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Luke Littler is looking to seal his status as the Grand Slam of Darts king this weekend by going for a third consecutive win at the event.
For his opening tie, ‘Luke The Nuke’ has been drawn in a mouth-watering match-up against Beau Greaves, one of few who can say they beat Littler on their last encounter.
It makes for a thrilling opening to an expanded blockbuster format. 48 players will be involved, including Niels Zonneveld, Michael Van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and many more.
This Saturday night in Wolverhampton, the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts gets underway with Littler facing off against Greaves.
Greaves came out on top in their last encounter, in the semi-finals of the Winmau World Youth Championship last year, with their group rounded out by Dutch Darts Champion Niels Zonneveld - but only the top finisher in the round-robin format can make it through to the next round.
Nicknamed 'ZZZ,' Dutch star Zonneveld also beat Littler in their previous battle, winning 6-5 in the European Tour's Belgian Darts Open quarter-finals.
It makes for a Grand Slam of Darts ‘Group of Death,' but the trio have strong competition.
Also fighting it out for the legendary Eric Bristow Trophy will be Leeds hero Luke Humphries, going up against former Masters champion Joe Cullen and PDC Asian Champion Paolo Nebrida in Group I.
Group M sees Dutch number one Gian van Veen pitted with former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks and Grand Slam first-timer Carl Sneyd.
Meanwhile, three-time Grand Slam-winner Michael van Gerwen will get underway against up-and-coming star Henry Coates in Group L, while Swedish number one Jeffrey de Graaf completes Group L.
Another three-time champion in the form of Gerwyn Price takes on Challenge Tour champion Joe Hunt, with Polish number two Sebastian Bialecki joining them in Group E.
In a bid to spice up the tournament which first ran in 2007, the first round of the format has been switched from eight groups of four players to 16 groups of three.
After playing each other in a round-robin, only the top finisher progresses to the next round, instead of first and second as previously seen.
This places greater importance on each match, with only two to play for each player in the group stage.
Two points are awarded for a win, none for a loss.
If there are any points ties in the groups, the higher-placed finisher will be decided by:
If the players still can’t be split, then a playoff will be run between the players at the end of the the final group game session, being a two or three-way nine-dart shootout - the player scoring the most points is the winner.
Following the group stage, the knockout format will progress as below.
Group A
(1) Luke Littler
Niels Zonneveld
Beau Greaves
Group B
(16) Jermaine Wattimena
Alan Soutar
Lisa Ashton
Group C
(8) Josh Rock
Kevin Doets
Tommy Morris
Group D
(9) Stephen Bunting
Cameron Menzies
Raymond Smith
Group E
(4) Gerwyn Price
Sebastian Bialecki
Joe Hunt
Group F
(13) Ryan Searle
Andrew Gilding
Charlie Manby
Group G
(5) Jonny Clayton
Rob Cross
Anton Ostlund
Group H
(12) Wessel Nijman
Niko Springer
Adam Sevada
Group I
(2) Luke Humphries
Joe Cullen
Paolo Nebrida
Group J
(15) Luke Woodhouse
Krzysztof Ratajski
Tom Sykes
Group K
(7) James Wade
Ricky Evans
Cam Crabtree
Group L
(10) Michael van Gerwen
Jeffrey de Graaf
Henry Coates
Group M
(3) Gian van Veen
Bradley Brooks
Carl Sneyd
Group N
(14) Chris Dobey
Martin Schindler
Jan Schmidt
Group O
(6) Ross Smith
Gabriel Clemens
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Group P
(11) Nathan Aspinall
Karel Sedlacek
Maik Kuivenhoven
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