blonde poker forum

Great match between Taylor and Tabern.  Taylor well below his best, but still managed to grind out the win.

Now Boldie is playing against Mardle!

(http://www.worldchampionshipdarts.tv/javaImages/8/43/0,,12598~3490568,00.jpg)

Had a tenner on Boldie, cheers mate!

Been some cracking matches in the second and third round.  I have been going well in punting on them too, but it's all gone tits up today and yesterday!

Exciting stuff though, I do like the arras

Really?
The only shock was Boldie v Mardle IMO, the rest were nailed.

Boldie fell apart in the end.  He was playing some great stuff after the first set, but then it seemed to go wrong.

I had Baxter to beat Dudbridge too today, he started out as favourite, but Dudbridge has been playing well.

I don't gamble, at least not in a bookies (the odd friendly few quid here and there amongst mates) so i suppose predicting scores is much easier for me, coupled with a little insider info (i play regularly against most of these chaps).
I would post tips but i would die of embarassment were i ever wrong!!

John Part has been the most impressive player so far imoa.

Terribly inconsistant over the last 4-5 years, tough one to call v Alex Roy as he's been crap for the same period!!
Part hasn't played anyone worrysome yet, that could be the key.

Ive been betting these matches in running today and feel like I have not been to sleep for about 3 days, how draining were they to watch? I thought both Barney and Taylor looked out of sorts again, maybe this is a good year someone else to win, I have liked the way Painter has played so I might be with him against Barney but he will prob have to beat Lewis if he does beat Barney so its tough to be confident.

The draw has opened up nicely for Taylor if he can beat Mardle tho he has been struggling to beat lesser ranked players but Mardle has got a shocking record against Taylor.

For a nice bet I am gonna back Part at around 23 on Betfair, he plays his game last 2morrow night so when he starts 5 more players will have been knocked out, these will include either Barney or Painter as they play each other and maybe one or two other fancied players, either way with 5 players out of the mnarket you will be able to lay the bet back before he plays to lock in a profit or get yourself a free bet.

Anyone got any fancies?

I had a bet on painter, I really like the way hes playing. Dont fancy taylor to win it this year, only reason he won tonight was coz his opponent bottled it worse then taylor



betfairs markets are pretty efficient in terms of prices layed, what you say sounds very true in theory, I just for some reason dont think this will be the case becuase i always assume that the prices have taken this into consideration. I'm not much of a sports bettor though, so its almost certain im wrong.

This isnt the strongest market to be playing that way but at the moment it is bet to 102% so with 5 players out(and the potential to have say Barney out there will be enough shortening to lay back at no worse than the 23 if, and that is the IF there is enough liquidity in the market at that time which there should be.

I will pm you a great market to play this on if you want its coming up in a few weeks so you might want to take a look even if you dont want to bet on it.

yes but its still got a lot of volume, and in any efficient market any actions to one side will lead to adjustments on the other,  I just dont see how any good winning layer would expose himself to such a "free money" play, and going back to my origional point, these markets wont allow punters with losing "trading" strategies to make mistakes like this. I'll defo be watching with interest tomorrow because I've had many thoughts like this before, but never followed them through because I just assume that places such as betfair they would already take into account stuff like this.

and I'd defo love to get a PM about the market play.

I used to trade currencies and in my mind, (and I admit again im likely wrong) when the BoE or other institutions had interest rate "meetings" imminent, the price would alter based on what the expectation was on the interest rate change, so for example if the entire world knew that the BoE would reduce rates by 0.25%, and then the BoE did reduce the interest rates by 0.25%, the exchange rates wouldn't change much because that would already have been priced into the market, so based on that, I have always insta-assumed that stuff like what you said above would also be priced into the market. I dont know if that makes any sense, but thats how I have always seen it.

The markets are deffo not as efficient as the stuff you describe above.

I have a couple of bets up there now asking for a price that is above the current fixed odds market, if these get matched then I am pretty confident that I can trade it out shorter on the off of the match, at the moment the back price is 20 which isn't a price I would want to take with the view of laying back as I dont see it being much shorter than say 17 when his match starts, at 23 ish tho I would be happy to take it and see how it goes. If Barney who is currently 4/1 and taking 20% of the market gets knocked out then it will be v interesting. I will send you that pm in a few weeks when the market comes around.

I blame myself for not shaving my head..and me having lost too much weight in the past few days.

sorry guys.

Never mind Boldie, you make up for it in other ways :D

I quite like the look of Painter this year too, he's played pretty good so far.  I did like Exercatte (spelling?) before he was knocked out.  Nice of someone to have shouted out when he was throwing to save his match though! 

Other than that, I often have a flutter on Manley, he's usually good to trade with but for some reason I missed it this year.  I'll go with him to beat van der Rassel today.

I may have a cheeky couple of pounds on Painter to beat Barney today too.

Barney v Painter - what a match!

played very well indeed.

worked a treat in the end, if only i had got all my bets matched overnight. In the end I managed to get £86 quid matched at 20 and 21 and have just laid it back at 15 for a book of break even on everyone else and plus £432  on Part, I could lay the rest back and clean it out allround to about a £30  win but Im gonna leave it to run and see how it goes. Nice work Silo too, what you on here?

On the Part match?  Nothing, I'd go for Part, I think he's not going to struggle in this, but the odds don't seem worth it.  He's playing well though.

Part is checking out so so well.

4-0/4-1 easy

win this for 4-0..

For me Painter and Part are playing the best darts at the moment, Wade will prob be fav to beat Part but thats mainly coz he was much shorter before the comp started but on the way they have played its gonna be very close. Manley is just the kind of player to under estimate Shepherd too, if he gets his head down he should win but then has either Taylor or mardle so thats gonna be tough.

Painter is a small fav for me against Lewis but I always have a small worry about someone that causes a big upset in their next game as they sometimes leave a lot behind and Lewis can be really good on his day, still think Painter will win this one.

What could be a good bets is Mardle on the handicap against Taylor, he has a terrible record against him but thats mainly coz he has bottled it in the past so backing him getting 2 1/2 sets means he has to win 3 sets for you to collect( its now first to 5 sets) and Taylor has lost the handicap in every match up to now.

All in all its been a great comp up to now.

If Roy never wins another match I'll be a happy man.  He decides to bring out the performance of his life (on stage) when I'm in up to my neck on Hamilton.  Had all been going swimmingly up until then.

I backed Hamilton, Jenkins, Taylor and Painter before the off, so a Taylor v Painter final would do nicely.  Some potentially cracking matches tomorrow.  I fancy Part to beat anout of sorts Wade and Painter v Lewis could be a classic.  I've been trying to get Mardle beat since the first round and its still not happened so hopefully Taylor can help me out.  Shepherd also has a fighting chance against Manley.

Manley lost to Mcdine in a tv comp the other week, maybe he struggles v 21 year olds :D

The thing with darts is as the format lengthens the better players "edge" becomes more evident.
Taylor is famous for starting off slowly so he always seems to struggle in shorter formats this changes dramatically in later rounds.

So i'd go for the form players from now on, Wade, Painter, Taylor and Manley (though not on form but he's against a weaker player).
Can't see past Taylor for the win with only really Wade capable of beating him.

manley, painter, taylor and part to all win is a good little bet, im gonna invest my winnings from painter last night into this 4way punt, always nice to have a freeroll at this stage!! Only fly in the oitment in my eyes is lewis vs painter, but by the looks of it they are playing last so I can always trade to cover.  Really really fancy painter to take it all, but lewis is a very solid player.  backed painter before the tourney started, then last night against barney, i got a good feeling about him.... which means he is almost certain to lose in the 1/4finals! fingers crossed though.

the fixed odds firms made Lewis small fav to beat Painter but thats now changed and Painter is fav on Betfair, Wade opened up 4/7 in a few spots to beat Part which for me is a terrible price , he available to bet at almost 10/11 now on Betfair

Battle of the arrogant pr***s on now, with the younger version flying.
Wait till Manley starts the gamesmanship.

yes, a great start but am I the only one that feels tghe urge to punch em both?

Typical Manley, when he had him nailed to the floor he gave it away to lose 5-4, this young lad has kahuna's of steel.

If anyone is interested my tipsterline service is available at a discounted £5 per minute, pm for details

There's a reason i don't gamble lol

Part is starting to lose his bottle here

what an amazing match that was, from 4-1 Part to 4-4 and then found a little extra to win 5-4 with a 113 checkout, I am knackered just watching, its s good job they are fit lads those darts players  8)

Fine athletic specimens ;D

oh yes, lets put it this way you dont see many thin darts players, must be the weight that helps them balance. Andy Fordham has lost about 10 stone and he has complained that his throwing arm is now that much thinner that the flappy skin underneath is hindering his throwing action. ;D honest

What a great game this one is between Mardle & Taylor

fantastic sport yet most people will have been watching Everton and Arsenal kick elbow, moan ,cheat ,and snarl instead.

Well im glad for once that i did not stoop so low as to fork out more doh for footy.. I dont watch darts often enough, but this is great.. Mardle seems to have taken foot off the gas now he has got level..

Pity there isn't a decent looking lad between em.  Add to that, their arrogance, and my day is wasted...unless I get to see Taylor lose.  Then it was all worth while.

Mardle usually gets to this position and blows it, he seems more interested in playing to the crowd at the side of Taylor with his conscious confidence. Maybe this time will be different.

Bloody hell, what a match,

Glad i wasn't on Taylor at 1.03!  Man that must be  a sick feeling!

Who won?

4 - 4 sets..

3 - 3 legs.. Taylor with throw

So sick.

tie break now, 4-3 in legs to Taylor

crazy match

4 4

4 4

getting sicker

Mardle throwing for the match up 5 - 4

1.08, this will be my sickest sports betting beat.

not on Taylor please...... WP Mardle.. Fck Yes....

awesome, Mardle wins 5-4

Mardle in tears, what a match!

what a match, got to hand it to Mardle that was some performance to give the greatest ever player 3 sets and still beat him and crying his eyes out on stage too, real men these lads

As Brian Moore once said'its up for grabs now'

I was bored so I went for the guaranteed money. ;ashamed;

UL Nem,

There was a 1.01 cracked earlier in the tournament, I think it was Colin LLoyd, but I may be wrong.  Sick stuff betting that low with such a long way to go.

Hope Mardle goes on to win it now, he seems like a great guy. 

Ouch....

Painter v Lewis next, this could be a classic too. Im cheering Painter but not having a bet, anyone punting?

I want a punt on it, but no value in the betting for me.. Im cheering Painter as well, not taken to Lewis at all..

Same here, would like to see Painter do it too.  Have a small bet on him, so expect Lewis to win!

good start Silo

hopefully will continue.  I'm not watching, I can't concentrate on my poker games when I'm watching these games tonight and it's having bad effects :D

Its there Silo.......

lovely :)

Another superb days darts, Shepherd got out of jail again and Mardle made one of the greatest comebacks ever to beat Taylor but for sheer efficiency Painter and Part looked so calm.

Mardle v Shepherd should be a good win for Mardle but again like Manley I feel he is the type to under estimate the young lad so it could well be tight. The Part v Painter game looks as evenly matched as you could find and I still think the winner will come from whoever wins this match with maybe Part as a previous world champion having the edge.


Either way its gonna be great again.

To be honest it couldnt have gone any better for the Part bet, with a free bet to win £432 I have laid it back now at 3.25 to give me a winner of £132 whoever wins which is nice given it was almost risk free. I think Part will win but his semi is so tight to call I'm happy to take the profit.

Told ya so............

as we are on a poker site i'll let you in on the fact that John Part is a big time poker player, at least he was and he deffo plays the big sunday comps, stars mill every week.

I did my bollocks on Taylor as well.  Backed him at 1.34 before the off, could have got out at 1.04 at 3-0 but thought I'd be throwing money away LOL. 

Mardle will bounce in the semi and lose to Shepherd.  I fancy Painter to beat Part and then beat the kid in the final.

mardle v shepherd is a classic at the mo

I'm guessing the layer of Shepherd at 999/1 (£40 traded on Betfair) to win the tournament will be getting a little twitchy :D

Shepherd is on fire!

I guess the 999/1 isn't available any more... ;D

He had a chance to win it.  Mardle's still in and fighting.

The online qualifier's in the final!!!

He is far from the most talented player in the world but he has loads and loads of bottle.  If Part isn't on his game tomorrow then Shepherd could be the champ as he won't be scared to win.

What a story, a sheet metal worker that was 999/1 on Betfair b4 the comp and now in the final against a 2 time world champion and playing just as well as him. Surely he cant do it again can he?


Looks like being about 2/5 Part  7/4 Shepherd so the 999/1 layer is not in a good spot now unless he has taken some evasive action already.

As a viewing sport I cant think of one better.

His opponents have also had a combined total of 13darts to knock him out the tournament.  I wasn't surprised to see him beat Mardle today as Mardle played his final last night against Taylor.

He even put his darts away in the game against Terry Jenkins who then missed loads of match darts but to dodge 13 darts that would knock you out of the comp is unheard at this level isnt it?

Im old enough to remember Keith Deller winning it in 1983 too and this would be an even bigger upset than that was. I hope they show the end og that game in the final coverage on Tuesday, when Bristow turned down the bull coz Deller was on about 140 and Deller knocked it out to win was one of the great sporting moments of my childhood.

Deller finished with a 138 checkout.  I'm old enough to remember it too!

how good was that Newport?

Double 12 for the match?

I hate all this rubbish the tv blokes are coming up with about him being lucky to still be in, missing doubles is part of the game, we all do it, it's about form and pressure and above all it's psychological.
He is where he is on merit, he ain't lucky, he's better on the day than all he's met, simple.

If i hit every double i went for this last year i'd be world champ and you can say that about just about any decent dart player out there.
There is a level that can be achieved and you are limited not by ability but by bottle, he has more than any of us thought, we were talking about this last night, many of us who know Kirk and every  single one of us is surprised by his performance.
I dislike the kid, most do cuz of his attitude but i was screaming for him to win tonight, well done, nice one.
I hope he wins it.

Here you go bobby:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35bDs364yFc

Switching it for a mo i heard last night James Wade is in trouble with the PDC, likely to be thrown out but could be lucky and just get fined after punching Andy Jenkins in Holland.
Jenkins is a detestable arse, extremely nasty piece of work and said to Wade "your missus is an ugly fat c**t", Wade promptly clocked him and awaits his fate.
Good luck Wade.

Seems quite an appropriate response from Wade.

How can the PDC throw him out though - is there some sort of good behaviour clause to be a member ?

I think there are similarities between Shepherd and Deller in that as strange as it may sound given he is only 21 I think he may never have a better chance of taking the title.  Deller failed to follow up his victory with any more major wins and I get the feeling it may be a similar story with Shepherd.

Cheers Bongo, you dont see many World champions take a swig from a pint pot just before they claim their title.  :)

You are spot on IFM, the TV comms havent once said how brave he was to finish the legs off that the others couldnt, scoring for show, doubles for dough.

Where do you play mate and what level is it?

Good behaviour?
It's like cricket, the sledging can be merciless, look at Mardle tonight for gamesmanship, everytime he hit a bad score he stopped, pulled a face then slowly went and fetched his darts.
Similarly he hit a 180, turned to the crowd arms wide.
Wrong and should be stopped.

eekk, Wade seems a nice guy too. I hope he doesnt get chucked out.

I played county when i was a teenager but couldn't afford it so stopped.
Then met the ex, had kids, packed up darts for nearly 10 years till a couple of years ago.
Trouble is rotating shifts stopped me for playing regularly for decent teams till October so now playing more regularly.
I play most of the knockouts these days (like last night), the big difference with poker is that the top pro dart players will travel from all over the country to play a £10 entry £500 winner comp in Birmingham or coventry because that is their bread and butter.
Steve Hine was in he £3 comp last night, look through the rounds, he was in this Laddies comp!!!!!!!!

Does that show that the top players have more edge in darts? At poker you wouldn't win often enough to make a living from a £10 comp a night...

Lol thats amazing to think that a guy that played in the World Championship was there, what is the prize in the £3 comp?

The standard in those county teams is very good I am told, when Dennis Priestley won his first title I was working in a betting shop where a few of the regulars had played against him in the kind of comp you describe and backed him at 80/1 before the comp. How big would the step up from County to this level be, I think they said during the Lewis v Eccles game the other day that they used to play for the same county team so would that level be the main feeder into the pro ranks?

Most pro dart players have day jobs, weekend knockouts are how they make extra cash and they travel from all over.

Advertised as £150 for the winner, actually paid £250 cuz of the turnout.


Playing county superleague gives you auto entry to the bigger comps (if you qualify) but that's not really it, basically you join the PDC £350 and start entering comps, the world champs are just another comp except you qualify thru feeders.
Anyone can do it if you are any good and can afford it, world ranking points get you seeded and therefore entered into the world championships, the thing is you can pick points up in odd places as most of the very top players don't travel to estonia or italy etc.
Taylor doesn't even play the circuit, why do you think he hasn't been world no.1 for years?

Here's an example, this is a £50 comp a month or so ago in Coventry, you will only spot a few names but these have travelled from all over the country for the chance of £1200.
Can't link directly to the results but they are on the second page, they ere there all day and played loads of matches.

http://www.wdo.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2743&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

There are some top class players in there for sure, interesting to see Shepherd won his group in that comp.

Been some cracking games this year, but average wise, and this is without looking up any stats, I'd say they are down this time...

I would agree with this.

There has been some very exciting games,but i would say the standard hasn't been as high as recent years.

Probably because Taylor, Barney and Wade were all below par.

this tourny defo peaked in the qtr finals, really enjoyed all 4 games , semis were pretty poor i thought. final could be an anti climax too, 7-0 7-1 7-2 part look good bets to me.

I probably had too much money (for me) on Part to win but it seemed like free money and it was. Get in.
 ;yippee; ;yippee;

nice work Ed, he played great all week and deserved it.

well i did tell you so    ;tk;

good stuff Fergus, what price was 7-2?

i got 9.5, thought i was onto my 7-0 23-1 shot, but part missed a couple, also had 7-1 @ 15-1

had part @ 1.4 as well, great price i thought.

wades 5-4 loss looks better now as he was the only one who went close, part destroyed everyone else.

cant wait for the premier league to start

Nice, the BDO version starts this week. Not household names and not as razzmatazz as the Hearn comps but should still be good.

some questions ......

was the bdo where every1 played, until the pdc formed recently with the big bucks, and so all the top names play the pdc?

also in the premier league there is 8 players, playing each other twice, each match is it up to 8 legs unless it gets to 7-7 then its a draw?
then top 4 move one to a one off night for the semis and final? 

it looks excellent seeing the best play the best. i see that six names already in on merit, power, barney, wade, jenkins, lewis and manley

with two wildcards to be decided, what is the criteria and who will this be? part must be a shoe in!

other two wilcard possibles are painter and mardle for beating the big two, or shepard for his final appearance

i fancy part mardle wildcards

I love watching the BDO, only place to see players average in the 70's rofl.

PDC has been running for years!
The BDO made it very easy for he best players to leave, they are an ancient organisation that basically stood back and lost all the TV comps and sponsors, Hearn saw the gap and snatched at it with guaranteed telly comps and plenty of sponsors.
Olly wasshisname runs the BDO pretty much like his own train set (it can be argued this is his right) but with money leaking out of the game and not much being done about it and him ignoring good ideas it was always going to come to tears.
So the PDC was born and it took many years to get to the position it is in at the moment but it is no BDO
The BDO is the one doing all the grass roots stuff, encouraging kids etc.
They run the county scene and it is very prestigious to play for your county and indeed England thru it.
The truth is the BDO do all the hard work and the PDC feeds off it by poaching the better players, the PDC couldn't exist without the BDO, they certainly wouldn't invest in the younger players like the BDO do.

Not only is that untrue it's very unfair, every single player you know has played in the BDO and it still remains as the one every player wants to win

If seeing players average in the 70s floats your boat you only had to watch some of the early matches at the PDC to see it.

 

Hi Acid, I think it is a commoin misconception that the averages in the PDC tourny are miles better than the BDO, in last years comp from the last 32 the averages were as follows

The three dart average for PDC was 88.86.

The three dart average for  BDO was 88.50.

I think I remember reading an article last year that the strength in depth averages in the PDC if you took out Taylor and Barney were lower than the BDO tourney. I know there is no real reason to do the sums without those two but it shows that without the best 2 players in the world the comps are of A similar standard, where the misconception starts is that the PDC is all razzmatazz on Sky with fireworks, great musical introductions and fantastic comms, on the BBC they sneak the coverage in between the railway children and childrens BBC  or show it at 23.30 and not prime time.


If the BDO got the Barry Hearn treatment and raised its profile it would be much better off but as IFM says it is the real darts federation.

I cant argue with facts, maybe its because I don't know any of the players so the matches seem dull and boring and I assume its a poor standard.

I like the fact PDC has characters and Sky seem to make it fun to watch :)  Even my wife was cheering on the darts on sky and rooting for certain players.


The BBC TV schedule last year was a complete joke, unless I stayed up really late I couldn't watch any of it.

Barry Hearn knows what he's doing in terms of promotion and creating something that the public will enjoy.  It's not always the best product, but he makes it appear as though it is.

Simple fact really, whoever has Sid Waddell commentating has the better product

the man is hilarious, and all televised darts will be much poorer when he isn't around

;iagree;

The man is a legend.


My personal favourite from Sid is ' I cannot believe my Geordie eyes'

Waddell is an idiot, awful commentator, so far up Taylors arse it's embarrassing to listen to!!

Fkin stacking and reverse stacking!!!

what he said. 

Its a moot point really Kin. On one hand it is argued that Hearn as done so much for darts but on the other hand he has almost raped and pillaged the BDO because he didnt like the set up and saw an opportunity to make himself a lot of money by getting behind the PDC and tempting the players across.

Recently a consortium of bookmakers have asked him to design a snooker tourney that they can show on their sites through live feeds, they had asked the snooker Orgs to look into it and they got a very poor response. They asked Barry Hearn to sort it out and what he devised was a format where the winner qualified to play in next years Prenmier League( his flagship snooker tourny). So what he has actually devised is a tourney that doesnt have the top players in it(they are already in the Prem league) and crucially most of the players he has put forward are players either in his 'stable' or well known older pro's.

So in the end the Bookies get their tourney, The snooker authorities get another tourney for their players and Hearn gets paid by the bookies for his work, might even get paid by the snooker orgs for arranging it and his players or the ones he/they choose get the extra tourney to make money from. Everyones a winner, except the players that arent in his stable and should be in the tourney as they are better players than the ones he has.

Anyone see the connection between that and the PDO darts?

We could go on into the TV poker tournys he makes that always feature 'his' players or pretty much unknowns. He charges a lot to make them and makes em on a real shoestring budget giving himself a big profit but at the end of the day the sponsors get their tourney, the TV station get a tourny to show and Barry gets his wad. Again everyone is happy so in a business sense he is certainly a genius but in a sporting sense its arguable that he is not all that good for the general games he is involved in but great if you are in his team.

Is it not the players choice to move to and from organisations? If they all move away to the PDC what does that show you about how the BDO is run?

Even Meryvn King (Spelling?) had to eat humble pie after his comments and join them? Why did he do this?

Interested to find out how Hearn has raped the BDO? Dont fully know the facts or history behind it.

Well as IFM says this the organisation that brings darts to the masses all over the country, what he has done is go in at the top end and take out the successful players and recruited them to the PDO, so the work and effort of the BDO is eventually to the benefit of the PDO comps.

Money talks at the end of the day. I think I'm correct in saying the three dutchmen and King were all given a finiancial incentive to move to the PDC.  There is also greater prizemoney to be made on the PDC circuit nowadays.  Gary Anderson, who could probably claim to be the best player in the world over the past year is rumoured to be the next to move to the PDC.

There are joint comps open to both PDC and BDO members, Merv King has actually refused to play PDC players in the past!!
He's a famous knobhead.
Olly Guinane runs the BDO and he banned all PDC payers from BDO events including county at one point, he's very twisted and bitter.
The BDO i think it's safe to say is not run very well, Hearn is much the better organiser but as i said before the BDO does far more for darts than anything or anyone has ever done, without them there would be no stepping stones to the top.
As for raping the BDO, basically the PDC let the BDO bring on the better players and at their height they lure them away with financial incentives,the BDO cannot afford to award players these incentives as they are (supposedly) non profit and plough all monies back into the grass roots of the game.

to ask a question that has bothered me for a while..

why do the BBC show the BDO version, with unknowns?

Granted Hearn presumably gets a nice rights fee from Sky but does the BDO version get the viewers to justify the BBc showing it

a bit like the World Snooker Champs from Preston would be wthout the top 32, or Wimbledon without the seeds...

the BDO to the casual armchair fan like me is rank boredom

Tighty, here are the viewing figs for the BDO final on the BBC.

2007 3,300,000
2006 3,620,000
2005 2,550,000
2004 3,410,000
2003 2,810,000
2002 2,460,000
2001 3,680,000
2000 3,700,000
1999 4,060,000


and here are the viewing figs for the PDC finals

2007 1,028,000
2006 761,000
2005 530,000
2004 820,000
2003 610,000
2002 Unavailable
2001 420,000
2000 240,000
1999 200,000

Dont forget that with the PDC being on Sky it has a very limited audience.

i suppose 3m ish for a final is more than I thought

I don't regard the viewing figures PDC and PDO as comparable obv..put the PDC on BBC at primetime and it would trounce 3m I expect

I assume it gets enough viewing figures to justify the expense of covering it. Which probably isn't that much as the BBC knows that without them, no one else would show it, and without TV coverage the event wouldn't get a sponsor and would die.

The BDO brought all this on themselves. In the early 80s darts was big and the top players were, for the first time, able to turn pro and play full time. Once the BDO presided over the mismanagement of losing sponsors and TV coverage the top players realised that their livelihoods were disappearing and so they broke away.

The BBC have tried to give darts a push over the last couple of years by showing other tournaments, but they are hurt by the fact there are no huge names in the BDO who consistently perform (as the top of the BDO tree isn't really that high). I remember the final of one of the BBC's live tournaments a couple of years ago (World Masters?) where neither of the finalists had even managed to qualify for the World Championships.

In the format it is shown on Sky you are deffo right, there is deffo a need for the BBC to up their coverage given that almost everyone watching this weeks coverage will think it is poorv the Sky coverage but again if the BBC showed the BDO final in the same style as Sky it might well get 5 million viewers.

One point that may interest you is that there are very few actual professional dart players, indeed it is generally said that you need to be in the top 10 in the world to actually be able to make a living.
Puts a lot of pressure on ya!!

Simillar to Snooker to Andrew, I used to go to the World Championships every year and one year met someone from the BBC. I asked them why they showed snooker highlights well after midnight when most working people were going to bed and they replied that at that time of night they had nothing else that would get them as many viewers as snooker did. So in the end less peolpe watched, interest goes down and sponsors fall by the wayside. With the advent of BBCi It makes no sense for me to go to the venue as i can sit at home and watch both games at once.

So its almost gone full circle, when the BBC's coverage was bad it lead to less viewers, now its great it has less people attending and this is where darts  has been very clever and probably has summat to do with Hearns experience from snooker. They constantly show the crowd having a great time, chanting,dancing and singing and it looks a fantastic fun which it is as a social night out but as a viewing sport going to the darts is a watse of time as you can see absolutely none of the action. You watch it on a screen or a giant scoreboard yet most venues still sell out.

In the end its about branding the events a certain way and this is why everything seems better on Sky.

Indeed - my brother went to Alexandra Palace on Saturday and he said you could see nothing and just watched it all on the big screen. But the drinking and jumping up and down every time Sky went for a break made up for it.

And darts, like snooker, once you have everything set up for covering it, showing more of it costs you next to nothing.

and round to Barry Hearn poker again, when you have an empty wharehouse at Leyton Orient you can film any poker tourney you want there and make it look how you want. Poker Den,this world open that world open etc etc. Thats why they are making as many as possible without worrying about the quaility of it as their costs are now nailed to the floor yet they can prob charge more everytime they make one. In the Poker Den they even charged the players for the cost of the dealers, can you imagne that, someone making a TV poker show and charging the players for dealers? unreal.

The Premier League being a prime example of this.  The event in Glasgow sold out in hours and I know of loads of people who are going that know next to nothing about darts, they are going for a night out and a piss up.  They have attracted a new crowd to the game.  Compare the crowd at and PDC event with the crowd at the Lakeside this year and they will be worlds apart.

spot on mate

I dunno, i thought it was the BDO events that started all the crowd interaction stuff, handing out the cards and marking pens etc.

I was referring more to the make up of the crowd.  I spoke to someone who was at the UK Open in Bolton and he said that a large percentage of the crowd didnt give a toss about the darts they basically sat and chatted amongst themselves before jumping about like a loon when the music came on, it was similar when I was at the PL event last year.  Whereas at the Lakeside the crowd in general are much more knowledgable (and respectful) and more interested in the darts.  I have never been to the lakeside so I could be off the mark but thats the impression I get from watching on TV.

Bolton was awesome, there were a couple of coach loads of us went cuz we had several qualifiers from round here.

What is that music they were playing every time to get the crowd going?

"Chase The Sun" by Planet Funk

Is the BDO one still  at Frimley?

Its at Lakeside again Silo, apart from the first couple of Championships, i think  its always been held there.

yeah, that's Frimley :)

Cheers.
 8)

anyone fancy anything for the winner of this thing?, any good younsgters in it?, wouldn't bet anderson at 15/8, surley taking an e/w at 1/2 the odds 2nd fav is 11/2.......

On form and ability Anderson is a worthy favourite  (On results over the past 12months he is arguably the number one including all the PDC guys) however there are reasons why I won't be touching him at those short odds.  He is vulnerable in the first round which he admits himself, his record at the Lakeside isn't great and crucially he is being linked with a move to the PDC.  No one has ever won the Lakeside and switched in the same year, I'd heard that it was something to do with contractual obligations, I don't know if thats true or not.

I'm on Webster at 12s

Ive been chocak with some other stuff but will be getting involved at soem stage tho I will prob watch the first round to get an opinion on some of the players I know little about.

im on walton each way at 20s

Anderson loses 3-2 to a 19yo Dutch kid in the first round.

He doesn't sound too traumatised by it mind you.  Quote "I won't lose any sleep over it".  PDC beckons imo.

great shout Bazza

Please let that hankey p***k get knocked out, what a tosser.
Stopping on the oche on his way to fetch is darts, turning and shouting at the crow with his oppo waiting to throw and throwing a hissy fit.
Pillock.

bugger

Rumour has it that Mr Shepherd may be in a bit of bother.  He has allegedly failed a drug test.  What that will mean with regards to his £50k pay cheque I don't knowbut he may have been a bit premature in telling his employer to stick his job.

great news, what a twiglet

Christ Kev, will the loyalty bonus still be effective?

He did mention on tv during interviews that he had been ill during the tournament and had to be careful what drugs to take.

I love darts.  ;)
I used to think what is the point in betting on very short odds, but some of the heats have been what I view as certs and more free money, so have been backing favourites and have made a nice profit. Obviously could have gone wrong, but having made enough money early on & I have been freerolling ever since.
From the quarter finals onwards I think there are closer matches so may steer clear, but good fun while it lasted.  8)

Fitton was very impressive last night...

An "interesting" article, bullshit of course but a good example of the rift between the factions:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/othersports.html?in_article_id=506925&in_page_id=1781

Whats bullshit about it?

LOL

In case you're serious.
The trebles are the same size and the averages are worked out exactly the same way.

I heard some guy on a phone in earlier and said that averages were worked out differently something to do with missed doubles. Fact or fiction?

I had read your post but wondered if there was anything factual to back it up one way or the other, but I guess if it is just a fact that they are worked out the same then there won't be anything to back it up other than it is what it is.

On tonight's match it is Hankey v Whitlock and have seen the odds as identical at 1.83 inc stake on each player. Is this normal in a 2 runner event as had assumed that they would both be evens, but guess the difference is their profit margin?

What a match on right now and BBC 2 runs out of time.  rotflmfao If you have got digital press the red button, if you haven't got it never mind.  :D

Get in.  ;applause;

Hankey is getting spanked.  :o

LOL and acting like a cock.... he loves himself doesnt he.

Hankey Spankey in fact

Worst self made image in history, awful bloke

Off to a bad start, lets the crowd get to him which makes him worse, complete nightmare. Only hope for him is that the break can do him good, but credit to the Big Issue seller from Oz he is on form.

Guess you could say i just lost my bet on Hankey.  :D

Hankey got what he deserved ... FK ALL !!

Ted Hankey has the dubious honour of me turning down a match against him!

tell us more

p.s next time whack him

About 4/5 years ago he was playing at our presentation/finals night, i'd made the semi's and he was schedulded to play the 4 of us... Unfortunately it was on the same night as i had a football youth cup final, and chose the footy!

He was living in Colwyn Bay at the time, dont think he is now...

For years people have dropped the O in his nickname :D

Pretty much confirmed this when his girlfriend Emma posted the below on another forum in response to the rumour:

"spreading things like this could get him into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands and its not fair on him!"

His name wasn't even mentioned in the thread....................

Great match between Webster and Adams.  3-2 to Webster at the break, he was 3-0 and averaging over 100 but has dipped slightly.  Both players now averaging just under 100.

GET IN!!!

Webster through to the final.  Top quality match.  Better than anything the PDC served up this year in terms of averages. Webster goes 3-0 up Adams then goes 4-3 up and looks like going 2-0 up in 8th set but Webster pinged a 130 finish and barely lost a leg after that to win 6-4.

I can now green up for a tidy profit :)

Great game!

For a minute i thought it was RicheO playing darts.

Had a bet on Webster to win and Whitlock to win, so the darts profits moving along nicely. Only blooming Hankey has let me down. Going for Webster in the final, looks an awesome player.

Webster looking awesome and Whitlock stumbling on doubles. Webster now 3-0 up, show me the money.  ;D ;danafish;

Weighed in :)

 ;applause; ;sark; ;sark; ;karabiner;

Great match last night-know theyre different associations but would love to see Taylor vs Webster match

Played very well, nice guy too...

Wanted webster to win-thought he was fantastic but also felt very sorry for Whitlock as he seemed a decent mild mannered bloke...pity there could only be one winner! some difference between 1st & 2nd too- £85k for 1st and £30k for 2nd

Could have done a deal, a few times The PDC champ has taken on the BDO champ in special challenge matches.
Taylor beat Barneveld and the Viking had to retire as he was unwell, the ill feeling between the 2 bodies is such it's unlikely to happen again for a while though.

didnt see much of the darts this year but loved this match. Tell you one thing, my opinion of Adams has gone up - always thought of him as a bit of arse, but after Webster hit that 130 finish which was for me, the turning point in the match, Adams said to him "great bull", while he must have been really hurting.

The PDC have finally come out with a statement saying that all drug tests taken during the championships proved to be negative.

http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/LatestDetail/0,,10180~1224064,00.html

Turns out i had the wrong chap:

ANDY JENKINS has been banned from darts for a year following a fight with another player in Germany.
The Hampshire darts ace admitted punching Irishman Mick McGowan following a day of banter' at the Germany Open last November.
But the former Cosham bricklayer will only be away from the oche for three months after the PDC's Darts Regulatory Authority decided to suspend nine months of the ban.
Jenkins, nicknamed Rocky, has been in trouble with the DRA in the past but insists he reacted to a punch thrown by the Irishman who is becoming a familiar name on the PDC circuit
Jenkins said: "I had an altercation with a certain darts player in Germany last November and one thing led to another and I have been banned.
"There was a bit of banter which went a little too far and he did not take it. He hit me and I hit him and that was it."
The incident was looked at by the DRA but they took no action against McGowan.
"Because I am Andy Jenkins and a naughty boy and he is not a naughty boy I have been used as a patsy," added Jenkins.
Full story in today's Daily Echo

is that the 'Pie Man'?

nah thats Andy Smith

Stuff the footie and watch the darts on Sky sports 1. Superb so far.  8)

no

OMG could Barny be knocked out? Currently 7-9 down in the semi.
 :o

Gone lost to Gary Mawson. Unbelievable.  ;applause;


Rafa Benitez. LOL  :D

James Wade, awesome darts.
 ;applause;