Grand Slam of Darts 2023: Free darts betting tips and group-by-group preview for the Sky Sports-televised major in Wolverhampton

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One of the most popular events on the darting calendar hits our screens this weekend as Michael Smith bids to defend the title that changed his career.

This year's edition features seven different major winners from the past 12 months and 25 other players who have managed to book their spots via a qualifying criteria that's too confusing and debatable to discuss here.

Let me point you to Paul Nicholson's pre-tournament column that addresses those kind of talking points.

In this preview I'll look at each group in turn with seasonal statistics for every player, courtesy of darts statistician and fellow Sporting Life writer Carl Fletcher () and his Darts Tracker ().

Grand Slam of Darts Group Stage

  • All group games best of nine legs. Top two qualify for knockout stages. Any two-way points tie in any position, the player with best leg difference will finish higher. If two players are still level then the winner of the match between them will progress. There is the potential for a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out should three or more players be tied for points and leg difference (click here for more on that in our tournament guide).
  • In the below graphics, the averages and 180 per leg data is for all PDC events in 2023, while checkout percentage is for stage events only. In terms of Fallon Sherrock and Beau Greaves, the data is only for Women’s Series events. Stowe Buntz' data is from the CDC Tour and Haruki Murumatsu is from the Asian Championship. Checkout percentage data is therefore not available for these players.

GROUP A

GROUP B

GROUP C

  • GROUP D

    GROUP E

  • GROUP F

    The seasonal stats of players in Group F
    • Best Odds: Danny Noppert (1/1 to top group, 1/12 to qualify), Andrew Gilding (11/4 to top group, 4/7 to qualify), Brendan Dolan (7/2 to top group, 5/6 to qualify), Haruki Muramatsu (16/1 to top group, 7/1 to qualify)

    Without wanting to sound too harsh, there will need to be a nine-darter for this group to catch everyone's attention.

    All the matches are going to be quite slow and arduous to say the least and a real test of mental patience. For the fans as well as the players!

    Danny Noppert is a seeded player despite having to scrape through the last-gasp qualifier and his reward was to end up with the weakest group on paper. He can't afford to be complacent however because his usual standard isn't exactly light years ahead of Brendan Dolan and Andrew Gilding.

    Even-money prices may attract some punters to Noppert but I can see him slipping up and leaving the door open for Dolan, who goes into my 'to qualify' acca ahead of Gilding, who has been out of form statistically in recent months.

    Predicted Finish:

    • Brendan Dolan
    • Danny Noppert
    • Andrew Gilding
    • Haruki Muramatsu

    GROUP G

    The seasonal stats of players in Group G
    • Best Odds: Michael van Gerwen (8/13 to top group, 1/25 to qualify), Rob Cross (9/4 to top group, 2/9 to qualify), Martijn Kleermaker (14/1 to top group, 4/1 to qualify), Fallon Sherrock (18/1 to top group, 11/2 to qualify)

    As much as it would be great to see Fallon Sherrock pick up a win against Michael van Gerwen or Rob Cross and reach the knockout stages of the Grand Slam for the second time in her career, it's hard to envisage.

    Sherrock has enjoyed her best spell on the Women's Series in recent months in terms of the way she's stood up to Beau Greaves so her confidence levels are much higher than earlier in the year.

    Nobody needs reminding of what standards she can produce against the men - not least Michael van Gerwen who was given a real run for his money in the final of the Nordic Darts Masters a couple of years ago - but the 'big two' in this group should come through.

    It's not been MVG's best season by any means but he's still picked up six titles and boasts a very healthy average of 97.95 while Rob Cross has won four and has the seventh highest average out of all the qualified players.

    Sherrock could well pick up a win against Martijn Kleermaker, who has one of the lowest seasonal averages in the field and is only here by virtue of the last-gasp qualifying event, which always seems to throw up players who don't really deserve to grace this major compared to some much bigger names that miss out. But that's a debate for another article.

    Predicted Finish:

    1. Michael van Gerwen
    2. Rob Cross
    3. Fallon Sherrock
    4. Martijn Kleermaker

    GROUP H

    Grand Slam of Darts: Daily Schedule

    Saturday November 11
    Afternoon Session (1pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • 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 (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • 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 (1pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • Saturday’s winning players in each group meet, and Saturday’s losing players in each group meet.

    Evening Session (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • Saturday’s winning players in each group meet, and Saturday’s losing players in each group meet.

    Monday November 13 (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • Group Stage x8 – Groups A-D Final Matches

    Tuesday November 14 (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Group Matches (Best of 9 legs)

    • Group Stage x8 – Groups E-H Final Matches

    Wednesday November 15 (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

    • Four matches

    Thursday November 16 (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

    • Four matches

    Friday November 17
    Evening Session (1pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Quarter-finals (Best of 31 legs)

    • Two matches

    Saturday November 18
    Evening Session (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Quarter-finals (Best of 31 legs)

    • Two matches

    Sunday November 19
    Afternoon Session (1pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Semi-finals (Best of 31 legs)

    • Two matches

    Evening Session (7pm)
    TV Coverage: Sky Sports
    Final (Best of 31 legs)

    • Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

    What TV channel is the Grand Slam of Darts on?

    Every session of the Grand Slam of Darts will be televised live on Sky Sports.

    Grand Slam of Darts: Past Finals

    Grand Slam of Darts Most Titles

    • Phil Taylor - 6
    • Michael van Gerwen - 3
    • Gerwyn Price - 3
    • Michael Smith - 1
    • Jose de Sousa - 1
    • Scott Waites - 1
    • Raymond van Barneveld - 1

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