Let's play Darts! - Lakeside World Championship 2009

I’d say the top16 of the PDC would be a higher class of player than most of the top8 of the BDO but after that it’s hard to know if there is much difference between the two outside the top guys. I think Gary Robson had an average of around 91/92ish today in his opening match and the commentators were raving about how good that was. Is that a high average for a first round match given the shorter format? Taylor averaged 109.5 tonight in the PDC final but he’s in a league all to himself.
Sky really do hype the PDC events up which in turn leads to better attendances/better atmosphere/prize money etc. This in turn I suppose can lead to better performances from the players onstage in reaction to those various reasons(atmosphere especially)
I think the atmosphere for the last 5years in the BDO has been exceptionally poor/dull so it must be hard to rise your game to a different level in that enviroment.

Somebody was saying to me earlier that the BDO don’t count doubles when calculating the average? Why would that be?

Gary Anderson and Mark Webster are the two big ones from the BDO that Barry Hearne wants to jump over and they probably will fairly soon. Simon Whitlock the runner up in the BDO WC las year has appeared in PDC events before and done quite well, I remember him beating Manley a few years back in what I think was the Matchplay. As regards where the better quality is, it’s undoubtley the PDC. In my opinion the top 5 in the World are Taylor, Barneveld, Wade, Jenkins and Anderson.

The ITV competition you referred to is the Grand Slam of Darts which is a PDC invitation event that includes both PDC and BDO players and is probably the best tournament of the year because of the combination of both codes.

Still doesn’t touch the World Championship though.

I think before Barney went over they were on about a par. Once he left then the PDC became undoubtedly the best because the two best players in the world were both in it.

I take your point Larry though. Sky hype the shite out of it comapred to the much more understated BBC coverage.

I’d love to see Gary Anderson in the PDC allright Flano he is top class. His record in the BDO world absoloutely stinks though, did he make it past the first round this year, I haven’t watched a full game yet in the BDO tournament.

Anderson got through alright. I saw it on Saturday afternoon, he was the in the very first match this year. 3-2 against Robert Wagner.

My understanding is that the PDC do not count missed doubles when calculating averages (while the BDO do)and this does bump up the averages artificially. That would tally with what Sid Waddell said after four legs of tonigt’s final when he said that Barney had a higher average than Taylor. This despite losing all four legs. Only the missed doubles not being counted can explain that. I’m open to correction but that is definitely my understanding of things. PDC boards also have a bigger treble area due to the thinner wires used.

PDC is definitely the superior organisation and TBH any player who really takes his darts seriously has to be there. The BDO is by no means as far behing as people would have you believe in terms of quality of player though. Take Taylor and Barney out of it and there isn’t that much of a gap. But I do expect it to change a bit this year, it looks like Anderson, Webster, Whitlock and Waites who are four of the BDO’s real big guns will all switch after Lakeside.

Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams is kicking off his 2009 campaign tonight against the unseeded Dave Chisnall. Unmissable television.

Did you know that Sharon Adams and Sylvia Barneveld are great pals?

Was just wondering what Sylvia does now on the PDC circuit without Sharon for moral support and vice versa.

Has to have an effect on Wolfie’s and Barney’s form.

I was reading on another forum that Gary Anderson’s effort can be, shall we say, questionable at times.

Lads were on about him requiring tops to win a close match a while back and being closer to bull with his dart before eventually losing.

Any BDO watchers have any more information on this?

He is a close mate of Gary Anderson - that is about all I know of the chap.

He was the Anderson representative in the crowd for the Scot’s first round match which I thought was slightly wrong.

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]He is a close mate of Gary Anderson - that is about all I know of the chap.

He was the Anderson representative in the crowd for the Scot’s first round match which I thought was slightly wrong.[/quote]

Sorry, I meant to say Anderson’s effort rather than Robson’s and have edited it now. Although, as you mention, the two of them are close mates and there was apparently a game last year where Anderson surprisingly lost 3-1 to Robson and betting patterns were very weird.

They’re more than mates. They’re business partners so if Anderson wins its good for Robson.

Anderson played Robson in the first round of the 2006 Lakeside and there was a lot of talk around at the time that the match was a fix. Bookies suspended betting on it due to irregular patterns on a 3-1 result in Anderson’s favour, which turned out to be the result. Nothing was ever proven though. Robson’s wife is one of the better looking darts tarts. Obviously not in the same league as Klaasen’s bird however.

That 2006 match must be the 3-1 game the lads were talking about.

The fooking noise from the board is ridiculous.

Wolfie was in a thriller tonight.

Nice little winner on Fitton to beat that Whitlock cunt. One Step Beyond.

Gary Anderson had to put up an annoyance from some Welsh mug who decided to hit 7 out of 7 darts at a double (ended up with a 9 from 10 average by the end). Anderson just scored heavy and the mug couldn’t live with him.

I would have loved to smack the head off the ugly cunt who Wolfie was playing last night. Some jug-eared dick called Dave Chisnall. He was way, way worse than Wade against Barney last week. Any time he messed up a 3 dart finish on his second dart, he literally sighed, paused, took a few steps back, shook his head a few times, had a wry smile, took a deep breath, walked forward again and threw his last dart. He was an absolute disgrace. Cunt.

It’s only Adams though.

He’s a cunt as well.

Was Martin Adams born England Captain?

Does it mean anything or is it just another ridiculous darting gimmick. Darth Maple anyone?