Which Doubles Players Can Use To Start Every Leg

World Grand Prix players can start every leg on any double—not just double 20. Double 16, double 8, double 18 and the 50-point inner bull are all legal starting targets. A player must hit a double before scoring begins, and must also finish the leg on a double. The PDC’s tournament guide confirms this double-in, double-out format. There is no assigned starting double for each player.

For 2026 player choices, the available pre-event guide points towards Gerwyn Price using tops and Luke Humphries favouring the D16/D8 area. Those are predicted preferences, not confirmed match-by-match starting-double statistics. Luke Littler’s reported alternatives make him less straightforward to classify.

Select a player to see the predicted starting area and its caveat.

The 2026 tournament runs from 28 September to 4 October at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena. Sky Sports lists the dates and results. As of 4 October, before the final, Price and Humphries are scheduled to contest the title, first to six sets, according to the PDC’s semi-final report. That identifies the finalists; it does not establish which opening double either will use in every leg.

Every Leg Starts With A Double

Before you hit your opening double, your darts score nothing. Once you hit it, that double’s points count, and any remaining darts in the visit can score normally. You do not have to wait until your next turn to start scoring on singles or trebles. This double-start explanation sets out both the opening score and the treatment of earlier misses.

For example, starting from 501:

Dart	Landing	Score Remaining
First	Single 16	501
Second	Double 16	469
Third	Treble 20	409

The first dart scores zero because the player has not yet opened. The second dart gets the player into the leg and scores 32. The third scores 60 normally. Only the darts thrown before the opening double are disregarded.

This is why the scoreboard can remain at 501 after a dart visibly lands in a scoring segment. Until the double arrives, that segment’s normal value does not reduce the total. A treble hit before the opening double is no more useful to the score than a single hit before it.

If all three darts miss a legal double, you remain on 501 for your next visit. The opening requirement has not been satisfied, so that next visit begins with the same task. Once you are in, you do not need another starting double on each subsequent visit; the requirement resets for the next leg.

An Inside Miss Does Not Force A Switch

Missing inside double 16 at the start does not send you to double 8. That would be a checkout calculation, where the single 16 reduces a remaining score of 32. Before you have opened, the single scores nothing and your total remains 501.

You can therefore keep aiming at D16 after an inside miss. You can also change your target between darts, but that is a choice rather than a consequence of the score. The same distinction applies to tops: an opening single 20 does not force a move to D10.

The Inner Bull Is Legal; The Outer Bull Is Not

The inner bull scores 50 and qualifies as a double; the outer bull scores 25 and does not. The 2026 DRA rulebook includes the centre bull in its definition of a double and distinguishes the two bull rings.

A player aiming at the bull has therefore opened only if the dart lands in the inner bull. An outer-bull hit before that still leaves the player on 501. “Starting on the bull” should not be read as permission to open on either ring.

Player Preferences Are Predictions, Not Assignments

Darts World’s pre-event guide, “Double Start: Who Goes Where?” describes its likely choices as educated guesses based on player habits. It does not supply confirmed 2026 opening-target frequencies or starting-double success rates.

Here, D20 means double 20, D16 means double 16, and so on. “Tops” means D20. A grouping such as D20/D10 describes an area of preference, not an instruction to alternate those targets or a claim that both are used equally often.

Starting Area	Players Highlighted	Status
D20/D10	Price, Wade, Noppert, Searle, Chisnall; Bunting favours tops	Predicted preference
D16/D8	Humphries, Van Gerwen, Aspinall, Joyce, Van Veen, Clayton, among others	Predicted preference
D18	Cross; Nijman and Van Duijvenbode are possible users	Mixed certainty

The names in full are Gerwyn Price, James Wade, Danny Noppert, Ryan Searle, Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting in the tops-and-tens group; Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall, Ryan Joyce, Gian van Veen and Jonny Clayton in the D16/D8 group; and Rob Cross, Wessel Nijman and Dirk van Duijvenbode around D18.

The distinction in the final row matters. Cross is associated with D18 in the guide, while Nijman and Van Duijvenbode are described as possible users. Presenting all three as confirmed D18 starters would make the source sound more definite than it is.

Littler And Price Have Reported Alternatives

Luke Littler is not a simple “always tops” case. The same guide places him among likely D20/D10 starters but notes his tendency to use D16 in the previous tournament. It also mentions occasional attempts at the bull when he struggles to get away.

Those observations support watching for alternatives, not predicting a fixed sequence of targets. They do not establish that Littler will start on D16 in a particular 2026 leg, or that a bull attempt will follow a specified number of misses.

For Price, the guide identifies D13 as a regular alternative when tops is not working. A switch to D13 is legal, but it should not be mistaken for a compulsory route after missing D20. Before the opening double, the missed dart has not changed the score.

Price Versus Humphries Is A Viewing Guide

For the scheduled final, Price’s tops versus Humphries’ D16/D8 area is a useful expectation. It is not a guarantee of either player’s first target or a complete record of what happened during the tournament.

When watching, separate the intended target from the double actually hit. A dart that catches a neighbouring double still opens the leg legally, but it does not prove that the player intended to start there. Likewise, an eventual opening on an alternative does not tell you how many darts were first aimed elsewhere.

The supplied sources do not provide a numerical comparison of Price’s and Humphries’ 2026 double-in accuracy. There is therefore no supported percentage here for deciding which finalist has the more reliable starting double.

Choose Reliability Before The Larger Opening Score

D20 opens with 40 points; D16 opens with 32. The eight-point difference is real, but it answers only what happens after a successful hit. It does not tell you which target gets you into the leg sooner.

For your own game, keep opening value and opening reliability separate. If you prefer D20 because it scores more, test whether you actually start as promptly on it. If you prefer D16 because it feels comfortable, record the starts rather than treating that feeling as a measured advantage.

The supplied material contains no success-rate figure that makes one double universally best. Nor does a professional’s reported preference establish the best choice for your throw. The useful comparison is between targets you can reproduce under the same starting conditions.

Double-in also removes one reason for thinking in checkout routes. At the start, an inside miss does not reduce your remaining score. Choosing D16 because you like its checkout progression is different from demonstrating that you hit it more reliably as an opening target.

That does not make familiarity irrelevant. It means familiarity should be tested against the specific task: getting into a fresh leg, rather than recovering from a scored miss while finishing one.

Compare Two Targets With A 20-Start Test

Use this test to compare D20 with your most comfortable alternative. It is a practice exercise, not a published benchmark for professional accuracy. Each target receives ten starts, giving you a small, readable record of opening delays.

1. Choose two targets. Use D20 and one alternative you genuinely want to consider as your default. Keep that pairing for the whole test.
2. Alternate ten starts at each. Every attempt begins from 501. Keep aiming at the assigned target for up to six darts, stopping when you hit any legal opening double. If the first three miss, retrieve them and reset for a second visit.
3. Record the opening dart number. Write 1–6, or “not in”. Record an accidental start on a neighbouring double separately: it is a legal start, but not a hit on your intended target.
4. Compare first-visit starts and failures. Count how many of the ten attempts at each target opened within three darts. Then count how many remained unopened after six darts.

Alternating the targets keeps the comparison from becoming one block of D20 followed by a separate block on the alternative. Keep the same setup and the same recording rules throughout. Do not extend one target’s attempt beyond six darts while stopping the other at six.

Use one observable cue: pick a precise spot within the double bed and keep your normal setup rather than rushing after a miss. The record should reflect your usual throw, not a different hurried action introduced because the score has not moved.

A compact score sheet needs only these fields:

Attempt	Assigned Target	Opening Dart	Intended Hit?
Each start	D20 or alternative	1–6 or “not in”	Yes/no

“Intended hit” distinguishes target accuracy from a legal escape. Both matter, but they answer different questions. An accidental neighbouring double gets you into a match leg; it does not show that your aim at the assigned double was successful.

Read The Test Without Overstating It

Start with the first-visit count. A higher count means that, in this test, you more often reached normal scoring before handing the turn back. Then examine six-dart failures: these identify attempts in which the opening delay lasted through both allowed visits.

Do not collapse every successful start into the same category. Opening with the first dart leaves two darts available for normal scoring in that visit. Opening with the third leaves none. The recorded dart number preserves that difference even when both attempts count as first-visit starts.

If one target produces more legal starts but also more accidental neighbouring doubles, keep both findings. It may have helped you get away in this session without showing the same improvement in intended-target accuracy. Reporting only the total starts would hide that distinction.

Repeat the test on another day before choosing a default. Ten starts per target describe that session; they do not establish a permanent ranking. The draft supplies no threshold for how large a difference must be before you should switch, so there is no evidence-based pass mark to apply.

If the results remain close, play a few full double-in 501 legs with each target and record both opening delays and total darts. This keeps the opening test connected to the leg you are trying to win, without pretending that the larger starting score alone settles the choice.

For broader doubles work, add Bob’s 27 and other scored practice routines. Keep the double-in record separate: its defining measurement is how long you wait before scoring begins.