been back a few days, feeling quite depressed about being back in london truth be told, trying to remind myself not to be an entitled little bitch and to thank my stars I was lucky enough to spend 6 weeks swimming, drinking, eating and being looked after by an army of endlessly accommodating thai ladies...and to make my own breakfast

Foray into golf been a real challenge, obviously finding it incredibly hard, any tips would go down great.

Back to work i guess!

you truly love the ante post game Marky.  Everyone says ante post is dead!!!

if you dont love an ante post cheltnam acca you got no place calling yourself a gambler!!

its a good line up, Dimi, Humphries, Aspinall, de Zwaan, Dobey a group of youngsters that have all brought it properly on the big stage in very recent times, 100+ tv averages. The german leg is the biggest of the tour and desperate for Max Hopp he's hit and miss but my god if he shows up in Berlin the roof will go off. Everyone wants to see Durrant on the big stage.

These aren't randoms these are top players on the rise. As for Hendo and Lennon, they defo short of the grade but will get a big local reception, probably needed another Scot in there.

The format has been a little stale over the past years, the premier league has suffered a bit from a drama standpoint as the established guys tend to dominate and new blood gets dispatched very easily as it comes through, threatens to get a bit samey and Barry obvs seen this as a chance to shake things up. The more i ponder it the more brilliant i think it is.

Hopefully 2019 sees some of the exciting talent in the PDC finally deliver big stage results and force the premier league into a big reshuffle, otherwise darts' biggest exhibition might genuinely start to decline.

When i first heard this announcement I was gobsmacked... Then the more i thought about it the more I thought, hmmm.... whats the alternative? Gary out and Whitlock in??? That's pretty ZZZZZZZZZ really, if not Whitlock then who? Durrant would be a wild wild card pick and sort of makes sense but that sort of sets the wrong precedent for the tournament really as Durrant ranked #200 and never played an event as a tour card holder. If you look down the top 16 no one else stands out, you'd have to give Diamond the nod over Chizzy, White, Webster or Clayton, would have to be Adrian Lewis if anyone, but doesn't really deserve it.

So, this actually makes a bit of sense, I think ticket sales are always gonna be fine regardless, euro tours are attracting 4000 fans a day on Sat/Sun, so sticking in guys with local attraction or exciting youngsters for a 1 off day is pretty good idea overall. Dobey got a massive reception last night, Hopp will send the roof off in Berlin, 14000 fans there, Durrant and Dimi both come with a lot of hype, the problem is the points make for an unfair advantage for some, big Hendo averaged 93 on stage last year and Dimi averaged 100, Durrant probs a top 10 player on merit and Lennon is outside the world 32.

But having said that, if the games aren't for points then it would lead the official PL player not to really give a fuck so would potentially make a mockery of the thing, so a really tough spot for Hearn and co. I think behind bringing a new player in which is obviously the most natural decision I think this is probs the best call, given no natural player to pick I'd say they might have got it right.

Actually to be fair to 6 card plo, 5 handed or 4 handed I think it's a pretty awesome game, the biggest issues are stack sizes and how easy it is to cause absolute mayhem with short stacks, those issues a little less pertinent 5 handed and whereas it's not unusual games get a bit more fun when shorter handed 6 plo is like chalk and cheese between 7 and 5 handed imo, 6 handed I don't even consider short handed in that game.

It's also a mental test as much as anything else, if your head goes at 6 plo you can really do some damage, and one nice thing about the game is whoever you are if you play semi-frequently you are just GUARENTEED to take a bruising at some point, everyone no matter how good you are or how tight you play takes a hammering every so often in the 6 card streets. I've had a couple of decent headlosses at that game and Im pretty chilled in general when it comes to gambling!

Since getting a lot worse at poker than i was in 2014/15 when i played full time, I find it so much more enjoyable now, now that I'm not really expected to win playing is a LOT more fun, losing doesn't tilt me at all and winning is a nice buzz, and I know there are spots where I go favourite over people who are better poker players than me too which I also enjoy a lot because I can see those spots and I don't think the other people can

Not a bad post for a bloke lacking in the finger department.

im.a quality not quantity man on the finger front 

Keep the 6PLO stories coming please.

Hmmm 6Card stories, it's kinda tough to think of any, I actually really dislike 6card PLO as a game, and have never really liked it. It's a really fun game when stacks are short, and if you're a short stack on a table with big stacks it can be insanely profitable. I was speaking to a friend of mine who is a big online PLO winner, he said that he believed if you had a 7 handed 6card PLO lineup with 25 50 blinds, 4 players have £50k and 3 players have ~£2k, then there is going to be seating positions for the £50k players where NO ONE IN THE WORLD could be +EV. I've thought about it - I'm not much of a poker player these days but I think he's right.

These games tend to start with everyone short and it's pretty good fun cos its so easy to just get it in, and short handed it's an environment where you actually get really punished for being nitty, however when it gets deep stacked it's actually kind of a horrible game and that shouldn't be the case for poker games, they should get more interesting as they get deeper.

I've seen some huge 6card PLO pots, one pot nearly £1m but obviously was a standard both had nut straight huge extension some sets, rainbow board and all the big pots tend to be like that, they always boring (unless you're in them) from a poker point of view.  I actually been enjoying NLHE these days, if games are deep stacked and aggro then gets so much fun.

Dont like Price but agree seems harsh.

Looking forward to Gary vs Price inthe PL though!!!

As much as I do dislike him, I am glad he's about as I love a bit of needle in sport and darts in particular given how personal it is I think it's great, find myself really excited for a game I'd likely not care about if not for the shenanigans.

darts is my holiday

The play through thing is partly due to the fact processing deposits is quite expensive and people depositing and snap withdrawing is just an expense (although it's a pretty rare thing to happen) it's mostly born from a legal requirement as part of AML procedure, the rule doesn't specifically require a playthrough but it does require a certain level of DD to prevent money laundering and this has long been a method that both works for the sites and is accepted by the regulators, alongside the provision that the value of the initial deposit is always returned to the source of the deposit.

On my site in our jurisdiction we actually didn't have the rule because AML regulations weren't as strict and there was just no need to for it. I never saw a case of a player depositing and then withdrawing without betting, but like doubleup said it's quite frustrating if you deposit £1000 and most they'll let you bet is £5. I had situation with Ladbrokes where I deposited £2k once and was instantly limited to buttons, and had a back and forth with them for weeks of "you must play it through" "well I would love too but I'm restricted" "let me pass you over to someone" "you need to play it through, why would you deposit and not bet?" "I cant bet, you've restricted me" "hmmmmmmmm" eventually they just paid me back, very nearly got me for some £1k red/ £1k black roulette action.

[RANKINGS!!!]

RANKINGS!!!

The aftermath of the worlds has shaken a few things up, as to be expected with the prize money. MVG gonna be 1 happppppy man after a year in the majors that was kind of horrible by his standards, 2 early round bust outs, a final loss (which never happens) and the highlight was a very unconvincing win at the GP. His #1 spot was slowly coming under a little threat and people were sayin perhaps he ain't the best in the world citing his fairly poor performance lifetime at ally pally. Now his #1 spot is firmly reestablished he could take 1 yr off and likely hold onto it, he's picked up his 3rd PDC WC putting him ahead of Gary and Lewis, and 500 big ones.

1   Michael van Gerwen   Netherlands   £1,603,500
2   Rob Cross   England   £785,750
3   Peter Wright   Scotland   £677,500
4   Gary Anderson   Scotland   £580,000
5   Daryl Gurney   Northern Ireland   £539,250
6   Michael Smith   England   £505,500
7   Gerwyn Price   Wales   £404,750
8   Mensur Suljovic   Austria   £389,750
9   Simon Whitlock   Australia   £350,750
10   James Wade   England   £341,00

Last year during this write up I said the top 4 wasn't gonna move much, just the inevitable swap of Cross and Wright at 2 and 3 which took a lot longer than it should have done. This year however those top 2/3/4 spots are under some fire, first guy under some serious pressure is Rob Cross, after a whirlwind yr 1 cashing for over £600k and a underwhelming yr 2 cashing for only ~£170k he's got a lot of money to defend this year and a year that doesn't involve some major success or a massive worlds is gonna see Voltage really struggle to hold on to a top 6 spot and I think he's likely gonna be more concerned by world #11 then world #5 come Xmas. Huge year for Rob Cross.

Next up in even more trouble in Peter Wright - he had a standout year in 2017 cashing for £465k and the form he ended 2018 in was far from that of a top 4 player, his constant darts flickering just a sign of a really weak mindset and his hubris in interviews just stinks of a man who doesn't really believe he's a top 8 player, if he doesn't find form he's due a big rankings slip, unfortunately for him too his big runs all came at the start of the year, with about £200k to defend before the matchplay, he could find himself out of the top 10 by the worlds. His schedule is always very heavy too, he's closing in on 50 now I doubt he can keep this work load up and he's going to need to if he's going to sustain his top 10 spot. He's in trouble Snakebite.

Gary at the start of 2018 was precariously placed in #4, Gurney and Mensur were hunting him down and he had a decent chunk of prize money to defend, we know his schedule is light so he basically just backs himself to have a big yr in the majors which he more than did last year. Now things are a bit different for Gary, MVG in #1 is clearly un touchable but he's £205k behind Cross with £480k less to defend, £100k behind Wright with £330k less to defend and £40k ahead of Gurney in #5 with £160k less to defend. If Gary can reproduce any sort of semblance to last years results should be getting himself to #2 pretty easily, and seems almost gtd to be at least #3 by the worlds, which means once again he'll be avoiding MVG in the semis. Worries for Gary is always the same though, his back seems to be a niggle that will always come back at some point, and he certainly feasted from a lacklustre MVG year in the majors which is unlikely to happen again. I think when the day comes that Gary drops down the top 16, he's unlikely to make it back and he'll probs just retire, however right now Gary only looking UP at the rankings and that isn't changing for at least 12 months .

He does however, have himself 1 potential party-pooper, in the form of his protege Bully Boy, his great world champs puts him £75k off his mentor with £30k more to defend, Smith will benefit from the confidence of last year, the fact he'll play a lot more tour events and most of the euros, given Cross and Wright are both fighting the slip and gurney has almost double to defend, Bully looking a great shout for a top 4 spot, and world #2 by the time the worlds come along isn't a pipe dream. He's a confidence guy though, Bazza said to me last yr when he came back from 5-1 to beat Gary 7-5 on night #1 of the prem league after that win he fancies smith for a big year, if he can start well could be the start of Smith's long awaited delivery on the obvious talent. Needs a major win, for all kinds of reasons.

Mesnur and Price round out the top 8 with similar amounts to defend (£189k/£160k) rankings in similar kinds of form, good overall but seem liable to lose any game, will both play similar schedule and only £15k apart and both over £100k off 6th they need to capitalise of a Gurney/Wright/Cross slip should any of those happen. They both getting chased by #9 and #10 in form of Whitlock and Wade, Whitlock who's consistency vs lower ranked players is effectively what holds his rankings together, he just can't seem ever to put consistent results together (or even perofrmances) vs guys ahead of him in the rankings and has fairly torrid H2H to vs everyone in the top 6. He's defending ~£200k and £50k of Price in #7 so needs to start putting some results vs the big guys or world #12-8 is where he'll stay. Biggest risk to the top 8 currently is James Wade, a terrible 2017 means he has just £90k to defend and he showed some real return to form towards the end of last year. A sub-par worlds really but if he keeps it going like he did back end of 2018, think we could easily see a Machine back in the top 8 or even the top 6, he's not scared to win either!

Out of the rest of the top 16, we got a few interesting guys, first up is Adrian Lewis, again a torrid 2017 means he only has £96k to defend and he was showing some return to form, on his day he can pretty much beat anyone and you'd never be too surprised if you saw him win something and put a £300k+year together, big questions around Jackpot are work ethic and focus, if he can really knuckle down and grind the pro/euro tour then I'm backing Jackpot back into the top 10 by end of the year . Joe Cullen is dangerously becoming a bottle-job, he seems to realise that he needs a win on the sage and looks like crumbling at every sniff of a good opportunity, he undeniably has the game and looks to work quite hard but last year several draws opened up wide for him and he couldn't make good on any of them, he's defending only £113k and will play a full schedule and has a good starting rank on the pro tour. We should see him continue to make small climb inside the top 16 ut unless he can transfer all this to a stage result he's not gonna get anywhere near the top 10.

Webster, White, Chizzy and Clayton all defending pretty modest amounts and all of them very capable of going on runs of results... Ian White I think, after backing him for majors all over the shop, we maybe just need to conclude is not really cut out for long format matches...I was wondering if it's just a bottle thing but I am starting to just conclude that he isn't able to consistently produce in long formats, hence why he's one of the best performers year on year in the pro tour events and never done anything in a major, except early rounds.  Johnny Clayton currently in the undesirable #16 spot which means early round meetings with MVG, but his form in the back end of 2018 should be encouraging, you never know what's gonna come from Chizzy these days.

The top 32 is where I think we see the big shift coming this year, 17-32 is full to the brim with journeymen, and 33-50 is packed with hungry young kids chomping to get in the top 32, guys like Merv King, Big Hendo, Bunting, Beaton, West, Huybrechts, K.Anderson. Some will find some form and have a push at top 16, some will fall back and drift out of the top 32. One really interesting guy is Alan Norris, currently #24 and a wayward year last yr, we discovered at the worlds his wife had terminal illness and he effectively took the year off, he's always been a fairly inconsistent guy Chuck but he's a very gritty performer and LOVES the big stage, as we saw at the worlds, if he comes back in with a fresh head I could easily see him re-challenging the top 16, however given the horrific personal things he has been through that's a big ask for him, plus he has £142k to defend this year and the pack behind him are defending a LOT less and charging, regrettably this is likely the end for Chuck but always thought he was a decent bloke and he's enjoyable to watch. The back end of the top 32 has a few more guys on the brink of peril, the dutch trio of Klaasen, Van de Pas and Barney, Benito picked up a very handy 50 grand at the worlds, Klaasen looks a complete shadow after wrist injury and Barney, well, Barney....

Barney is a living example of important (and great for the game) the pro tour is, because it's a 1 yr rolling rankings based on tournaments that anyone can get into, and this ranking system forms the seedings for the floor event plus gets you in the grand prix and the matchplay, gives players making waves in the bread and butter tournaments prominence, guys like White, Cullen, King etc sustain their rankings through the pro tour despite consistently poor major performances and guys like Aspinal, Payne, Wilson etc can qualify for majors based on good performances there. Barney, with a reputation in darts matched by almost no-one has under-performed in the majors for two yrs and not bothered with the pro tour, and as a result slipped way to to world #28 and currently looking very unlikely to qualify for a lot of the majors. This is how guys like Duzza, Mcgeeny etc are going to have to start to build their PDC rankings and it's a huge, huge grind, Duzza used to being the big dog at 8 tournaments a year where 80% of the field cant really touch him on his B game, he's going to have to go to play 2x tournaments a weekend at a sports hall in wigan in front of 9 people, with 127 other players 60 of whom could average 100 against him on any given match.  HE could really really struggle and might find at his age a confidence draining year of being beat round 2 by world #83 and getting £500 could be the end of him. He needs to get himself into the top 16 on the Pro Tour OOM within the first year (do-able) and then will get himself automatically into the Euros and get himself a easy path into a lot of the majors.

Unenviable task for anyone trying to power through the PDC rankings, the wall blocking the top 32 is pretty severe, right outside it you have;

33   Dimitri van den Bergh   Belgium   £133,250
34   Chris Dobey   England   £133,000
35   Nathan Aspinall   England   £133,000

3 guys who really need to push on and get themselves in there, again strong pro tour performances is how it's done, these guys should be at every euro tour really, if Dimitri has another year like 2018 on the floor he is only going to go backwards and once again we won't see one of darts most exciting stars in the matchplay, the grand prix, the euro champs, and he got no where near in 2018. Behind them you got guys like Lennon, North, de Zwaan, O'Connor, Noppert, Schindler, Evans, Meulenkamp, Ratajski, Payne, Humprhies.... This is a pretty serious wall of talent to break through and this is just the top 60. There's a ton of money in the PDC but they certainly don't give it away...

Guys to look out for in 2019....

James Wade & Adrian Lewis - Touched on it earlier, they are defending little and playing decent, I'd back them both to be top 10 come Xmas.

Max Hopp - Had a good 2018, he's got himself nice ranking on the pro tour (although £25k to come off from his euro tour win) he plays great on stage, very happy on the euro tours with the crowd, much improved player and I think this will be the yer we see him push towards to top 16.

Nathan Aspinall - Seems an obv pick after the worlds, but was impressed with him all year last year and his run at the WC showed some proper, proper class took a 105 average from one of the worlds best players to finally can him, he didn't have the toughest of runs but he really produced in the Dolan game and fired back from a precarious looking spot vs Devon Peterson, showed a lot of hear, a lot of bottle and without much to defend plus a good record on the pro tour last year (1 victory) can see him pushing in the top 32 and showing up a few majors and you defo don't wanna draw him if he shows anything like the form from Ally Pally.

Jeffrey de Zwaan - another obv one given he's one of hottest guys in darts, but he's got a whole yr with close to 0 to defend and was UL not to progress at the worlds, he's shown he can win on the floor so we should see him in some euro tour events and he has a cluster of guys on the way out around him (Pipe, Thornton etc)

Danny Noppert - Again, 0 money to defend and showed last year he's clearly got the game for a top 16 challenge, looks super solid and plenty of bottle, only concerns would be in consistency but could easily be attributed to first yr wobbles, if he settles down and keeps up last years performances I could see him in the top 32 v soon.

Krystof Ratajski - Finally has a tour card, will be in all the pro tours, plays a big schedule, great record on the euro tour, has winning mentality and looking more and more comfortable on the big stage.

Luke Humprhies - Was impressive all year on the ET, throwing 100 averages and bags of 180s, worlds will have given him a huge amount of confidence, needs to bring his game more consistently and learn to play on the floor and we'll be seeing him challenge top 16 in a few years.

Guys to be worried for;

Rob Cross and Peter Wright - As we said, they need to work hard to stay in the top 8.

Mervyn King - After years as a top 22 journeyman, things are looking rough for Merv, back injuries, cant play in long formats and the quality of the guys coming behind him makes me strongly feel like its the start of a downwards spiral for The King.

Dimitri Van Den Bergh & Jamie Lewis - Despite being touted as potential super stars they have both failed to deliver in 2018, they played vs each other in rnd 1 of the WSOD finals and was 106 vs 102 av and one of the best BO11 games you'll see, but they just cannot produce on the floor and the pack chasing them are serious, both barely qualified for the players last year which is a 64 player tournament, Dimitri is lucky he gets another Grand Slam entry but last year they barely played a ET between them, if they don't step up then they will just float down the rankings and fade away, along with the WSOD invitations.

Benito Van de Pas - Looked in all sorts of trouble at the worlds, cannot compete in any PDC events playing as he does and now he's reached the end of his rankings safety net I fear this might be the last year we see much of BVDP.

Barney - If offered even money i'd back against him being at the Grand Prix, or the Matchplay, no idea if he'll get to play the World Cup with MVG which is his usual route into the Grand Slam, nothing to suggest he'll make the players or the euros, real chance his swansong year wont even end at Ally Pally. Barney's ONLY real chance is to grind the ET qualifiers and try make something happen there, in europe, on stage those events are barney's best hope of quick rankings points. Hopefully for Barney his UK open quals will get him in the players but if not he really needs to grind some floor events, you know he'll focus on the WSOD and PL too as thats his only gtd platform to say goodbye to his fans. I fear a sad end for an all-time great, although I'd love to see him go out with a bang and the whole sport kinda wants it too.

Always so much fun watching the rankings tussle, and the battles go all the way to the top 50, everyone fighting their own wars, cant wait for the euro tours to start again!!!!

Masters next up.

yeah was gonna say a few feels like the thick end of a decade ago.

i remember it though fabian quoss won it, nice fella gone onto play the super high rollers and grow a huge beard, not seen him in ages but was my favourite german.

this when someone comes along and tells me some scandal he did lol

still see plenty of mr eames too, he even lived with us in meeds briefly before moving to London.

Jamie Sykes is making a thailand appearance on thursday, its like 2010 all over again

And at the risk of making a fool of myself, who is "Franky"?

Never a fool Teacake!

Franky, A.K.A Matt Frankland, poker player, golfer and all round top bloke.

We been mates for over 10 years, 4 months of which i lived on his floor rent free during some "testing" times, and I literally never beaten him at anything ever in the entire time.

Won't be beating him at golf either

he said he's gonna quit work after he gets his card btw.

Still. He's gonna need to grind the tour where there's 40 players who could average 100+ against you which he's not used too, if he doesn't put some floor results together he's only got the grand slam, if he doesn;t settle down like arb says could easily struggle to make any presence at the majors and with the wealth of talent from 60-20 in th rankings you need majors runs to jump up quickly.

Sup tikay, nice to be back!

So I'd happily share the full story but im not 0% to get some money so i'm gonna be a bit coy about the details but basically we were betting at a private bookmaking company (not a regular bookie btw - sort of a clue, cant say more) and we pinged in one bet for a bit shy of £2m and the company refused to pay on some pretty feeble grounds... The company and the bets were made overseas.

Hate being all Pleno with the "got this super exciting news but can't tell anyone" but like i say we not drawing dead to potentially get paid something, fingers crossed. My side was over 1/2 million pounds so was quite excited to receive that!

The poker games were all live, some london, some nottingham, some overseas, stakes ranging from 25/50 to 400/800 with wide variety of results, the biggest pots were all pretty boring really (unless you in them) like super wrap+fd at 6card vs top set and some draws.  One hilarious hand though I love sharing

We're playing plo and the games going a bit whacky, Iv suggested a game where if you fold PF you put £200 dead in the pot if you fold pf, everyone agrees bar one player (who'll most of you will know, very nice guy) who is in for small buyin and up over 100k at this point, he jokingly refuses and says im targeting him by suggesting it (which i wasn't ) and then agrees asfter we exchange some friendly needles.

Very first hand of the game it goes 3-way £400k pot including that player who put  his whole £120k stack in with ATT554 all black cards - he lost the pot and goes "NO MORE BRIGHT IDEAS DAVE"