Luke Littler faces Beau Greaves rematch with only one player able to escape their Grand Slam group

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.

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Luke Littler set for epic opening match at Grand Slam of Darts against Beau Greaves

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.

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How does the Grand Slam of Darts format work?

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:

• Total leg difference
• Total legs won
• Total legs won against throw
• Highest total tournament average (to two decimal places)
• Highest winning match average (to two decimal places)

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 winner v Group B winner
• Group C winner v Group D winner
• Group E winner v Group F winner
• Group G winner v Group H winner
• Group I winner v Group J winner
• Group K winner v Group L winner
• Group M winner v Group N winner
• Group O winner v Group P winner

2026 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts - Full Draw

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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