has wins over Wade, Barneveld, Thornton and Chisnall in the last month or so and that is good form whoever you are. I expect him to show his class and have too much for Beaton here.
Back R.Green to beat R-J.Rodriguez for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Paddy Power
Back J.Klaasen (-1.5 legs) to beat S.Beaton for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
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