Price and van Gerwen Seeking Their Fourth Grand Slam Titles

The 32-player Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts – staged at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton – broadcast live on Sky Sports gets underway this weekend. Over eight days of action, starting in a group format and concluding in a traditional knockout, players will compete for a share of ￡650,000.

Gerwyn Price is the defending Grand Slam of Darts champion. ?PDC

This year the winner will collect the coveted Eric Bristow Trophy and the ￡150,000 top prize. 12 months ago, Gerwyn Price was victorious. Jose de Sousa took the competition and his maiden major title in 2020. The Portuguese player has not qualified for this year’s event.

Technically, Michael van Gerwen is the most successful active Grand Slam of Darts player. He has won the competition three times and finished runner-up once. However, the Dutchman has played in the tournament 14 times. Therefore, Gerwyn Price has a better record. The 2021 world champion has claimed this title three times since 2018. He has only contested the event on six occasions.

Price Half Point Bigger Than the Favorite

It is van Gerwen that the leading darts betting sites narrowly favor. The winner of 44 premier PDC events during the past decade, he is top-priced at 9/2 in the outright betting. Gerwyn Price can be backed at a half-point bigger at the Unibet sportsbook.

Peter Wright – three times a Grand Slam runner-up – follows in the betting at 7/1. Jonny Clayton and Michael Smith are next on the betting list. They are available at 14/1 apiece. As seeded players, these five players have avoided one another in the group stages.

The draw has pitted Price against Masters runner-up Dave Chisnall and 2012 champion Raymond Van Barneveld in Group A. Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen will take on newly crowned European Champion Ross Smith in Group G. Qualifier Luke Woodhouse and 2021 World Youth Championship finalist Nathan Rafferty are drawn alongside the pair.

Sherrock Can Make a Match of It

Reigning World Champion Peter Wright and Women’s World Matchplay winner Fallon Sherrock will be joined in Group E by World Grand Prix runner-up Nathan Aspinall and Scottish debutant Alan Soutar.

Dave Chisnall and Jonny Clayton will both be in action this week. ?Karim Rahnama/PDC Europe

Elsewhere, Jonny Clayton will play North American champion and former baseball player Leonard Gates on the opening day, with World Cup of Darts winner Damon Heta and Dutch qualifier Jermaine Wattimena making up the Group F representatives.

Smith faces this season’s Masters’ winner, Joe Cullen, qualifier Ritchie Edhouse and four-time BDO woman’s world championship Lisa Ashton in Group C. The best darts betting sites make Smith 4/5 to win this group. Cullen is 7/5.

What is the Grand Slam of Darts Format and Schedule of Play?

Schedule of Play

• Saturday November 12
• 1pm: Eight Group A-D matches
• 7pm: Eight Group E-H matches

• Sunday November 13
• 1pm: Eight Group matches
• 7pm: Eight Group matches

• Monday November 14
• 7pm: Eight Group matches

• Tuesday November 15
• 7pm: Eight Group matches

• Wednesday November 16
• 7pm: Four second-round matches

• Thursday November 17
• 7pm: Four second-round matches

• Friday November 18
• 7pm: Two quarter-final matches

• Saturday November 19
• 7pm: Two quarter-final matches

• Sunday November 20
• 1pm: Both semi-final matches
• 7pm: Final

What Are the Best Bets?

James Wade (2008), Kim Huybrechts (2014), Dave Chisnall (2015) and Dimitri Van den Bergh (2018) are the only players to have registered a nine-dart finish in the Grand Slam of Darts. Consequently, the best darts betting sites quote of 4/5 on no nine-dart finish being recorded during this year’s competition is worth a punt.

There were five 170 checkouts in this competition last year. Resultantly, at least one 170 checkout being registered this year has been priced at 1/8. However, the ‘no 170s’ scenario looks like the better option at a tasty 9/2. In 2020 164 was the competition’s highest checkout, and there was also no 170 finish in the 2019 Grand Slam.

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