The tournament was held at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, England, between 4–7 June 2009 and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw is staged after each round until the final.

[1] The Holsten qualifiers and the players outside the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit began the tournament on the Thursday night.

They played down to 32 players, and they were joined by the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit the following night, to provide the competition's last 64.

In addition, Holsten offered a £3,000 bonus to the Pub Qualifier to get the furthest into the tournament (shared by Ken Mather and Andy Roberts).

The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was made on 25 May, ahead of the 2009 Premier League Darts play-offs by Sid Waddell and Keith Deller.