Grand Slam Of Darts 2020 Tips by James Punt

by Dave Stevos | Nov 15, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Grand Slam of Darts Tips and Preview

The latest Major of the season is the Grand Slam of Darts. One of the more unusual tournaments of the season thanks to its make-up and format.

The field is made up of the winners and runners up of various qualifying tournaments but has been further revised this year due to Corona virus related calendar changes and the demise of the BDO.

We used to have eight BDO players in the field, but this year it is just the Men and Woman’s World Champions, Wayne Warren and Mikuru Suzuki.

To make up the shortfall due to tournament cancelations and the six fewer BDO entrants, there are places for the Summer, Winter and Autumn Series O.O.M. winners (or highest placed player not already qualified). The winner of the Women’s qualifying tournament (Lisa Ashton), the winners of the four European Tour events, eight players from the GSoD qualifier and if needed, the final highest ranked winners of players championship events.

Format

All that gets you to a field of 32 players. These are then put into four pots. Pot 1 contains the top eight highest ranked qualifying players, not quite the top 8 players in the world rankings as Daryl Gurney has not qualified.

Pot 2 has the next seven highest ranked qualifying players and Simon Whitlock (highest ranked player who came through the qualifying tournament), Pot 3 the other players who came through this week’s qualifying tournament plus the world youth champion, and Pot 4, the two BDO players, Women’s qualifier, world youth championship runner up and Heta, Duijvenbode and Hunt. Got it?

One player from each pot is drawn into eight groups who will then play a round robin format with the top two going through to the knockout stage. All this means that a players can lose a match but still win the tournament.

Grand Slam Of Darts: The Players

Below is a brief summation of the players, their form, odds and the FDI ranking. This ranking is an unofficial ranking system which much more accurately reflects the players recent form rather than a two year rolling ranking system used for the official world ranking.

Seeded Players – Pot 1

Michael van Gerwen – 5.00. FDI 3

No longer the number 1 on the FDI rankings thanks to his recent form. MVG has won one major in 2020, the UK Open back in March. He has won three players championship events and that is it. Not a bad haul but by Van Gerwen’s standards, a very poor season.

His most recent form saw he and Danny Noppert losing at the semi-final stage in the World Cup of Darts. MVG’s participation in that match was in question as he was suffering with a trapped nerve in his back. As a result he missed out on the first three days of the Winter Series.

Van Gerwen has won this title three times, 2015,2016 and 2017, but has lost in the semi-finals for the last two years.

MVG only played three matches at the Winter Series, losing two. He became involved in an altercation with another player, Jonathon Worsley, which involved MVG provoking the Welshman ho eventually gave him a shove. He was removed from the tournament as a result but it remains to be seen if the DRA will be taking it further. That is another sign that his head is not in the right place at the moment.

Peter Wright – 5.50. FDI 2

The current World Champion, Wright has also won the Masters, the European Championship and four player’s championship titles. Most recently we didn’t see too much of Snakebite. He refused to travel to play in the last three European Tour events, nor the World Cup of Darts but he was still good enough to win the European Championship. Wright backed that up by winning another players championship on Friday.

He remains one of the heaviest scorers in darts and very much in with a chance of winning anything he enters. He has never won this title but is a two time runner up.

Gerwyn Price – 5.50. FDI 1

Unofficially the best player in the world on recent form, and that is hard to argue with. Most recently he won the World Cup of Darts, alongside Jonny Clayton, and said that was the most important title he has ever won.

Price is having a brilliant season and on Thursday he won another players championship title and that was his eighth tournament win of the year, making him the winning most player of 2020. He immediately jumped in his car and headed home to Wales, just for one day off. That then became two days off.

That was quite telling. We are currently in the busiest part of the darting calendar but this year, things are even more condensed. The first lockdown period put everything on hold and caused a freeze in the calendar from March 16 to July 7.

Busy Schedule

Since then we have had the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the Premier League, the World Series of Darts, three Euro Tour events, the European Championship, the World Cup of Darts and not forgetting the Summer Series, the Autumn Series and the Winter Series, all three of those ran for five days, two in the UK, one in Germany.

Still to come, we have this GSoD, the Players Championship and then the month long World Championship which is due to start in early December, but no dates or venue have yet been announced.

Price felt that mentally he needed to get off the train, even for just a short break, to try and keep fresh for the upcoming onslaught of darts, Covid tests and hotel rooms. These are strange times, and the players are part sports professionals and part prisoners. They have to stay in the bubble and while last year they could relax by going out for a meal or the cinema or whatever, now its play darts and hotel.

All the players have to do it, but the successful ones have to do more of it. Fatigue is arguably Price’s biggest threat. Nobody has played more matches than he has, nobody has played as many finals or big matches than he has. He is physically fit which helps, but playing all these matches and all the international travelling is draining.

Price has won this title for the last two years and is aiming to equal MVG’s feat of winning it three times in a row.

Michael Smith – 21.00. FDI 4

Is it time for the nearly man of professional darts to finally win his first major? There is more reason to think so this time. Smith looked in good form at the World Cup of Darts where England reached the final, losing to Wales. He was partnered by Rob Cross and it was Smith who carried the team. Bully Boy enjoyed it, played positively and I think the experience of going all the way to the final, playing for his country, gave him a mental boost.

He backed that up by arriving at the Winter Series and winning PC 19, his first tournament win since 2018. Just to underline his new found confidence, he went on to win PC 20 the very next day, averaging 100. His amazing run ended in the third round in PC 21, but he won a total of 19 matches and the OOM.

Smith had risen to be the world number 4 without ever winning a televised tournament. He had reached five major finals and lost them all along with four other televised semi-final defeats. Missing the crucial doubles was the reason for the failures and he was mentally scarred and became hugely frustrated as a result. The frustration just led to repeated behaviour which led to more frustration and so on.

If those two wins at the Winter Series have ended that vicious circle of frustration and failure, and if he can play his real game, that game is world class. We are going to find out if he has been able to banish his doubling demons. Smith is certainly on the short list, which is something new for me.

Rob Cross – 36.00. FDI 32

Look at that FDI ranking. Thirty second compared to his official ranking of fifth. The reason? Because he is losing a lot of matches and losing to players ranked lower than him. In the Winter Series he lost to Dolan, Pipe, Borland and Lisa Ashton. With all due respect, a world number 5 should be taking care of those players.

Cross still has something of an ability to win ugly, to play poorly but somehow grinding out a win, but that only gets you so far. The highlight of his season was being runner up in the World Series of Darts and he averaged just 92 across his four matches. He played one good match to beat Michael Smith but the rest was average at best. He was runner up in the World Cup of Darts alongside Smith, but he was very much the lesser player.

Nathan Aspinall – 15.00. FDI 9

Aspinall has hit a bit of a bump in the road darting wise. He has been on sustained rise up the rankings in the last couple of years, has won a major, was runner up in this year’s Premier League on debut , won the remote Home Tour championship and won two players championships this year.

However, those players championships were pre lockdown and since making the Premier League final, his form has been unremarkable. The Euro Tour events saw early exits, he lost in the second round of the European Championship and the Winter Series saw modest scoring and few match wins.

He is one of the players who says he is missing the crowds and finds it hard to get his adrenalin flowing. He is not the threat he was pre-lockdown.

James Wade – 36.00. FDI 12

Wade was runner up in the recent European Championship where he lost 4-11 to Peter Wright in the final and averaging 95.6 across the tournament. Most of his darts this year has been indifferent, playing some good stuff but then some poor stuff. He picked up a player’s championship title in the Summer Series but otherwise it’s been a quiet season.

Wade is a two time finalist in the this event but in five of the last six years he has lost in the second round. He is not without a chance but he was suffering with an injury which forced him to pull out of PC22 on Friday which is a concern. He returned on Saturday and averaged 95 across his two matches.

Gary Anderson – 17.00. FDI 6

Anderson’s FDI ranking is higher than his official ranking of 9. That is one I can’t agree with. He just doesn’t play enough to have any real ideal of his form. His body is crocked and he has preferred a light schedule for a while now. He hasn’t played on the Euro Tour for a number of years now and he refused to defend Scotland’s title at the recent World Cup of Darts. Anderson refused to play at the World Series of Darts finals as well. He did play in the Premier League and reached the semi-finals. He does not play the euro tour so there was no European Championship for him.

Anderson did play in the Summer and Autumn Series but at last week’s Winter Series, he played one match, lost 5-6 to Andy Hamilton and promptly went home saying he had a sore knee. While everyone else has been away playing lots of darts, Anderson has had one competitive match in a month. That is not any sort of preparation for the Major Championship which he covets so much. He has reached two finals and four other semi-finals, but never won it.

Unseeded Players – Pot 2

Dave Chisnall – 41.00. FDI 23

Another elite player who has never won a televised title. Unlike Michael Smith however, Chizzy is not coming into this on the crest of a wave. He failed to win a single match in the first three player’s championship events at the Winter Series, lost in the second round on day 4. He found some form on Saturday and had a 121.7 average when beating David Evans 6-2, but he promptly lost 4-6 to Peter Wright in the fourth round.

Chisnall lost his first round match at the European Championship, won just one match at the International Darts Open, failed to win a match at the European Darts Grand Prix and not since the World Matchplay have we seen Chisnall have a decent run. He reached the semi-final in what is his favourite event. He did win enough matches to come through the qualifying tournament for this and hit a 117 average when beating John Henderson 5-0 but that seems to have been another flash in the pan.

Dimitri van den Bergh – 51.00. FDI 27

The 2020 World Matchplay champion. That was a surprise as Dimitri had shown no form going into that event back in July. He averaged just shy of 98 over his five matches but he hasn’t shown a lot since.

Most recently he paired up with Kim Huybrechts at the World Cup of Darts and reached the semi-final. Before that he lost in the first round at the World Series, he lost in the second round at the World Grand Prix, didn’t play in the euro tour of European Championship before playing in last week’s Winter Series. He reached the fourth round on day one, averaging 98 but then lost two first round matches and a second round match, scoring poorly.

It is hard to see a repeat of his Matchplay triumph, but then again, it was impossible to see him winning that and he did.

Ian White – 51.00. FDI 12

It was a fairly low key Winter Series for White. He won eight matches and reached a quarter final. His scoring was OK but nothing special. He has only made it out of the group stage once in six attempts. His stage form isn’t as good as his floor form and he isn’t my idea of a winner.

Glen Durrant – 19.00. FDI 10

The Premier League champion has had his season derailed by contracting Covid19. After winning the PL at the end of October, we lost in the 3rd round of the European Darts Grand Prix, and he was then stopped at the airport in Germany the following weekend, as he was exhibiting symptoms. He was sent back to England and tested positive. That meant sitting out the European Championship finals the following week. He returned to action at the Winter series and it took him until day three to win his first match. He won two matches that day and that was it for the whole five days. Duzza tweeted that he was heading into this tournament with ‘zero confidence’. Definitely one to oppose.

Krzysztof Ratajski – 23.00. FDI 8

The Polish Eagle took a while to get going in the Winter Series, winning just three matches over the first four days, but on the final day he went all the way to the final but lost to Joe Cullen. He has had a frustrating time of late, coming up against high scoring opponents and losing a lot of matches in the deciding leg. Ratajski is a tough opponent but his odds are a little short given his modest record on the big stages.

Jonny Clayton – 67.00. FDI 17

Fresh from winning the World Cup with Gerwyn Price for Wales, The Ferret remains in good form after a decent few weeks. He was runner up in the German Darts Championship at the end of September, reached the semi-final of the European Championship, followed that up with the World Cup and he had a solid if not spectacular Winter Series, winning eleven matches and averaging in the mid 90’s every day. Not without a chance of another big run and decent odds.

Joe Cullen – 51.00. FDI 13

Cullen ended the Winter Series with a win and all is good in his world. He won the International Darts Open at the end of October, switched darts supplier at the start of the Winter Series and played very well winning eighteen matches in total, and a title. His 180 hitting was very good and he will be hard to beat this week. A contender.

Simon Whitlock – 67.00. FDI 14

The Wizard has had a decent season, moving back into the top 16 and reaching another Major semi-final at the World Grand Prix. His Winter Series form wasn’t good however, winning just four matches. His best days are behind him, but he never gives up. He gave Gerwyn Price a hell of a game at the World Cup, losing 3-4 and it really could have gone either way. He has ended up in a very open looking group and he will fancy his chances of at least reaching the knockout stage.

Pot 3

Jermaine Wattimena – 151.00. FDI 20

The Machine Gun reached the final of PC19 at the start of the Winter Series but was no match for Michael Smith. Overall, he had a good series, winning 14 matches and he has played himself into decent form. He won’t win the title, he has never won any title, but he will be a tough opponent in the group phase.

Ricky Evans – 151.00. FDI 36

Ricky switched management companies a couple of weeks ago and celebrated by coming through the qualifying tournament and beating new stable mate, Daryl Gurney in the process. In the winter series he was a bit underwhelming, winning seven matches and not suggesting that he is going to be a feature this week.

Gabriel Clemens – 67.00. FDI 26

One of the dangermen in pot 3. He averaged 107.7 in PC 20 during the Winter Series and that is what he can do. He was a bit quiet for the rest of the week and only won seven matches but on his day, he can bother anyone. His odds look about right as he still lacks experience in these big tournaments.

Devon Petersen – 34.00. FDI 7

A very high FDI rating but he has started slipping back after a poor Winter Series. He won the German Darts Championship at the end of September after showing very good form in the Summer Series. He reached the semi-final at the European Championship, just losing the deciding leg to James Wade. Peterson has said that he has something not quite right with his throw and it shows. His tremendous 180 hitting deserted him during the week and he only won four matches, was scoring poorly and with a game built around maximums, he needs to fix that ASAP or he will be out early.

Jose de Sousa – 26.00. FDI 4

The fourth best player in the world on recent form? Arguably yes, but not on the stage. He is a winner on the floor and finally won a euro tour event in mid-October but in the big televised events, he has won just three matches.

He had a very good Winter Series, reaching two finals and scoring very heavily, as is his way. De Sousa is a huge talent and will win lots of tournaments, but I suspect he will have to pick up more experience in these big events first.

Luke Humphries – 81.00. FDI 27.00

It was a frustrating Winter Series for Humphries as he won just two matches. He didn’t look very pleased with himself and if he is lacking confidence he will struggle. A very talented player and can perform on the big stage, but hard to fancy right now.

Ryan Joyce – 201.00. FDI 32

Joyce came through the qualifying tournament and he played some good stuff there, averaging 114 in one match. He is a streaky player and when he is in top form, is a dangerous opponent. He won his first player’s championship title in the Summer Series, thanks mostly to a Chisnall meltdown, and he was a World Championship quarter finalist in 2018. Joyce won nine matches in the Winter Series and played some good stuff at times. He could be something of a disrupter in the group phase.

Ryan Searle – 201.00. FDI 22

Another player who can’t be taken lightly. His winter Series saw three winless days but a quarter final and a board win on the other two days. Not in his best form but is capable of causing a surprise or two. He banged in a few ton plus averages and he can hit heavy when he is in the mood.

Pot 4

Dirk van Duijvenbode – 67.00. FDI 15

Another player with a very high FDI rating. He has shown some good form to earn that. A Euro Tour semi-final before the lockdown, shortly after his first players championship semi-final. The highlight of his season so far was to reach the final of the World Grand Prix.

He had a decent winter Series, winning 12 matches and while his scoring was not particularly heavy he was still able to win a decent number of matches. His confidence is high and he is an interesting character who could have another decent run.

Justin Pipe – 501.00. FDI 43

Justin Pipe is now very much a veteran, but he has been throwing some very good darts lately. Very good darts. He came through the qualifying tournament and averaged 97 and his scoring has been very impressive at times. He lost his first round match to Joe Cullen in PC23 but averaged 104. Pipe was 4-0 up and averaging 118 at one point but Cullen came back from 0-5 to win 6-5. It was extraordinary from both players, but Pipe was hitting 10 darters and hit six maximums.

We don’t see much of him on the stage these days, but nobody should be taking him lightly in the group stage.

Damon Heta – 51.00. FDI 11

Another player very a very high ranking compared to his official ranking. Heta made his mark in the Brisbane Masters World Series tournament last year, beating the PDC all-stars to take the title. That inspired him to try for a tour card which he won in January. He has upped sticks and moved to the UK from Australia to pursue his career.

Heta picked up his first pro tour title in the Autumn Series and represented Australia in the World Cup, reaching the quarter finals and he won both is singles matches. In the Winter Series he won 16 matches, was runner up in PC21 and averaged 99 or more every single day. He was the only player to be in the top 10 top scorers for all five days.

Heta may still be learning the ropes but he is a confident guy who can play seriously good darts. He is a dark horse for any event already, including this.

Adam Hunt – 401.00. FDI 46

The Hunter came through the qualifying tournament despite averaging just 85. He won eight matches in the Winter Series and did enough to earn a spot at both the Players Championship finals and the World Championship, so he will be feeling good. His scoring wasn’t great however and he might find living with some of his opponents difficult.

Lisa Ashton – 1001.00. FDI 103

Ashton won her tour card in January and has steadily improved thanks to playing regularly against better opposition. She has beaten Adan Hunt twice for example and picked up a few decent scalps, including beating Rob Cross on Friday and took Ian White to a deciding leg on Saturday. However, she only won two matches and is usually out scored by her male opponents. She played in this last year, lost every match and won just 4 legs. She may do a bit better this time round, but she has landed in the group with three of the heaviest hitters in the sport, De Sousa, Ratajski and Michael Smith. Ouch.

Adam Gawlas – 701.00. FDI n/a

World Youth Championship runner up and he is just here to get some experience. He had a brief run out at the World Cup and as part of the Czech Republic team, they gave the Belgians something to think about but lost their pairs match 4-5.

Wayne Warren – 501.00. FDI n/a

It is very hard to place the reigning BDO World Champion as the BDO doesn’t exist anymore. He played last year but didn’t get out of the group stage. If I remember correctly, he had been injured coming into the tournament and we didn’t see the best of him. He played some good stuff to win the BDO World Championship, but he is coming into this competitively cold compared to his PDC rivals.

Mikuru Suzuki – 1501.00 FDI ?

The reigning back to back BDO Women’s Champion but another player in limbo. She tried and failed to win a tour card but will try again in January and she wants to give it a go. She is very highly rated and played last year, losing all three matches but at least she won seven legs.

Grand Slam Of Darts 2020: Outright Selections

The two best players in the world right now are Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright. Price has won eight titles in 2020, Wright seven. Gerwyn Price is going for a hattrick of wins in this event and is the 5.00 favourite. If they both win their groups, which would seem likely, they will not meet in the final, which is a shame.

Both Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have won this three times in a row, so it can be done. This will be the third different venue that Price will have played this tournament in and winning it at three different venues would be history making.

Peter Wright has been runner up in this event twice in the last three years. He was blown away 16-6 by Price last year as the Welshman averaged 107 in the final. He did get his revenge in the World Championship semi-final.

I was a bit more impressed by Peter Wright in the Winter series and the fact that he skipped the final three Euro Tour events and the World cup makes me think that he will be the fresher of the pair. It didn’t do him any harm as preparation for the European Championship where he defeated Price 10-6 on the way to winning the title.

Grand Slam Of Darts: 2 points Peter Wright to win the Grand Slam of Darts @ 5.50 with William Hill and Boylesports

Of the outsiders in the field, I like Heta a lot. His scoring in the Summer Series was world class and he hits a lot of 180’s making him hard to break and hard to fend off. He does lack experience in the really big events but there is no doubting his ability. His group contains the out of form Durrant, along with Wattimena and Wade. Heta is good enough to get out of that with enough points to reach the knockout phase.

Grand Slam Of Darts: 0.5 point e/w Damon Heta to win the Grand Slam of Darts @ 51.00 with SpreadEx

Michael Smith was in excellent form in the Winter Series, winning the OOM and winning two titles. Now he has that not winning titles Monkey off his back he will hopefully play with more freedom and less fear. Less frustration. He has the talent to be World Champion and finally getting the Major monkey off his back would set up that chance.

Grand Slam Of Darts: 1 point e/w Michael Smith to win the Grand Slam of Darts @ 21.00 with William Hill

Joe Cullen is having his best season. He is working harder on his game, is inspired by the success of his good friend Devon Petersen and another title won on Saturday was perfect preparation. He is in a group with MVG, Clemens and Hunt and he is the player in the best form.