Grand Slam of Darts 2023 Predictions: Three tips for Wolverhampton

The Grand Slam of Darts is always a tournament to look forward to and gives us some amazing group matches to get stuck in to, ahead of the knockout stages. We've previewed this ranking event and given you our best betting predictions for the occasion. 

History, Location and Format

The 2023 Grand Slam of Darts is the 17th running of this event and is held at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, between the 11th and 19th November. The event was originally devised as a way of getting the best players from the PDC playing against their counterparts from the rival BDO organisation, until its collapse in 2020.

The Grand Slam has been a ranking tournament since 2015 and is now seen as one of the more prestigious events on the calendar, with all the top players taking part. The event has been held on all but one occasion in Wolverhampton, other than in 2020 when it moved to Coventry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first three hostings of the new tournament were, yet again, won by Phil 'The Power' Taylor, who went on to win the competition a record six times. The only other multiple winners are Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price (both three-time winners).

The defending champion is Englishman Michael Smith, who defeated his compatriot Nathan Aspinall 16-5 in the 2022 final and picked up his first major televised title in the process.

There are 32 players taking part in the event, with the winners of the PDC main events all qualifying, as well as other qualifiers from the PDC Euro Tour, PDC Pro Tour, PDC qualifiers and additional qualifiers, including some womens qualifiers.

The players are separated into four pools of eight, who are allocated into eight groups with the top two from each group progressing to the last 16.

Group matches are played over a best of 9 legs, second round matches are best of 19 and the later rounds all played over best of 31 legs.

Qualification Pools

Group Draw

Prize Money

There is a £650,000 total prize fund with the money distributed as follows:

Dirk Van Duijvenbode to win Group C - 10/3

This shortened best-of-9 group format should be right up Dirk's straat, as he has a habit of getting out of the gates quick.

The 'Aubergenius' won all three of his group games in 2022 to top his group ahead of Rob Cross, Martin Schindler and Adam Gawlaz.

This year he faces another tough group in Luke Humphries, Gary Anderson and Steve Lennon but I like his chances to top the group yet again.

Peter Wright each-way (1/2, 2 Places) - 16/1

How good was it to see Peter Wright back amongst the winners circle at the recent European Championship?

The two-time world champ has had a torrid year, finishing last in the Premier League and really struggling in all the major tournaments.

However, he showed signs of a recovery when finishing runner-up at the German Darts Trophy, before his victory in Germany again against James Wade, for his eighth major title.

With his confidence at a high, 'Snakebite' should be one of the ones to watch this week in Wolverhampton.

Dave Chisnall each-way (1/2, 2 Places) - 16/1

Another man bang in form is Dave Chisnall.

'Chizzy' reached the final of the recent Players Championship last week, before going one better a day later to win his fifth title of the year.

Of course, the 43-year-old is seen as the nearly man of darts and is still waiting for his first major televised title, having lost his previous six finals.

However, Chisnall is in the form of his life right now and likes this tournament, having reached the final in 2014.

Could this be the week when Chizzy finally wins a big one?

*All prices correct at the time of writing.