Las Vegas Wins for Phil "The Power" Taylor and Trina Gulliver

Phil “The Power” Taylor maintained his reputation as darts finest player with a stunning victory over Wayne Mardle in the third Las Vegas Desert Classic. In a tight match the two top players fought it out with Mardle making his presence felt through out the entire match.

Taylor said “I’ve won eleven world titles, but I’ve never had to fight as hard as that in my life. Wayne will win a big one soon if he carries on playing like that.” In a 6-4 victory and with some of darts best moments, this face off will be one to be remembered.

In the women’s competition Trina Gulliver won an exciting 6-5 victory over Stacy Bromberg. Bromberg, who won last year’s event, started out with a strong two leg lead, but Gulliver came from behind to take the next five legs and secure her victory. The Las Vegas Desert Classic is rapidly becoming one of darts most exciting and dynamic competitions and promises to raise the profile of darts in North America. Congratulations to Phil “The Power” Taylor and to Trina Gulliver on their outstanding victories.

Las Vegas Preview

(An overview of the event for those who are not familiar with the competition at Las Vegas.)

Las Vegas has always been a place of dreams. A drive along the brightly lit Las Vegas strip is like entering another world. A place that exists outside of reality, where dreams come true and fortunes are both won and lost in an instant of chance.

This summer Las Vegas will fulfill its role as dream maker and breaker with the Las Vegas Desert Classic III darts one of the sports most exciting and competitive events. Started in 2002, this is the third annual event pitting top European and North American stars against each other to fight it out at the dartboard.

At stake is this year’s prize pot of $170,000, the best in the sport. But more than winnings, this event, televised in the UK and in America will give world darters the chance to show who is the best.

The first two days are qualifying matches to narrow the field of contenders to 16 players. They will join the top 12 world ranked players along with the top 4 North American players to create a 32 player field. The 32 will compete in the main event starting on June 30th.

The top qualifying players include last year’s defending champion Peter Manley and runner up John Part. Other top players will include eleven time world champion Phil “The Power” Taylor, Alan “The Ice Man” Warriner, Mark Dudbridge, Wayne “Hawaii 501” Mardle and Kevin Painter.

Here is the schedule of play starting on the 28th.

Schedule of Play

Monday, 28th June (not televised)
10am-2pm 1st Eliminator
3pm-7pm 2nd Eliminator

Tuesday, 29th June (not televised)
10am-2pm 3rd Eliminator
3pm-7pm 4th Eliminator

Wednesday, 30th June
10am-8pm ? 16 x First Round Matches (Best of 3 Sets)
Top 12 + 4 North American wild cards v 16 qualifiers

Thursday, 1st July
10am-6pm ? 8 x Second Round Matches (Best of 5 Sets)

Friday, 2nd July
10am-3pm ? Quarter Finals (Best of 5 Sets)

Saturday, 3rd July
10am-1pm ? Semi Finals (Best of 7 Sets)

Sunday, 4th July
10am-12noon ? Final (Best of 13 Sets)

Las Vegas Desert Classic Prize Fund
Winner: £15,000
Runner-Up: £7,500
3/4th: £5,000|
5-8th: £3,500
9-16th: £2,000
17-32nd: £1,350

Top 12 Automatic Qualifiers
John Part, Roland Scholten, Phil Taylor, Peter Manley, Colin Lloyd, Wayne Mardle, Kevin Painter, Dennis Smith, Ronnie Baxter, Andy Jenkins, Alan Warriner, Denis Ovens

Four North American Wild Cards
(3 US players topped the Wild card order of merit over ten ranked events; 1 Canada top of NDF rankings 31st May)
Gerry Convery (Can), Darin Young, Ricky Villanueva, Bruce Cotterell

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