Premier League Darts Night 6 Review
Posted on March 19th, 2010
DEFENDING Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts champion James Wade picked up his first win of the 2010 season with an 8-4 defeat Simon Whitlock as Phil Taylor hit top gear at The Brighton Centre on Thursday night.
Wade looked on course to suffer a fourth defeat in the opening six weeks when Whitlock powered into an early 4-1 lead, aided by a sensational 170 checkout.
But the world number three clawed back level before pulling away for victory with a run of seven successive legs to move off the bottom of the league table.
“It’s a relief to get the two points because I’ve been putting myself under a lot of pressure to get that first win but now I hope that the relaxed and fluent James Wade will come out,” said Wade.
“I’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of me now if I’m going to get into the play-offs and it’s a huge mountain to climb but I’ll do everything I can to get in there.”
Wade jumped above Terry Jenkins in the table after the 2007 runner-up was defeated 8-3 by Phil Taylor.
Jenkins hit finishes of 122, 118 and 116 to win his three legs, but could not match Taylor’s scoring power as the World Champion powered in a 106.79 average – the second highest so far this season – to remain unbeaten at the top of the standings.
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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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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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Premier League Darts Night 4 Results
Posted on March 5th, 2010
PHIL TAYLOR maintained his 100 percent start to the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts season with an 8-2 rout of Raymond van Barneveld at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter.
The 15-time World Champion came from 2-0 down to win eight successive legs against the Dutchman, who was condemned to defeat for a third successive game.
Taylor sealed victory with a 116 checkout to ensure that he remains two points clear of Mervyn King ahead of their meeting at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester next week.
“I’m pleased to get the win but I felt the pressure a little bit and started slowly,” said Taylor. I expected Raymond to click into gear but when I went in front his head dropped and he wasn’t the same player.
“When you see a weakness you have to exploit your opponent and hit them hard, and that’s what people are doing to Raymond at the moment.”
King picked up his third win of the season with an impressive 8-5 win over Terry Jenkins, winning four of the game’s final five legs to pull clear for victory.
Ronnie Baxter won his second successive match, seeing off Simon Whitlock 8-6 in a thriller.
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Premier League Darts Night 4 Preview
Posted on March 3rd, 2010
THE world’s top two players, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld, will clash for the first time this season as the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts visit the Westpoint Arena in Exeter on Thursday night.
The game between the players, who share 20 World Championship titles, will be the highest profile of four matches in Exeter as the Premier League returns to the south-west.
Taylor has been victorious in his last nine meetings with van Barneveld since suffering a 10-9 defeat in the 2008 UK Open, and the 15-time World Champion has also won his first three games in this year’s Premier League.
Van Barneveld, meanwhile, has suffered losses to inspired displays by Adrian Lewis and Simon Whitlock since defeating James Wade on the opening night at The O2 in London.
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Premier League Darts Night 3
Posted on February 26th, 2010
REPORTS from Belfast’s Odyssey Arena from night three of the 2010 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts.
The £400,000 tournament crossed the Irish Sea for the third night of league action, with four games on the night including four-time winner Phil Taylor’s clash with current champion James Wade.
2010 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts
Week Three – Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Mervyn King 6-8 Ronnie Baxter
Adrian Lewis 6-8 Terry Jenkins
Simon Whitlock 8-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor 8-2 James Wade
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Whyte & Mackay Premier League Night 3 Preview
Posted on February 24th, 2010
THE Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts visits Belfast’s Odyssey Arena on Thursday night, with Phil Taylor looking to take first blood against James Wade in the battle to reclaim his title.
Left-hander Wade succeeded Taylor as Premier League Darts champion last May when the Stoke legend’s bid for a fifth successive title was stopped at the semi-final stage by Mervyn King.
Wade, though, has lost both matches so far this season while Taylor has opened with a brace of victories despite being laid low with a virus ahead of the tournament.
Taylor came from 4-0 down to win 8-6 against Ronnie Baxter in Bournemouth last week, meaning he kept pace with Mervyn King as the two unbeaten players in the early stages.
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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.
