Michael Smith will begin his defence of the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts against debutant Nathan Girvan, as Michael van Gerwen and Fallon Sherrock lock horns on a bumper opening day on Saturday in Wolverhampton.
The group stage of the 32-player event will see players competing in a round-robin format across the opening four days at WV Active Aldersley, with 16 ties taking place across two sessions on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon’s opening session will feature the players in Groups B, D, F and H, with Groups A, C, E and G taking centre stage on Saturday evening.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Gerwyn Price will headline Saturday afternoon’s action, as the Welshman opens his Group D campaign against Northern Ireland’s Nathan Rafferty.
World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall – a runner-up to Smith last year – will also kick off his challenge against Women’s World Matchplay champion Beau Greaves in a fascinating Group H tie.
Wales’ World Cup star Jonny Clayton will play the returning Berry van Peer, Dutch number two Danny Noppert meets Japan’s Haruki Muramatsu, while Masters champion Chris Dobey faces World Youth Champion Josh Rock.
Elsewhere, UK Open champion Andrew Gilding takes on Brendan Dolan, Ryan Searle goes up against European Championship semi-finalist Gian van Veen, while Damon Heta and Ricardo Pietreczko collide in the tournament’s curtain-raiser.
Saturday’s evening session will feature a clash between reigning champion Smith and Scottish youngster Girvan, as three-time champion Van Gerwen plays 2021 quarter-finalist Sherrock in a blockbuster tussle.
Three-time runner-up Peter Wright has been pitted against American newcomer Stowe Buntz in his opening group game, while World Grand Prix champion Luke Humphries opens his title bid against Steve Lennon.
Dutch star Dirk van Duijvenbode and two-time finalist Gary Anderson will collide in another stellar showdown, as 2014 runner-up Dave Chisnall meets a resurgent Stephen Bunting in a tasty tie.
Martijn Kleermaker will make his Wolverhampton debut against 2018 World Champion Rob Cross, while three-time finalist James Wade kicks off the evening’s action against Poland’s number one Krzysztof Ratajski.
The group stage continues on Sunday, with Saturday’s winning players facing off and the losing players also meeting each other, before the final round-robin games take place across Monday and Tuesday.
Following the conclusion of the group stage, the top two players from each group will move through to the knockout stage of the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts.
The last 16 will be split across Wednesday and Thursday evening, with the quarter-finals being held on Friday and Saturday.
The tournament then concludes with a bumper double-session on Sunday November 19, as the afternoon’s semi-finals are followed by the final in the evening session.
The Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
2023 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts
Schedule of Play
Saturday November 11
Afternoon Session (1300-1700 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups B-D-F-H First Matches
Damon Heta v Ricardo Pietreczko (H)
Andrew Gilding v Brendan Dolan (F)
Ryan Searle v Gian van Veen (D)
Chris Dobey v Josh Rock (B)
Danny Noppert v Haruki Muramatsu (F)
Nathan Aspinall v Beau Greaves (H)
Jonny Clayton v Berry van Peer (B)
Gerwyn Price v Nathan Rafferty (D)
Evening Session (1900-2300 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups A-C-E-G First Matches
James Wade v Krzysztof Ratajski (A)
Rob Cross v Martijn Kleermaker (G)
Dave Chisnall v Stephen Bunting (E)
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Gary Anderson (C)
Luke Humphries v Steve Lennon (C)
Peter Wright v Stowe Buntz (E)
Michael van Gerwen v Fallon Sherrock (G)
Michael Smith v Nathan Girvan (A)
Sunday November 12
Afternoon Session (1300-1700 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups B-D-F-H Second Matches
Saturday’s winning players in each group meet, and Saturday’s losing players in each group meet.
Evening Session (1900-2300 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups A-C-E-G Second Matches
Saturday’s winning players in each group meet, and Saturday’s losing players in each group meet.
Monday November 13 (1900-2300 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups A-D Final Matches
Tuesday November 14 (1900-2300 GMT)
Group Stage x8 – Groups E-H Final Matches
Wednesday November 15 (1900-2300 GMT)
Second Round x4
Thursday November 16 (1900-2300 GMT)
Second Round x4
Friday November 17 (1900-2300 GMT)
Quarter-Finals x2
Saturday November 18 (1900-2300 GMT)
Quarter-Finals x2
Sunday November 19
Afternoon Session (1300-1700 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Evening Session (1900-2100 GMT)
Final
Format
- Group Stage – Best of 9 legs
- Second Round – Best of 19 legs
- Quarter-Finals – Best of 31 legs
- Semi-Finals – Best of 31 legs
- Final – Best of 31 legs
Tournament Rules
Group Stage
Players receive two points for a win.
To split a two-way Points tie for any position within a group, the following process will be used:
- – Leg Difference
- – Group Match winner
To split a three-way Points tie for positions within a group, the following process will be used:
- – Leg Difference
- – Legs Won
- – Legs Won Against Throw
- – Tournament Average
– If still a tie for one or more places, there will be a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out between the relevant players to determine final standings, with the highest aggregate score over nine darts being used to separate the players.
In the event a “Nine-Dart Shoot-Out” finishes level between two or more players, those players who have tied on the most points will continue to throw three darts each in the same order until one player scores more points than the other player(s) with their three darts.
Knockout Stage
From the second round onwards, the tournament will be in played a knockout format, using the following bracket:
- Winner Group A v Runner-Up Group B
- Winner Group B v Runner-Up Group A
- Winner Group C v Runner-Up Group D
- Winner Group D v Runner-Up Group C
- Winner Group E v Runner-Up Group F
- Winner Group F v Runner-Up Group E
- Winner Group G v Runner-Up Group H
- Winner Group H v Runner-Up Group G
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
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