The Grand Slam Of Darts 2008

The inaugural competition of the Grand Slam of Darts was last year when 32 players competed from all walks of darts, whether they were in the B.D.O, P.D.C. or they qualified and came from anywhere in the World. They played for £80,000 first prize with a total prize pot of some £300,000. This year the prize fund was upped and stands at £100,000 to the outright winner and a total pot of some £350,000. All players that competed were guaranteed £4,000 minimum payout even if they were knocked out in the Round Robin heats. Play is over 9 days and started on Saturday 15^th November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall after a Pro Celebrity Challenge on the Friday night featuring 8 of the darts stars and 8 celebrities.

The Grand Slam annually involves 32 players playing initially in 8 groups of 4 in Round Robin heats. The 2 from each group with the best wins/legs go through to the KO stages. The first stages are the best of 9 legs, ie; first to 5. Round 2 is best of 19 legs with the Semis best of 31 legs and the Finals best of 35 legs. All the Pro players consider this type of format with just straight legs of 501, rather than sets of say 5 legs each, to be a short format that lessens the advantage of the better player. Most think it gives a player who can excel over a few legs, before burning themselves out, a chance to shine, albeit for a short while, and thereby knock out better players.

The first game of the competition this year was Adrian “Jackpot” Lewis against Denis Ovens. Adrian recently lost in the Final of the new European Championship to his Mentor Phil Taylor. Lewis couldn’t find his form in the opener this time and was a little erratic, but after the first interval he got a 12 darter and he also hit an 11 darter during the course of the game. With averages for Lewis of 83.4 and 89.48  to Ovens he did not do well.

Anastasia Dobromyslava was a surprise qualifier as darts at this level normally only feature men, but with the greatest respect to the young Russian girl, she is something special as a lady player, much as Trina Gulliver is. Sadly she missed chances to finish her legs against John Part in particular and consequently failed to progress any further than the entrance stage. Perhaps one of the 4 biggest stars of men’s darts are likely to be this years winner. The Great Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Andy Hamilton and John Part are the best known of a list of household names competing. Phil Taylor is of course the defending champion from the competition held last year at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.