[1] The tournament's defending champion was Michael van Gerwen, who won the tournament in 2015 by beating Phil Taylor in the final 16–13,[2] and he retained his title by defeating James Wade 16–8 in the final.

[5][6][7] At most sixteen players could qualify through this method, where the position in the list depicts the priority of the qualification.

In case the list of qualifiers from the main tournaments and the European Tour produced fewer than sixteen players, the field of sixteen players is filled from the reserve lists.

Michael van Gerwen (1) Gary Anderson (2) Adrian Lewis (3) Phil Taylor (4) Peter Wright (5) James Wade (6) Mensur Suljović (7) Robert Thornton (8) Dave Chisnall Ian White Raymond van Barneveld Benito van de Pas Simon Whitlock Gerwyn Price Alan Norris Brendan Dolan James Wilson Max Hopp Darren Webster Chris Dobey Dimitri Van den Bergh Nathan Aspinall Nathan Derry Ted Evetts Glen Durrant Scott Mitchell Danny Noppert Jamie Hughes Martin Adams Scott Waites Darryl Fitton Jeff Smith All group matches are best of nine legs From each group the numbers one and two after three games qualify for the knock-out stage, the numbers three and four are eliminated NB in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; Q = Qualifier NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/− = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Average = 3-dart average; Pts = Points; Status = Qualified to knockout stage 12 November 13 November 14 November

With Robert Thornton and Dimitri Van den Bergh finishing level on points and leg difference, a nine-dart shootout between the two took place to see who would play Michael van Gerwen in the second round.