Grand Slam of Darts Betting Suggests Evenly Matched Last 16

The first knockout matches of this year’s Grand Slam of Darts are all set to be closely contested in the opinion of the bookmakers.

Local lad Wayne Jones could only sit and watch as his fate was decided by the outcome of the Gary Anderson and Mark Webster match on Tuesday night. At one stage it looked as though his tournament could be over but Webster missed six darts at the double which would have put him into the knockout stages at Jones’s expense.

Jones will now face Robert Thornton in the last 16 after the Scotsman won all three of his group games to top Group A. ‘The Thorn’ has looked to be getting somewhere close to his best and has improved throughout the early stages of the event; Jones on the other hand has the immeasurable benefit of home advantage. The bookmakers have these two evenly matched with each player available to back at a shade of odds on.

James Wade flirted with the idea of being eliminated from the Grand Slam of Darts at the group stages but eventually edged past Vincent van der Voort to book his place in the last 16 where he wil now face Mervyn King. ‘The King’ openly admits to being way below his best since the death of his father two months ago and a solid performance from Wade could be enough to see him progress.

"I'm nowhere near my best and the last two months have been very bad for me. I lost my dad and I'm still not over that, and it might take several months for that to happen,” said King in the aftermath of his win over John Henderson.

Tony O’Shea has undoubtedly been the most impressive player of the tournament so far. His tournament three-dart average of 98.06 is the best of all the players in the event. He meets Terry Jenkins, the games perennial underachiever, in the round of 16. ‘The Bull’ has finished as runner-up in no fewer than seven televised PDC events but has yet to put a single major trophy on his mantelpiece.

O’Shea gets the nod from the bookmakers on this one and can be backed at around the 4/5 mark. If he continues his early tournament form throughout then he will prove a tough nut to crack for any challengers.