The annual PDC and BDO jamboree arrives this weekend when the stars of the two sides of the darting divide come together for the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
This tournament has become one of the biggest of the year but there is extra significance and appeal to the event this time because for the first time ever Martin Adams has accepted an invitation to play in it.
The competition isn’t about Martin Adams, Andy Fordham who has qualified for it this year too, or even the BDO as a whole. It is about some fantastic darts and with the 32 players in the field we are almost guaranteed to get that.
That said the build up to the tournament is going to centre around Adams and to a lesser extent Fordham so it would be wrong not to mention it and realise that.
As ever the 32 players have been placed into eight groups with everyone playing each other in the group over the sprint distance of the best of nine legs. The top two from each group qualify and then the event becomes a straight knockout over much longer distances.
The top half of the draw is going to be under big focus this week. One reason for that is because both Adams and Fordham are in it but the other reason is that Michael van Gerwen is in there too.
The Green Machine, winner of the European Championship last weekend, has never won this tournament so he’ll have plenty of fire and motivation this week. Van Gerwen should come through his group. Kim Huybrechts will keep him honest but the other two look to be making up the numbers.
Group B contains Ian White, Jelle Klaasen, Steve Beaton and Martin Adams and whoever comes through there will collide with the qualifiers from Group A which is MVGs group so that looks a tasty quarter.
Groups C and D make up the second quarter in the top half. Adrian Lewis and Michael Smith will be expected to come through Group C but Wayne Jones and Andy Fordham will be looking to deny them. Group D is a heck of a group. It contains Peter Wright, Dave Chisnall, Mervyn King and the Lakeside champion Scott Mitchell so this is another tasty quarter.
The bottom half begins with Groups E and F where Gary Anderson and James Wade are the headline players. Anderson is in Group E alongside Raymond Barneveld, Andy Boulton and Larry Butler while Mark Webster, Keegan Brown and Michel van der Horst will face up with Wade.
The bottom quarter sees Groups G and H play out and this is the portion of the draw where Phil Taylor sits. He’s in Group H with Martin Phillips, Robbie Green and Rowby-John Rodriguez while Group G has Robert Thornton, Terry Jenkins, Jonny Clayton and Geert de Vos.
My main outright bet this week is going to come from the bottom half of the draw and I have to say I like James Wade. Wade probably has a bit of previous here given the way he lost the final to Scott Waites a few years ago but he’s in really good form.
He was an early casualty to Jelle Klaasen in the European Championship last week but he didn’t do a lot wrong in that match. Wade has been in good form all year and has made no fewer than nine finals in 2015. He has a comfortable albeit competitive group and he will be competitive right through to the semi-finals. At 20/1 he looks the best value this week.
As well as Wade I’m priced in on Martin Adams. I accept he’s in the nastier half of the draw but one thing we have seen with this tournament in the past is how it can open right up especially with the short races in the group stages and one seed winning their group and another coming second and thus having to meet in the last 16 isn’t uncommon.
In Adams we have one of the top 10 players of all time in this great game and forget about the fact he’s on the BDO circuit this fella can still play darts. Anyone who saw his Lakeside semi-final and final performances at the start of the year can testify to that.
Obviously we’re taking a chance that he’ll be given a fair crack of things by the boisterous Wolverhampton crowd but hopefully he gets the respect he deserves and if so I’m happy to pay to see how far this darting great can go this week.
I’m also going to hit the quarter markets for a bet too and that is in the bottom quarter where I remain happy to take on Phil Taylor. I’m not convinced Taylor is on top form still and I get the feeling that players believe they can beat him now.
There are two men who are capable of taking him out in the knockout stage and one of those is Terry Jenkins and I’m happy to side with The Bull in what is pretty much a home game for him.
Barring something pretty remarkable Jenkins and Thornton will come out of their group and once the tournament gets into the longer formats Jenkins should come into his own a little bit more. If you look at the odds you’d think this quarter was all about Taylor and Thornton. I’m not sure that’s the case so I’ll gobble up the double figures on Jenkins who is a former finalist here.
Back J.Wade to win Grand Slam of Darts (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 21.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
Back M.Adams to win Grand Slam of Darts (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back T.Jenkins to win 4th Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Sportingbet
Blog darts YTD: +24.99pts
