It was the eighth and final staging of the event since the original 2002 edition, and the fourth time it took place at the Mandalay Bay Resort.

Adrian Lewis achieved the tournament's highest checkout, a 164, in the final leg of his first round match against Vincent van der Voort.

[1] Players considered the tournament difficult to play because matches were held early in the morning for a European broadcast.

It was the eighth edition of the tournament and featured a 32-player main draw held at the Mandalay Bay Resort for the fourth successive year.

[6] Two five-round qualifying tournaments held at the Mandalay Bay Resort from June 28 to 29 decided the remaining 12 places.

[8] Taylor, who hurt his back as he rode a bicycle two weeks before the event, commented on his chances: "It's going to bring the best out of me.

[7] Jelle Klaasen beat Mark Webster, a former BDO world champion, James Barton and Dennis Smith with checkouts of 146 and 149 in the final two legs of his fifth round match to qualify.

Fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort was the second qualifier, defeating Louis Blundell, Ian Jopling, Ken MacNeil and Tony Eccles.

[7] Simon Whitlock, who was undefeated on the 2009 DartPlayers Australia circuit,[13] won his first three matches over Chris Edwards, Bernard Prenter and Gary Mawson without losing a leg before beating Mark Dudbridge and Barrie Bates to return to PDC competition.

[12] Jamie Caven made 14, 11 and 13-dart finishes in his 5–4 victory over Shane O'Connor, becoming the last player to qualify from the first day's play.

Two-time Las Vegas Desert Classic semi-finalist Wes Newton beat Graham Warburton, Mark Carter, Paul Lim and Roland Scholten to qualify.

Gary Anderson beat Dudbridge and Sam Rooney to qualify, and Phillip Hazel and Blundell made their televised debuts after final round wins over Barrie Bates and Mark Lawrence, respectively.

[7][13] The draw for the first round of the championship was conducted in the Islander Ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Resort on the evening of June 30.

Ronnie Baxter, a UK Open semi-finalist and Las Vegas Players' Championship winner, lost 6–2 to Klaasen.

[16] Terry Jenkins, the losing finalist at the 2007 event, defeated qualifier Whitlock 6–1,[7] and Taylor played through his back trouble to average 102 in his 6–3 win over Caven.

[7][15] Anderson went into his game against Wayne Mardle requiring treatment for an allergic reaction to an energy drink he had the day before and hit six out of seven tries at a double ring to win 6–2.

[16] John Part, the 2006 winner, defeated the North American Darts Championship victor Scott Burnett 6–2.

Both players shared the first four legs before a 106 checkout and finishes on the bullseye, double eight and 12 rings gave Manley the victory.

[17] Raymond van Barneveld won the first two legs of his match against Bill Davis, who claimed the third on the double 10 ring.

Both players took turns to lead the match, which went to a final leg decider won by Lewis on the bullseye ring from a 164 checkout.

In the final first round match, Kevin Painter came from tying 2–2 with Darin Young to claim four successive legs and win 6–2.

Anderson opened a 4–0 advantage, before he missed six darts to lead 5–0, with Newton hitting the double eight ring to claim the fifth leg.

[7] Van Barneveld played fellow Dutchman Stompé and led 5–2 when he failed to achieve a nine-dart finish in winning the eighth leg after his ninth dart missed the double 12 ring.

[19] The four quarter-finals were played as best-of-19 legs on July 4;[6] the start was delayed by 40 minutes because of the need to reestablish a television feed with Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.

[22] King won a single leg in the seventh from a maximum score and hitting the double 16 ring to stop him being whitewashed.

Taylor won the remaining six legs to win the match 10–1 with an average of near to 108 and went through to the final; he had a second try at achieving a nine-dart finish by hitting two consecutive maximum scores, but he missed the eighth throw.

Eric Bristow, a Sky Sports commentator, observed that Van Barneveld would have to "play at his very, very, very best" to defeat Taylor.

[24][25] It was Taylor's fifth Las Vegas Desert Classic win,[27] and the third time he had beaten Van Barneveld in the final of a major competition.

"[27] He added, "Raymond raised his game and there were times during the early stages when I wasn't even getting a chance at a double.