Premier League Darts Night 6 Preview
Posted on March 18th, 2010
TERRY JENKINS bids to continue his good Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts record against Phil Taylor when the pair clash at The Brighton Centre on Thursday.
Jenkins has not been defeated by Taylor in the Premier League since the 2007 final, when he went down 16-6 in Brighton.
The Ledbury man won 8-5 during the 2008 season and has drawn their three other meetings, with Thursday’s clash in Brighton giving Jenkins the chance to end Taylor’s unbeaten start to the year.
“I haven’t lost to him in the last two years in the Premier League and maybe I’ll beat him again,” said Jenkins. “I can only go up there and do my best and I’ll do that.
“Against Phil you just have to get up on stage and get on with it. Everybody knows how good he is and I’ve got to be on top form.”
Taylor drew for the first time this season when he shared the points with Mervyn King last Thursday, but won a Players Championship and a UK Open Qualifier in Wigan over the weekend.
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Premier League Darts Week 6 Betting Preview
Posted on March 17th, 2010
Apparently there may be a few queens watching in Brighton this week: ‘ladies’ in waiting for the king perhaps?
Arguably the game of the night this week will be Mervyn against Raymond: King against Barney. At last, van Barneveld played darts like we know he can last week and demolished El Tel; alas the lack of floor tournament practice will prove costly in the premier league as consistency is the key to success…and qualification for the semi-finals. Barney is yet to enter a weekend floor tournament this year. The King won’t disappoint his queens/followers/suitors and will continue the terrific form to defeat Raymond with aplomb: 8-4
If you took last week’s betting advice you will now be a good deal richer as the double draws I predicted romped home:
(Get on a draw double (Taylor/King and Baxter/Wade) which will be around 25/1 at any boooookies. Half a monkey for your Paul Mckenna: hypnotic wager.)
29/1 was generously offered by the turf accountant and £150 returned for a sky diver. Hope you all got on!
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Taylor Seals Wigan Double
Posted on March 14th, 2010
PHIL TAYLOR completed a weekend double in Wigan with a stunning whitewash of Jamie Caven in the final of Sunday’s UK Open Qualifier.
Taylor had won Saturday’s Players Championship in imperious fashion, and doubled his prize money for the weekend by picking up a further £6,000 on Sunday.
Only world number three James Wade was able to take a leg from Taylor in his opening four games, with Mark Jodrill, Sam Allen and Michael Smith all whitewashed.
He then defeated Jelle Klaasen 6-2 in the quarter-finals and repeated the scoreline in his semi-final defeat of Osborne.
However, he saved his best display for the final averaging an amazing 121.86 in a straight legs win over Derby star Caven.
Caven missed two darts at double top for a 94 finish in the final’s opening leg, and Taylor followed up an earlier 180 with double 14 for a 13-dart finish.
He added maximums in the next two legs of 11 and 13 darts, although he missed doubles to take the third in ten.
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Tags: PDPA Players Championship, Results, Review
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Taylor Wins In Wigan
Posted on March 14th, 2010
PHIL TAYLOR swept to a second successive Players Championship victory, whitewashing Mark Dudbridge in the final of Saturday’s event in Wigan.
Taylor was victorious in a Players Championship two weeks ago in Derby, and claimed another £6,000 title at Wigan’s Robin Park Tennis Centre.
The 15-time World Champion won his opening three games on the day 6-2, against Darren Latham, Gary Mawson and Peter Manley, before defeating Holland’s Michael van Gerwen 6-4 in the last 16.
Following a 6-1 win over Wes Newton in the quarter-finals, he defeated Colin Lloyd 6-3 at the last four stage – winning four of the final five legs after the Essex man shared the opening stages – before powering past Dudbridge in the decider.
Dudbridge never recovered from missing three darts at double eight to win the second leg as Taylor followed up his double 16 finish to win the opening leg by hitting the same bed again.
Dudbridge hit two 180s in the next leg, but was denied a dart at a double as Taylor landed a second successive 14-darter on double eight.
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Premier League Darts Night 5 Review
Posted on March 12th, 2010
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD ignited his Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts campaign with the best performance of the season on Thursday night, while leaders Phil Taylor & Mervyn King scrapped out a draw in Manchester.
Dutch star van Barneveld bounced back from three successive defeats to average 106.9 in defeating Terry Jenkins 8-4 at the M.E.N. Arena to claim his second victory of the year.
A clinical performance included two 11-dart finishes and the highest average so far this season, putting the five-time World Champion back in the fray for a play-off place.
“I’m really pleased with that performance and the average,” said van Barneveld. “Tonight the darts went in like they can do and I was really focused.
“Hopefully I can keep this going every week because I felt comfortable on stage but know there is more in my. I’ve changed to using 23 gram darts instead of 25 gram darts and I’m already noticing an improvement.”
Van Barneveld sits one point adrift of fourth-placed Simon Whitlock, who also claimed his second win of the campaign in Manchester, punishing Adrian Lewis’ missed doubles to take an 8-4 victory.
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Premier League Darts Night 5 Betting Preview
Posted on March 10th, 2010
Ok, so only some of what I predicted came true in last week’s cracking premier league action. I quote:
1 “If Barney has the whole of Holland’s army behind him on Thursday he won’t be able to live with the power. Get on Taylor to Phil his boots against his arched rival.”
2. “I fancy that Simon’s spell may break one of these days and it could be this week…Simon says he’ll win. I disagree.”
3. “This one will be close but it will be Merv who swerves the Bull-ets and bags his third win of the campaign…No early Exet-er down in the South West for Merv this week. Sorry about the Terry-Bull puns.
4. “It’s true what the advert says: “it matters more when there’s money on it”, you will see on Thursday when you’re shouting at the screen, loving someone you thought you could never love (no, not your missus!) and hating his opponent with a passion as he urinates on your promising betting bonfire.”
Needless to say, I’m not going to mention the predictions I got wrong. You have got to be selective in this game – I can’t get everything right!
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Premier League Darts Night 5 Preview
Posted on March 10th, 2010
THE Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts’ top two players clash for the first time this season when Phil Taylor and Mervyn King meet at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester on Thursday night.
The duo occupy the top two positions in the Premier League Darts table after the opening four weeks, with Taylor winning all of his games and King having picked up three victories.
While Taylor has won all four games, he is expecting his toughest test yet against King, who ended his reign in the Premier League Darts with a semi-final triumph last May.
“It will be a good clash,” said Taylor. “It’s one of the games I can get my teeth into.
“I like his attitude and his professionalism. Last week he got up at 5am after Exeter and drove four hours to get on a plane and fly to Germany and compete again.
“That shows what type of player he is; you know he’s always going to turn up and play well, and it will be a challenge for me.”
Taylor was bidding to claim a fifth successive Premier League title when King stunned him with a 10-6 victory in last year’s semi-finals, but the world number one will not be chasing revenge on Thursday.
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German Title For Lewis
Posted on March 7th, 2010
ADRIAN LEWIS claimed his first PDC ProTour win of 2010 with a 6-4 win over Mark Walsh in the final of Sunday’s German Darts Classic Players Championship.
The 25-year-old from Stoke picked up the £6,000 title in Gladbeck with a fine performance, coming from 4-3 down to take three successive legs in winning the final.
Lewis produced legs of 11 and 15 darts to lead 2-0 in the final – hitting a showpiece 96 finish of single 20, double 18 and double top in the second.
Walsh hit back to win the next three, including a 126 finish, in taking the lead, and also punished missed doubles from Lewis in leg seven to edge 4-3 up.
But Lewis took out a 14-darter to level, double four to break throw and then sealed victory with an 80 finish of two double tops in ensuring the title.
Earlier in the day, he had avenged Saturday’s defeat to Mark Dudbridge with a 6-2 win, and also overcame Mick McGowan, Maik Langendorf, Steve Hine and Robert Thornton to reach the semis.
He also found himself 4-3 down in the last four against Dolan, but included a 121 bullseye finish in winning the next three without reply in taking victory.
Walsh battled past Gary Anderson with a 6-3 semi-final win, having been taken to a deciding leg in the quarter-finals by Steve Brown.
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Tags: PDPA Players Championship, Results, Review
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Unified World Darts Ranking Feb 2010
Posted on March 7th, 2010
After the furore of the festive period and the two World Championships has died down, February is a more sedate time of year as we all catch our breath. Not if you play the circuit though! The tour continues apace and the UWDR combines the action on both sides of the divide to give you a joined up view of the current darting hierarchy.
PDC players jetted off to Gibraltar in early February for two Players Championship events with Colin Lloyd and Denis Ovens bringing home the bacon. Lloyd’s win pushed him up a couple of places to 18th and Ovens jumped 5 places to number 43 on the back of his first title for some time.
This was followed later in the month by events in Swindon and Derby. Mervyn King bagged a Swindon double, winning the Players Championship event and the UK Open Qualifier, and in the process consolidating his lofty UWDR position of 6th. King has truly cemented his status as one of top PDC pros and has fully realised the undoubted potential that he showed when playing under the BDO banner. Future world champion perhaps?
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Van Der Voort Claims Maiden PDC Title
Posted on March 7th, 2010
VINCENT VAN DER VOORT won his first PDC title with a 6-2 defeat of Wayne Jones in the final of Saturday’s German Darts Classic Players Championship in Gladbeck.
Van der Voort celebrated three years on the PDC circuit by claiming his first title in his fourth final, having lost two previous PDC ProTour events and the 2007 UK Open final.
The Dutchman showed some fine form in Gladbeck, Germany, to win through to the final, whitewashing Steven Marckowiak in his opening game before seeing off Dennis Smith, Andy Smith and Mark Walsh to reach the quarter-finals – missing double 12 for a nine-darter against the latter.
He overcame Mark Dudbridge 6-3 in the last eight before edging out Kevin Painter 6-5 in a thrilling semi-final.
Painter led 2-0 and 3-1 before van der Voort took three legs in a row, including seven perfect darts in one leg, to hit the front.
Painter levelled with a superb ten-darter, featuring seven perfect darts of his own, but missed two darts in the next as van der Voort edged 5-4 up.
The Dutchman missed the bullseye for a 127 finish for victory in the tenth leg, as Painter took out 90 on the bull – but the English star missed the same bed for a 121 checkout in the decider and van der Voort posted tops for a 14-darter and the win.
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Both poker and darts are highly popular pursuits. The games are available online, in fact, that there are organizations dedicated to making sure the rules of video poker and online darts are conformed. Similar to darts having the World Darts Federation, among others, and poker has the Tournament Directors Association. These rules are put into place in highly competitive tournaments, in which as many as hundreds or even thousands of people compete for cash prizes as well as prestige.
