World Grand Prix 2026 Preview: Does Double-In Really Change Everything?

The World Grand Prix is one of the tournaments I always find interesting because it asks the players to do something they simply do not have to do anywhere else on the PDC circuit.

Every leg is double-in, double-out.

Before a player can start scoring, they have to hit a double. They then have to finish on one in the usual way.

It sounds like a relatively small change, but we all know what can happen. Miss a few darts trying to get away and your opponent can already be well into the leg before you have scored a point.

The obvious question, though, is how much difference does it really make at this level?

My feeling going into the tournament is perhaps not as much as we sometimes think.

These are elite double hitters

The theory is that the World Grand Prix should favour the better double hitters.

That makes perfect sense.

But we also have to remember who we are talking about. This is a 32-player field made up of elite professionals. There will obviously be differences between their doubling percentages, but every player in this tournament is capable of hitting doubles consistently.

For me, the format probably creates more volatility rather than completely changing who the strongest players are.

If someone misses six darts getting away, suddenly a leg can disappear very quickly. Over a short match, a couple of legs like that can decide everything.

Over the course of a whole tournament, though, I still expect the better players to come towards the top.

We will find out.

Littler and Humphries set the standard again

It is difficult to start anywhere other than Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.

They are currently the top two players in the Q4QS rankings and their recent numbers back that up.

Littler has been producing some extraordinary averages and has won nine of his last ten matches in the database. His World Matchplay run included an event average above 111, which tells you the level he can reach when everything is working.

Humphries remains number one in the Q4QS rankings and continues to produce deep runs and tournament victories.

The double-start format gives everyone another problem to solve, but it is difficult to imagine either player being particularly fazed by it.

Gerwyn Price remains right in the picture

Gerwyn Price is another player coming into the tournament with plenty of strong form behind him.

He is third in the current Q4QS rankings with an average just under 99 and has recently reached a World Matchplay final as well as another televised semi-final.

His opening match against Sebastian Bialecki is one I am particularly interested in.

Bialecki is much further down the established PDC pecking order, but the Q4QS numbers are very positive. He has already won a Players Championship event this season and sits surprisingly high in our current rankings.

If Price starts quickly, his scoring power should give him the advantage.

But this is exactly the sort of tournament where an outsider getting away cleanly while the favourite struggles on the starting doubles can suddenly change everything.

Ross Smith arrives as a recent champion

Ross Smith certainly deserves a mention after winning the recent World Series of Darts Finals.

That is a serious piece of form to bring into another televised tournament.

Smith has also won on the Players Championship circuit this season, so this isn't simply one good weekend appearing from nowhere.

He is capable of producing big averages, he scores heavily and he has just shown that he can put together a complete run against top-class opposition on a major stage.

His opening match against Cameron Menzies isn't straightforward, but Smith comes into the tournament with genuine momentum.

Chris Dobey is one I will be watching

Chris Dobey's recent numbers have been particularly strong.

He sits fifth in the current Q4QS rankings, has won eight of his last ten recorded matches and recently averaged over 105 across a Players Championship run.

He has also produced individual match averages comfortably above 110.

Dobey faces Jermaine Wattimena, who is hardly short of form himself.

Wattimena recently won a Players Championship event and has also won eight of his last ten matches in the database.

That could be one of the best matches of the opening round.

Nijman continues to climb

Wessel Nijman is another player whose numbers keep catching my attention.

He is currently fourth in the Q4QS rankings and has been regularly producing averages around or above the 100 mark.

His opening match against Rob Cross should tell us plenty.

Cross has obviously been there and done it on the biggest stages and has also won on the Players Championship circuit this season.

But Nijman increasingly looks comfortable alongside this level of player rather than simply being someone trying to break into it.

That makes this a particularly interesting first-round match.

Plenty of danger throughout the field

There are a number of other players who could easily have a big week.

Michael van Gerwen remains capable of beating anyone when his game clicks.

Gary Anderson's best performances are still extremely strong.

James Wade has spent a career finding ways of winning matches in formats where pressure and doubling matter.

Kevin Doets has been producing good results and recently reached a Players Championship final.

Danny Noppert continues to put together solid numbers, while players such as Gian van Veen, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting and Damon Heta make this a very strong field throughout.

There really aren't many comfortable matches.

So how much will double-in actually matter?

This is probably the thing I want to follow most closely throughout the tournament.

My starting position is simple:

It matters, but I don't think it completely changes the hierarchy.

At lower levels of darts, differences in doubling ability can be enormous.

At this level, those differences are much smaller.

The really interesting part may therefore be what the format does psychologically.

One missed dart at double 16 means very little.

Three misses becomes frustrating.

Six misses while your opponent is already halfway down the board becomes pressure.

And once that happens in a short set format, strange things can happen very quickly.

That is probably why the World Grand Prix feels different even if, by the end of the week, many of the familiar names are still standing.

I'll be interested to look back when the tournament is finished and see whether the double-in format genuinely produced more surprises than we would normally expect.

Because there are really two different questions.

Does double-in change individual legs and matches?

Almost certainly.

Does it actually change who the best players are?

I'm not so sure.

This week should give us a pretty good opportunity to find out.

How Do You Beat Luke Littler? Six Defeats Reveal the Best Chance of Stopping Darts’ Dominant Player

 The World Series of Darts Finals arrive in Amsterdam this week, and once again Luke Littler will start as the man everyone wants to stop.

With another major title on offer, the question facing the 31 other players in the field is becoming increasingly familiar: how do you beat Luke Littler?

There is a growing feeling around darts that Littler may simply keep winning. His level in 2026 has been extraordinary, and when he gets into the longer televised formats he has often looked almost impossible to stop.

So ahead of the World Series Finals, rather than simply asking who might beat him in Amsterdam, I wanted to look at a slightly different question.

How do you actually beat Luke Littler?

The Q4QS data gives us six examples from 2026.

Littler’s current profile shows 41 wins from 47 matches, an 87.2% win rate, with six defeats.

Those six defeats are:

• Gerwyn Price, 6-2 — Bahrain Masters

• Niels Zonneveld, 6-5 — Belgian Open

• Luke Humphries, 7-5 — Nordic Masters

• Luke Humphries, 8-7 — US Masters

• Jermaine Wattimena, 6-5 — Players Championship 27

• Brendan Dolan, 7-4 — Players Championship 28

Five of those defeats are grouped in Littler’s profile, with the Dolan loss appearing among his most recent matches.
And there is one thing that jumps out immediately.

Every single defeat came in a relatively short format.

None of Littler’s defeats in the Q4QS 2026 data came in the sort of long race we see later in the biggest televised events.

That may be the first real clue.

Short Formats Give You a Chance

The theory is simple.

If Littler is producing a higher level than almost everybody else over a sustained period, then the longer the match goes, the more opportunity that superiority has to show itself.

A shorter race creates more variance.

One missed double, one 12-dart leg from the opponent, one poor visit at the wrong time, and suddenly there may not be enough match left for Littler to recover.

Jermaine Wattimena’s win is a perfect example.

Wattimena beat Littler 6-5 at Players Championship 27 while averaging just 92.36. Littler averaged 95.68.
That was not a case of somebody producing a 110 average and blowing Littler away.

It was a short match, Littler dropped below his usual level, and Wattimena took the opportunity.

Gerwyn Price did something similar in Bahrain.

Price won 6-2 with a 97.43 average while Littler averaged 94.04.
Again, it was not a superhuman performance.

It was simply good enough at exactly the right time.

But Waiting for Littler to Play Badly Is Not Enough

There is another side to this.

Niels Zonneveld beat Littler 6-5 at the Belgian Open despite Littler averaging 103.20.

Luke Humphries has beaten him twice, and both performances were at genuinely elite level.

Humphries averaged 105.42 in a 7-5 win and 104.05 in an 8-7 victory.

That gives us two different ways Littler has been beaten this year.

The first is to catch him on an ordinary day and punish it immediately.

The second is to play outstanding darts yourself and stay with him right through the short race.

The second route is obviously much harder.

But Humphries has already shown twice that it is possible.

Humphries Has the Strongest Case

If I were looking for the player with the clearest evidence that they can beat Littler rather than simply hope Littler has an off day, Humphries would be top of the list.

He is the only player in the six defeats to have beaten Littler twice.

More importantly, neither win came because Littler collapsed.

Littler still averaged 100.85 and 99.50 in those defeats.

Humphries simply played better.

That matters.

There are plenty of players capable of beating Littler if he averages 94 or 95.

There are far fewer who look capable of beating him when he is around 100 or above.

Humphries has done it.

Of course, even that does not make him some sort of Littler kryptonite.

Littler beat Humphries 6-5 at the World Masters earlier in the year, averaging 104.72.

He also beat him in the recent Czech Darts Open final.

So this is not a one-sided rivalry.

It is simply the strongest evidence in the field that somebody can go toe-to-toe with Littler at a high level and still come out on top.

Price Has Beaten Him — But the Longer Match Told a Different Story

Gerwyn Price is another obvious threat.

He has already beaten Littler this year, winning 6-2 in Bahrain.

But the World Matchplay showed how dramatically things can change when the format gets longer.

Price averaged 104.97 in the final.

That is the sort of number that wins most matches.

Against Littler, it was nowhere near enough.

Littler won 18-9 and averaged 111.53.
That may be the best single example of why a long format is such a problem.

Price had already proved he could beat Littler over a shorter race.

Later in the year he actually played far better against him — and lost heavily.

That is not proof that format alone caused the difference, but it is certainly consistent with the wider pattern.

Over a long match, Littler has more time to find his best level.

And once he does, even an opponent averaging 104 or 105 can be in serious trouble.

Van Gerwen Has a Different Kind of Case

Michael van Gerwen has not beaten Littler in the Q4QS 2026 profile data.

Littler beat him 8-5 in Saudi Arabia.

So purely on this season’s evidence, Van Gerwen would not rank above Humphries or Price as the most proven threat.

But the World Series Finals are in Amsterdam.

And that changes the feel of the story.

Van Gerwen is the defending champion, having beaten Littler 11-7 in the 2025 final at the same venue.

That does not mean history will repeat itself.

But if there is one place where Van Gerwen should walk onto stage believing he can beat Littler, Amsterdam is probably it.

He has already done it there when the title was on the line.

Wattimena Has Already Shown the Blueprint

Jermaine Wattimena may actually be one of the most interesting names in this discussion.

His win over Littler came recently, it came over a short distance, and it came without an enormous average.

He simply stayed close enough and took his opportunity.

That is probably far more realistic for most of the field than trying to produce 110 darts.

Wattimena’s example says something important.

You do not necessarily need to be the better player over 20 or 30 legs.

You need to be the better player over the legs that actually get played.

That is a very different challenge.

The Opening Rounds in Amsterdam May Be the Danger

That brings us directly back to this week's World Series Finals.

Danny Noppert gets the first chance at Littler.

On paper, Littler is the obvious favourite.

Noppert has already lost 10-6 to him at the UK Open this year.

But if the short-format pattern is real, the early rounds may actually provide the best opportunity for an upset.

A player like Noppert does not need to prove he is better than Littler across an entire season.

He does not even need to prove he is better across a long match.

He needs one sharp spell, one strong finishing run, and perhaps one ordinary patch from Littler.

That is why an early-round opponent can sometimes be more dangerous than a bigger name waiting later in the tournament.

So Who Can Stop Him in Amsterdam?

Based on the evidence I have, I would split the main threats into different categories.

Luke Humphries is the strongest proven high-level threat. He has beaten Littler twice while producing elite averages.

Gerwyn Price has already beaten him and has the scoring power to do it again, although the Matchplay showed just how hard the task becomes over longer distances.

Jermaine Wattimena has the most recent proof that a short-format upset does not require a massive average.

Michael van Gerwen has the Amsterdam history, the crowd and the memory of beating Littler in last year’s final.

And then there are players such as Wessel Nijman, Gian van Veen and Nathan Aspinall who may not have the same direct 2026 evidence against Littler, but have shown they can produce high enough levels against elite opposition to be dangerous on the right night.

The Best Way to Beat Littler May Be to Beat Him Quickly

The most obvious conclusion from the six defeats is not that Littler has a particular weakness against one specific player.

It is that the window for beating him appears to be much wider when the match is short.

If Littler averages 94 or 95, there are several players capable of punishing him.

If he averages around 100, Humphries and Zonneveld have shown he can still be beaten.

But once the match becomes long enough for Littler to settle, recover from poor spells and repeatedly produce his best scoring, the job appears to become dramatically harder.

That makes the early stages of the World Series Finals particularly interesting.

Noppert gets the first opportunity. If Littler survives that and starts finding his range, the challenge facing everyone else could become progressively harder.

So perhaps the message for Amsterdam is simple.

Do not give him time.

Do not assume you will get another chance.

And if Littler opens the door, go through it immediately.

Because if the match becomes a long one, his 2026 results suggest that door may close very quickly.

PDC Czech Darts Open Preview: Littler Returns to a Stacked European Tour Field

 

The European Tour returns this weekend with ET12, the Czech Darts Open in Prague, from September 4-6, and there is very little missing from this field.

Luke Littler is back. Luke Humphries returns to one of his favourite venues. Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Josh Rock, Stephen Bunting, Gary Anderson and plenty more are here, while Beau Greaves gets another opportunity on the European Tour.

And perhaps the biggest question is simply: who makes the headlines in a field this strong?

Littler's appearance is particularly significant. This is his first European Tour event since March, having been absent from the circuit for several months. Humphries, meanwhile, is chasing a remarkable third successive Czech Open title, having beaten Josh Rock in last year's final and Kim Huybrechts in 2024.

Littler returns – and the numbers remain frightening

Despite his European Tour absence, there is little suggestion that Luke Littler needs time to rediscover his best darts.

He has won nine of his last ten recorded matches in the Q4QS database, while his recent World Matchplay victory came with a remarkable 111.04 tournament average. That run included 113.68 against Nathan Aspinall, 109.57 against Josh Rock, 110.88 against Dirk van Duijvenbode and 111.53 in the final against Gerwyn Price.

Since then, Littler has reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals of Players Championships 27 and 28 respectively.

The European Tour hasn't seen much of him lately. It might be about to be reminded what it has been missing.

Can anyone knock Humphries off his Prague throne?

If Littler is the returning headline act, Luke Humphries is the man with ownership of this tournament.

Humphries has won in Prague in 2022, 2024 and 2025, and victory this weekend would complete a Czech Open hat-trick of consecutive titles.

His current form hardly discourages the idea. Humphries is 8-2 across his last ten in the Q4QS database and won Players Championship 28 last time out, going 7-0. He has also won Players Championship 17 this season with a huge 104.74 event average.

There's an intriguing potential Saturday opener too. Humphries will face the winner of Daryl Gurney v Beau Greaves.

Price has another big title in him

Gerwyn Price has already shown this year that he remains a major European Tour threat.

He won the European Darts Grand Prix with a 100.26 tournament average, while his recent World Matchplay campaign ended only in the final against Littler. Price's database includes wins over Wessel Nijman, Martin Schindler and Chris Dobey during his recent run, and he remains inside the Q4QS top three.

In a tournament containing virtually every major name, Price still looks one of the players most capable of simply taking the event away from everybody else when his scoring catches fire.

Don't overlook Wessel Nijman

Perhaps Wessel Nijman doesn't yet carry quite the same headline status as Littler, Humphries, Price or Van Gerwen.

His 2026 results suggest that might need to change.

Nijman has already won the Slovak Darts Open this season, averaging 99.45 across the tournament, and followed that with a semi-final at Players Championship 27. He is 7-3 across his latest ten recorded matches and has recent victories over Rob Cross, Ross Smith, Mike De Decker and Stephen Bunting.

His wider 2026 record is exceptional too: he has collected multiple Players Championship titles as well as European Tour success.

If we're looking beyond the most obvious names for Sunday's headlines, Nijman has to be very high on the list.

Van Gerwen remains Van Gerwen

There have been times over the past few seasons when Michael van Gerwen hasn't looked quite as untouchable as he once did.

Writing him off remains a dangerous game.

Van Gerwen has a 7-3 recent record in the Q4QS data and already has title-winning form this season. His recent results also include a victory over Humphries in a final, while he has recorded a 101.55 win over Jonny Clayton.

The most striking number on the Six to Follow graphic is his 122.34 best recorded match average. When MVG finds that sort of level, rankings, form and draw positions become rather less important.

Beau Greaves could create the weekend's biggest story

This is the selection that makes the Six to Follow particularly interesting.

Beau Greaves isn't one of the 16 seeds. She has to start on Friday against Daryl Gurney and, if she wins, her reward is defending champion Luke Humphries.

Not exactly the gentle route through Prague.

But Greaves is becoming increasingly difficult to judge by conventional expectations. Her Q4QS record shows 10 wins from her last ten recorded matches, back-to-back Women's Series titles and Players Championship averages of 94.75 and 95.45 in her latest two appearances.

She also averaged over 104 on her European Tour debut last weekend despite losing to Rob Cross.

Getting through Gurney and then Humphries would be an enormous ask. But if she does, it could become one of the stories of the European Tour season.

Six Players to Watch

Luke Littler – Back on the European Tour for the first time since March and still producing extraordinary numbers. Nine wins from ten and the obvious title threat.

Luke Humphries – The king of Prague. Chasing a third successive Czech Open title and arriving immediately after another Players Championship victory.

Gerwyn Price – A European Tour winner already this season and a World Matchplay finalist. More than capable of another big weekend.

Wessel Nijman – One of 2026's outstanding ProTour performers. Already a European Tour champion this year and increasingly difficult to regard as an outsider.

Michael van Gerwen – Still capable of producing a level very few players can live with. His Q4QS data contains the highest peak match average of these six.

Beau Greaves – The fascinating wildcard. A brutal route awaits, but her recent scoring suggests she is capable of making headlines rather than merely making up the field.

And that's only six…

That's the problem with trying to pick six from this tournament.

Gian van Veen has reached the semi-finals of the World Matchplay and two recent Players Championships and is 8-2 in his last ten.

Rob Cross is also 8-2 and has already won Players Championship 22. Luke Woodhouse has a final, semi-final and quarter-final among his recent Players Championship results. Cameron Menzies has won Players Championship 23.

Then there is Josh Rock, Gary Anderson, Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey, Ross Smith, Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode and a host of others.

That's what makes Prague so interesting.

Littler's return provides the headline before a dart has been thrown. By Sunday night, there's every chance somebody else will have stolen it.

Floor vs Stage: Do Some Players Perform Better Under the Lights? A Q4QS Analysis of the 2026 PDC Season

 

One of the oldest debates in professional darts is whether certain players are better suited to the Players Championship circuit or the sport's biggest televised stages.

Some players seem to produce their very best performances in front of packed arenas and television cameras, while others quietly build exceptional records on the ProTour week after week.

But is there actually any evidence to support that idea?

To find out, I compared my 2026 Q4QS Knockout Pedigree Rankings from two very different environments:

• Players Championship events

• Televised ranking tournaments

Rather than comparing averages or prize money, these rankings measure knockout success during the 2026 season. I then compared where every player ranked in each list to see who climbed the rankings under the lights and who built their strongest record on the Players Championship circuit.

Before diving into the numbers, there are two important points to make.

Firstly, these are Q4QS Rankings, not the official PDC Order of Merit.

Secondly, this comparison only covers the 2026 season. Players with insufficient participation have been excluded. Most notably, Luke Littler does not feature, having not competed in a Players Championship event during 2026. Without a Players Championship ranking, it simply isn't possible to make a fair comparison.

Biggest Movers Towards the Televised Rankings

The following players achieved a significantly higher Q4QS Televised Ranking than their Q4QS Players Championship Ranking.

Player	Q4QS Players Championship Rank	Q4QS Televised Rank	Movement
Josh Rock	62	6	▲ 56
Ryan Joyce	70	17	▲ 53
Gian van Veen	50	7	▲ 43
Mike De Decker	71	27	▲ 44
Gerwyn Price	43	2	▲ 41
Niels Zonneveld	55	15	▲ 40
Nathan Aspinall	47	9	▲ 38

Josh Rock heads the list, climbing an incredible 56 places between the two rankings. Ryan Joyce also makes a huge leap, while Gian van Veen continues to strengthen his reputation whenever the biggest tournaments come around.

Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall are perhaps less surprising. Both have built reputations over many years as players capable of producing some of their very best darts on the sport's biggest stages.

Biggest Movers Towards the Players Championship Rankings

These players recorded considerably stronger Q4QS Players Championship Rankings than their televised rankings.

Player	Q4QS Players Championship Rank	Q4QS Televised Rank	Movement
Andrew Gilding	5	29	▼ 24
Chris Dobey	2	20	▼ 18
Gary Anderson	30	40	▼ 10
Kevin Doets	3	12	▼ 9
Wessel Nijman	1	8	▼ 7
Luke Woodhouse	4	11	▼ 7
James Wade	9	13	▼ 4

Wessel Nijman's place at the top of the Players Championship rankings underlines just how impressive his ProTour campaign has been.

Chris Dobey, Kevin Doets and Luke Woodhouse have also put together exceptional Players Championship seasons, while Andrew Gilding's consistency on the floor has been rewarded with a remarkably high Q4QS ranking.

These results shouldn't be viewed as a weakness in televised tournaments. Instead, they demonstrate just how consistently these players have performed throughout the demanding Players Championship schedule.

Consistency Across Both Rankings

Some players don't show a dramatic difference between the two rankings.

Luke Humphries is a good example. While he ranks slightly higher in the televised list, he remains among the elite in both environments.

The same can be said for Michael van Gerwen, whose rankings remain consistently high regardless of whether he is playing on the Players Championship circuit or under the television cameras.

Those players may simply possess an ability to adapt to every environment they encounter.

Why Do The Rankings Differ?

There is probably no single explanation.

One obvious factor is match format.

Players Championship matches are generally played over shorter distances, meaning there is less time to recover from a slow start. Most televised ranking tournaments become progressively longer as the event develops, rewarding players capable of maintaining a high level over an extended contest.

The seeding system may also influence results.

Players Championship events are seeded using the Players Championship Order of Merit, whereas televised ranking tournaments are generally seeded using the main PDC Order of Merit. That can produce very different draws, particularly in the early rounds.

Participation is another important consideration.

Several leading players have reduced their Players Championship schedules during 2026, while others have entered almost every event. That inevitably affects the opportunities available to build a strong knockout pedigree.

Finally, there is the atmosphere itself.

Some players appear to relish performing in front of thousands of spectators, while others quietly produce outstanding results on the ProTour week after week.

Whether that's down to mentality, experience, preparation, playing style or something else entirely is impossible to measure—but it's certainly an intriguing discussion.

Final Thoughts

This analysis isn't designed to say that one player is better than another.

Instead, it highlights where players have built their strongest knockout records during the 2026 season.

Some have climbed the rankings when the television cameras arrive.

Others have quietly dominated the Players Championship circuit.

And a select few continue to perform at an exceptionally high level regardless of where they play.

As with any statistical comparison, there are caveats, but the trends are fascinating—and they raise an interesting question.

What do you think explains the differences? Is it the atmosphere, the format, the draw, the scheduling... or simply the mark of players who adapt to every challenge?

US Darts Masters Preview – Can The North Americans Cause An Upset?

 

The World Series of Darts heads to New York this weekend as eight of the PDC's biggest stars take on eight leading North American representatives in the 2026 US Darts Masters.

On paper, the seeded players will start as overwhelming favourites. However, World Series events have often produced memorable shocks, and several North American players arrive with enough recent form to believe they can spring an upset.

Humphries And Littler Lead The Charge

Q4QS number one Luke Humphries arrives in excellent form after winning Players Championship 17 with a tournament average of 104.74. His recent record of eight wins from his last ten matches makes him one of the standout contenders for the title.

Luke Littler is not far behind in the conversation. The teenage superstar recently claimed the Poland Masters title with a superb 105.37 tournament average and remains one of the most feared scorers in world darts. Although he suffered an earlier-than-expected exit at the Belgian Open, few players possess a higher ceiling.

Gerwyn Price also arrives with silverware in recent weeks after lifting the European Darts Grand Prix, while James Wade, Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock and Gian van Veen complete an exceptionally strong seeded line-up.

North America's Best Ready To Test The Elite

While the European stars dominate the headlines, the home contingent has enjoyed an encouraging year on the Championship Darts Circuit.

Leonard Gates comes into the tournament in outstanding form, winning both the US Masters Qualifier and the latest CDC Main Event. His experience and confidence make him one of the biggest threats to the seeded players.

Adam Sevada has also enjoyed an excellent season, collecting multiple CDC titles and reaching another quarter-final in his most recent outing. He has shown remarkable consistency throughout 2026 and will not fear any opponent.

David Cameron remains one of the most experienced players in North American darts and has already claimed the CDC Cross-Border Challenge this season, while Alex Spellman arrives with an impressive 9W-1L record across his last ten matches after several tournament victories.

Players Who Could Cause An Upset

Every World Series event seems to produce at least one surprise result. Looking at recent form, these four players appear best placed to challenge the established names.

Leonard Gates

Arguably the most dangerous unseeded player in the field. Recent CDC titles and vast stage experience make him a genuine threat.

Adam Sevada

His consistency throughout the CDC season has been outstanding. If he settles quickly, few seeds will relish facing him.

David Cameron

A former WDF World Champion who still possesses the experience to frustrate the world's elite over a short format.

Alex Spellman

Perhaps the dark horse of the tournament. His recent 9W-1L run suggests his confidence is growing at exactly the right time.

Q4QS Six To Follow

🎯 Luke Humphries

🎯 Luke Littler

🎯 Gerwyn Price

🎯 Leonard Gates

🎯 Adam Sevada

🎯 Alex Spellman

Q4QS Prediction

Luke Humphries starts as the player to beat based on recent performances, although Luke Littler's scoring power means he is never far away from lifting another televised title.

Among the North Americans, Leonard Gates appears best equipped to produce a headline upset, while Adam Sevada and David Cameron could also make life uncomfortable for the seeded stars if they reproduce their recent CDC form.

Whatever happens, the US Darts Masters remains one of the highlights of the World Series calendar, providing another opportunity for North America's leading players to test themselves against the very best in the world.

Grand Slam of Darts Quarter-Finals: My AI-Model Predicts the Winner

 

The 2025 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts is down to the final eight, and it’s one of the most wide-open quarter-final line-ups we’ve seen in years.

So I decided to put my Philpot AI-Style Prediction Model to work.

This model blends:

• recent three-dart average

• checkout %

• 180s and scoring bursts

• big-stage experience

• bookmakers’ odds (converted into a rating)

• and a final Philpot Form Boost' for players trending upwards

It’s early days for the model, but it gives a fun, stats-based look at who’s most likely to lift the title this weekend.

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⭐ Philpot AI Ratings (Out of 100)

1. Luke Littler – 95/100

The defending champion, the strongest scorer in the field, and the most explosive leg-player in the world right now.
Elite 180 power + rock-solid temperament = the model’s outright favourite.

2. Luke Humphries – 90/100

Still the best all-round player on the planet when he hits top gear.
A slightly lower form rating keeps him behind Littler, but his stage experience and consistency mean he is right in the mix.

3. Gerwyn Price – 88/100

Nobody brings Grand Slam pedigree like Price.
Big-stage factor + finishing quality keep him in the top tier of contenders.

4. Danny Noppert – 85/100

Quietly in great form.
Strong doubling numbers, improved scoring, and a high “danger of causing an upset” rating in the model.

5. Michael Smith – 82/100

Still posting big numbers but hasn’t quite had the major-run consistency this season.
His ceiling is massive — but his floor can be low.

6. Josh Rock – 80/100

Momentum, yes. Experience deep in TV majors, not as much.
The model loves his long-term curve but sees this as “maybe one tournament too soon”.

7. Ricky Evans – 78/100

Playing freely and enjoying the moment.
A live danger in patches, but model marks him down on consistency and doubling.

8. Lukas Wenig – 75/100

What a story.
Huge power, fearless, but low Grand Slam / TV experience keeps the model cautious.
Still very capable of a shock.

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🏆 🏆 Philpot AI Champion Prediction

The numbers pick:

🏆 Luke Littler – 95/100

Everything points to a deep run: the scoring, the timing, the pressure handling, and last year’s title. The model says Littler is the man to beat.

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🌑 Next Best Pick

Luke Humphries – 90/100

If Littler slips even slightly, Humphries is the most likely to punish him. His consistency over long formats remains elite.

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⚡ Surprise Candidate

Danny Noppert – 85/100

The stats favour him more than many fans realise.
If Price or Littler have an off night, Noppert has the game to pounce.

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📈 What’s Next for the Model?

I’ll update this after the quarter-finals to see how well the predictions performed and adjust the model for the semi-finals and final.

Let me know in the comments who your pick is!