The Ultimate Darts thread!

[Murphy]

Proper test for MVG last night. Gutted White didn't make it through, haven't been able to stop singing his walk on music all this week.

If Chisnall doesn't crumble tonight and he plays like he has been the last couple of months he should dispense with Taylor, which in my opinion would be a good thing.

 

[Master D]

Chizzy is currently the best player not to have won a major, in my eyes he should have won the Premier League this year. He needs to get off to a flyer as in these long formats the best players always get better as time goes on. Taylor's record at the matchplay is beyond ridiculous so I can't see Chizzy beating him over this format.

 

[Master D]

Andy Hamilton's annoys me, but I think it's more down to the fact he annoys me.

Adrian Lewis, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Barney, Paul Nicholson, Ted Hankey all have throws that give boners. I quite like Scotty Rand too... and obviously my pub standard throw is majestic.

On the subject of throws, Suljovic has such a strange and ugly throw as he seems to actually sling the dart almost from behind his head. Such a contrast to the laser guided smoothness of Wade. Gary Anderson has the best throw in darts though, it is simply sublime. Lewis and Smith have that robotic arm movement and hammer the darts in, looks great when they are scoring heavy.

 

[Gilly?]

On the subject of throws, Suljovic has such a strange and ugly throw as he seems to actually sling the dart almost from behind his head. Such a contrast to the laser guided smoothness of Wade. Gary Anderson has the best throw in darts though, it is simply sublime. Lewis and Smith have that robotic arm movement and hammer the darts in, looks great when they are scoring heavy.

Anderson is immense, and when on form is untouchable. Up until recently he was the best player in the world on the floor and now he's won a few majors on the stage I think you could argue he's the #1 at the minute. Apparently Justin Pipe is nearly unbeatable on the floor tournaments.

I've recently discovered webcam darts, it's a laugh and there's some cracking players all over the world. I'm about to play in a little online tournament, I'd imagine I'll get nowhere.

Out in the second round. Here's a stream... started off like a train, then my average fell and I played like a bellend. Yes my darts are pink. I was averaging 77 for 3 or 4 legs then it dropped to 60 by the time I'd lost.

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

Fantastic game this. Don't particularly like Wade but have to admire him, doesn't let anything faze him.

Edit: Apart from when there's a draft on stage...

 

[Gilly?]

I think Wadey is finally getting over his demons, he's superb when on form. It's good to see him back playing some good darts.

 

[Master D]

What a performance from Wade, he is simply unflappable and has so much bottle.

 

[Hooray]

Delighted Wade dumped Taylor out last night. Hope he goes on to win it tonight.

I think MVG will be too strong though. Taylor going out will have given him a huge boost. He would have expected to have to beat Phil if he was going to be lifting the title.

 

[Richard Cranium]

4/1 for a 170 checkout tonight. £20 on that!

 

[Murphy]

Enjoyed that last night, thought Wade would choke in the end mind. Taylor clearly wasn't very impressed with the crowd chanting, don't think I've ever seen him throwaway Darts before.

MVG to win tonight.

 

[Master D]

Yep, I think MvG wins it and he really wants it as it's one of the few majors he has never won. I think for Wade to beat Taylor and MvG back to back would be an incredible feat.

 

[Master D]

Didn't feel that was spectacular from MvG but he is just so good even without hitting the heights. He has those top gears he shifts into when he needs to that makes it so hard to live with him. 9 majors by the age of 26 and in this era of darts is special.

 

[Murphy]

Agree with you there, when he took a couple of legs lead towards the end it felt like he was going to do it. Fine margins though, three out shots on the bull from Wade all in the 25, if two of those go in it's 15-13 instead of 17-11.

I was thinking earlier how privileged I/we are to be living in this era of Darts. Grown up watching the best Darts player there will ever be and ever has been and some of the matches we've seen over the years have just been phenomenal, out of this world stuff.

 

[Murphy]

Rather enjoyed the Perth Masters. Aside from the fact a Taylor/Wade final is only going to end one way, obvs.

 

[The Iron]

I'm a bit late posting this, but it was great to see Taylor finally lose a game on Sunday. Lewis beat him 10-9 in the semi-finals in Auckland, although Taylor missed 3 Darts to win that match. The final was brillant with Barneveld pushing Lewis all the way but Lewis won the match 11-10, with both players missing Darts to win the match, before Lewis eventually got the winning double. I think Lewis was averaging around 107 until near the end.

 

[Murphy]

I'm a bit late posting this, but it was great to see Taylor finally lose a game on Sunday. Lewis beat him 10-9 in the semi-finals in Auckland, although Taylor missed 3 Darts to win that match. The final was brillant with Barneveld pushing Lewis all the way but Lewis won the match 11-10, with both players missing Darts to win the match, before Lewis eventually got the winning double. I think Lewis was averaging around 107 until near the end.

Was a great final. Brilliant quality and such was the tense nature of the game, it almost deserved that ending with it going right down to the final double. A great tour all in all.

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

Taylor dumped out first round of the Grand Prix. Well in Vincent!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Young Taff comes from 2 sets down to beat Smith. Decent game

 

[Super_horns]

2 surprises tonight so far and MVG a set down.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Adrian Lewis was shit.

 

[Master D]

He's not really done much for a few years now, wildly inconsistent. Finding it hard to see past MvG again considering who has gone out already. There's only Anderson who has the game to stop him.

 

[claret50]

Whitlock is being slaughtered by Suljovic.

 

[Super_horns]

Anderson out now..

 

[Master D]

Robert Thornton with the match of his life wins the Grand Prix. Beats MvG 5-4 in an epic match.

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

Wow. Outstanding Thornton!

 

[Hooray]

It's nice to see a different name lifting one of the major trophies! Takes him up to 5th in the world rankings too.

That also probably secures his Premier League spot as well.

 

[Baz]

Great win for Thornton however it was also brilliant to see Mark Webster back to some kind of competitive form.

 

[Hooray]

The world rankings make interesting reading at the moment actually:

Pos Name Prize Money
1 van Gerwen, Michael £1,123,750
2 Anderson, Gary £580,250
3 Taylor, Phil £420,000
4 Wright, Peter £376,500
5 Thornton, Robert £339,750
6 Lewis, Adrian £330,500
7 Wade, James £313,500
8 White, Ian £248,000
9 Smith, Michael £244,000
10 Jenkins, Terry £216,500
11 Whitlock, Simon £213,500
12 Dolan, Brendan £213,250
13 Huybrechts, Kim £207,250
14 Chisnall, Dave £203,500
15 King, Mervyn £202,500
16 van der Voort, Vincent £199,750
17 Bunting, Stephen £187,750
18 van Barneveld, Raymond £179,000
19 Pipe, Justin £166,750
20 Klaasen, Jelle £148,250
21 Caven, Jamie £136,000
22 Hamilton, Andy £132,500
23 Newton, Wesley £131,500
24 Suljovic, Mensur £124,750
25 Beaton, Steve £120,250
26 Gilding, Andrew £109,500
27 Webster, Mark £106,000
28 Painter, Kevin £105,250
29 Winstanley, Dean £104,000
30 van de Pas, Benito £97,250
31 Lewis, Jamie £91,750
32 Webster, Darren £78,750

Chizzy was top 8 not so long ago. He's better than 14th. He'll no doubt improve on that soon. Bunting is still climbing quickly due to having no money to defend yet. He should be top 10/12 by the end of the year. Good to see Klaasen climbing again - love watching him when he's on top form.

Some of those guys in positions 22 downwards really need to buck their ideas up in the coming months. There are some good players hanging around outside that top 32 who could be creeping in soon - the likes of Keegan Brown, Gerwyn Price and Kyle Anderson.

 

[Baz]

It's also weird seeing Barney so low but he just hasn't kept it together this year after defending cash from last year It's still good to see the old guys still there or there abouts too.

 

[Baz]

Richie Burnett has been banned for 18 months for a positive cocaine drugs test oopsy.