2011 Premier League Darts Thread

Kingp35

So the Premier League is back on our screens this Thursday. This thread is to discuss everything about the competition.

I have to say that this is the strongest lineup there has ever been with all of the players capable of beating each other. It's going to make for an interesting tournament.

The opening night is in the O2 arena and here is the order of play.

Mark Webster V James Wade
Gary Anderson V Simon Whitlock
Raymond van Barneveld V Terry Jenkins
Adrian Lewis V Phil Taylor

mackeire

I still think King should be in it. Cant see why he wasn't picked as a wildcard from his 2 years previous in the prem league reaching the final and semi's.

He should be in instead of Barney or Jenkins.

dartbhoy

I've just seen on the PDC website that 888.com are the new sponsors of the Premier League. I was only commenting on another thread about how the PDC would struggle to get a sponsor at this late stage for the Premier League but credit due to the PDC for securing sponsorship for this event again in the current difficult economic times.

Devastator

Can't wait! Although I'm working late on Thursday and will miss the opening night :mad: I hope sly sports show a replay at about 1am...they usually do.



Anyone else going to the Belfast night on 24th? Looks a good lineup, we've been pretty lucky with some of the matchups over last few years

UCD AFC

Seems like yesterday we watched Lewis win the WC, well for me anyway. Time flies! Looking forward to this.

chalkie 501

awesome line-up alright,going over to it thursday morning with a gang of scoop monkeys,im ashamed to say myself and the same gang went last year and 3 of them fell asleep during the taylor V whitlock game......i suppose we'd been travelling since 5 that morning and had been enjoying the local brews all day... if anyones going we found a brilliant pub for throwing in Bayswater,the daniel gooch its called,lovely throw,pool table,juke box,good beer and nice bar maids:p.....cant wait

Dillonb3

I'm really looking forward to Lewis and Taylor-it would be interesting to see if Taylor gets his form back after his disappointing world championship.

chalkie 501

taylor changed his darts again,he just won the players championship at the weekend,taking out a 128 in the final to beat anderson 13-12,id say taylor will be on form,it'll be interesting to see how lewis copes with all the new pressure, he got knocked out early at the weekend.should be a high scoring game anyway

minty16

First night will be very interesting. I think Taylor will beat Lewis. How has James Wade been doing since the worlds ? I fancy Phil, Barney and Anderson but am undecided on the Wade/Webster clash.

Lemegeton

minty16 wrote: »

First night will be very interesting. I think Taylor will beat Lewis. How has James Wade been doing since the worlds ? I fancy Phil, Barney and Anderson but am undecided on the Wade/Webster clash.

Wade was **** at the weekend and he has either hit the booze or the pies since the worlds as he put on a serious amount of weight. i would go for webster based on how they both looked last weekend

vindaloo1

I'd go for Webster, Anderson, Jenkins and Taylor.

mdwexford

Definitely looks the strongest line up ever.
All four of tonights games really could go either way.

Cant wait.

Degag

Webster coming out with some fella dressed as Spiderman. I thought they had reached the bottom of the barrell when they had the cast of The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars:rolleyes:

Degag

Apparently Lewis is after leaving his wife and kid. Will probably affect his performances.

link

buster180

Is Wade pissed??

dexter647

buster180 wrote: »

Is Wade pissed??

Yea def looked pissed and a bit aggro at the start as well... I think it's all getting a bit much for james

buster180

dexter647 wrote: »

Yea def looked pissed and a bit aggro at the start as well... I think it's all getting a bit much for james

I think that was something to do with the lighting. Both players were not happy with something overhead.

Emnes

Good win for Anderson, although he was poor in last leg.

dexter647

buster180 wrote: »

I think that was something to do with the lighting. Both players were not happy with something overhead.

Ok maybe your right but it seemed to be bothering wade a lot more... Anyway anderson looking the real deal tonight:)

Fr Tierney

The camera angles seem all wrong for the bottom of the board and for the doubles. Its ok for the 20's but I cant really see where the darts are when they switch to the 2nd or 3rd camera for the 19s and 17s.
Anyone else seeing the same problem ?
Or is it just me

LuckyGent88

Fr Tierney wrote: »

The camera angles seem all wrong for the bottom of the board and for the doubles. Its ok for the 20's but I cant really see where the darts are when they switch to the 2nd or 3rd camera for the 19s and 17s.
Anyone else seeing the same problem ?
Or is it just me

Think they are a bit fogged up alright. Seem a bit blurry.

LuckyGent88

Some brilliant but also some awful darts from Barny so far. 3 all at the break

LuckyGent88

Great comeback there from Jenkins to win that match. Wins 4 in a row to win 8-6. Barney just looks so depressed with his darts.

LuckyGent88

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Great comeback there from Jenkins to win that match. Wins 4 in a row to win 8-6. Barney just looks so depressed with his darts.

Shame he couldn't have won one more leg and took the loss then, could have had two bets running onto Lewis(to win and with +1.5).... left with just the handicap bet now, luckily i covered myself with Jenkins +1.5

LuckyGent88

Great stuff from Lewis already. 4-2 up at the break. Check-out of 90 in 6th leg to win it...he went bull, double top :eek: Cheeky stuff

monkey9

Devastator wrote: »

Can't wait! Although I'm working late on Thursday and will miss the opening night :mad: I hope sly sports show a replay at about 1am...they usually do.



Anyone else going to the Belfast night on 24th? Looks a good lineup, we've been pretty lucky with some of the matchups over last few years

It's on again at 1am alright!

LuckyGent88

WOW :eek::eek: LEWIS BEATS TAYLOR 8-2 Great stuff from Lewis. The tide is changing me thinks.

iMuse

Ah taylor had the flu. Theres always an excuse for him playing bad

monkey9

So is the tide changing?? I think Phil Taylor has forced everyone to have to up their game to match him giving us probably the best standard of darts in it's history at this time.

monkey9

iMuse wrote: »

Ah taylor had the flu. Theres always an excuse for him playing bad

In fairness, it wasn't Taylor who gave that excuse.

dartbhoy

Good to see Lewis putting his personal problems behind him and putting on a brilliant performance. As for Taylor this result will hurt him but I'm sure he'll bounce back to form again soon.

monkey9

It's going to be a brilliant league this year. When you think that Barney and Taylor have already lost. It sets things up a bit.

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if the final of this end up being a repeat of the World Championship final.

I just can't wait to see how this league unfolds!!

Keano

I cannot believe that score in the Taylor match. :eek:

Taylor has made them all improve massively to get near him and that's only improving the game.

Lemegeton

monkey9 wrote: »

It's going to be a brilliant league this year. When you think that Barney and Taylor have already lost. It sets things up a bit.

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if the final of this end up being a repeat of the World Championship final.

I just can't wait to see how this league unfolds!!

barney lost more than he won last year. not really a shock. shock result for taylor. did he use his new darts again

Lemegeton

Degag wrote: »

Apparently Lewis is after leaving his wife and kid. Will probably affect his performances.

link

he did that 4 days after winning the worlds. makes him come across as a right **** as far as im concerned

Shame Barney didn't win and I'd have had up a 33/1 accum.... still got my small cover bet up though.

monkey9

Lemegeton wrote: »

barney lost more than he won last year. not really a shock. shock result for taylor. did he use his new darts again

Ah yeah, i just mean the old guard are fighting now against the new breed (can you call Anderson part of the new breed at 40?? )

It just seems now that everything is levelling out to an amazing standard of darts where anyone can win this league and there are a lot more players well capable of winning tv tournaments rather than just thinking Taylor has it sewn up!

monkey9

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Shame Barney didn't win and I'd have had up a 33/1 accum.... still got my small cover bet up though.

33/1?? How much did you have on it??

monkey9

monkey9 wrote: »

33/1?? How much did you have on it??

Only bet small, so E2(cause i was planning on taking out an even amount) so just used the extra E4 i had and did two bets.

Did Webster, Anderson, Barney and Lewis and then a handicap bet of Webster(+1.5), Anderson(-1.5), Jenkins(+1.5) and Lewis(+1.5)

Handicap bet paid 12/1 or so, which wasn't too bad.

I wasn't overly confident of Barney hence how i went against him with the handicap, again one of the form players of the championships in Jenkins putting in a good showing.

Webster and Lewis were very good prices of 6/4 and 9/4(Lewis) considering their World Championship form.

Bookies had 3 of the 4 semi finalists as outsiders... only one they got right was Anderson and rightly so.

Degag

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Great stuff from Lewis already. 4-2 up at the break. Check-out of 90 in 6th leg to win it...he went bull, double top :eek: Cheeky stuff

I wouldn't call it cheeky. Going for the bull would be the percentage shot because 2 outer bulls gives you a dart at tops.

chalkie 501

going BULL-TOPS is a sweet finish,but can leave you looking silly when it doesnt work out.i would reckon T20 D15 is the percentage shot,coz if you miss the treble you still have other options to finish...T20 D5,single 20 Bull....and how often do they miss the treble with their first 2 darts?of course the finish you go for is dictated by what your opponent is on.it was nice to see it done against taylor though:)

Gillysome

Really good to have the premier league back. Seen the replay today as I missed it last night. Webster was particularly impressive in beating wade. The Anderson v Whitlock game was also very good, unusual for Whitlock to miss so many doubles. Barney and Taylor still seem to be off their game. Really think barney needs to get his head sorted before he's a major threat in tournaments. I still expect Taylor to come on strong sooner rather than later but he was very poor last night and never pushed Lewis who was comfortable throughout.

padr81

chalkie 501 wrote: »

going BULL-TOPS is a sweet finish,but can leave you looking silly when it doesnt work out.i would reckon T20 D15 is the percentage shot,coz if you miss the treble you still have other options to finish...T20 D5,single 20 Bull....and how often do they miss the treble with their first 2 darts?of course the finish you go for is dictated by what your opponent is on.it was nice to see it done against taylor though:)

Imho bull - tops is just as good a percentage shot for a pro. As a 25 (which is the worst 99.9999% of pro's will hit) leaves you 65 which a pro should easily leave a dart at tops with another 25, or at least go 15 bull.

chalkie 501

padr81 wrote: »

Imho bull - tops is just as good a percentage shot for a pro. As a 25 (which is the worst 99.9999% of pro's will hit) leaves you 65 which a pro should easily leave a dart at tops with another 25, or at least go 15 bull.

i agree its a good percentage shot for the pros(ive been known to take it out that way myself,god knows im not a pro:)) and yes they will hit the 50 first time a lot,but if they hit the 25 to leave 65,obviously 25 again but how many times have we seen the 50 being hit?....i know its rare but we have also seen the 25 being missed under pressure

minty16

These players do not need to play percentages most of the time. T20 D15 is an awful shot because the double doesn't splt. I would say the most common way of checking this out on the tour would be T18 D18 by a fair bit.

greened

for 90 finish T20 should be your first dart. Single leaves you 70, with 2 in hand, T20 D5 or 20 Bull. Going 18's means that you have to hit a triple to get put. 20's route is the only way that you can finsih with out hitting triple if you get a single number with your first dart.

going Bull/25 is another good option but takes a bit more accuracy.

chalkie 501

minty16 wrote: »

T20 D15 is an awful shot because the double doesn't splt. I would say the most common way of checking this out on the tour would be T18 D18 by a fair bit.

i wouldnt agree with that im sorry,D15 isnt a preferred double granted,but under pressure T18 D18 is not a percentage shot....what the pros want to make sure of is making sure they get at least 1 dart at a double(or bull)going the 18's route wont guarantee a shot at a double

Degag

minty16 wrote: »

These players do not need to play percentages most of the time. T20 D15 is an awful shot because the double doesn't splt. I would say the most common way of checking this out on the tour would be T18 D18 by a fair bit.

The simple answer is that t18 d18 is the preferred finish when your oponant has no finish or a relitively high finish.

When your oponent has a two darter, you should be going for 20s or the bull route.

tonmachine

Simon Whitlock -v- Raymond van Barneveld
James Wade -v- Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor -v- Mark Webster
Terry Jenkins -v- Gary Anderson

Game 1: Whitlock's missed doubles last week cost him against Jenkins and I cant see him missing many tonight. Barney was average last week still doesnt look very comfortable at the line. Prediction: 8 - 4 Whitlock

Game 2: Wade hasn't had a great start to the year while Lewis looked every bit the world champion he is last week. Prediction 8 - 2 Lewis

Game 3: Webster had a good win against an out of sorts James Wade last week where-as Taylor looked very poor against Lewis. Apparantly he was just getting over a flu so should be back on track this week. Prediction 8 - 5 Taylor

Game 4: Jenkins enjoyed a hard fought win against Barney last week but with Anderson power scoring and hitting his doubles comfortably I cant see him getting past the Scotsman. Prediction 8 - 2 Anderson

The Bison

The format is best of 14 legs not 12 Tonmachine

tonmachine

The Bison wrote: »

The format is best of 14 legs not 12 Tonmachine

Cheers I get carried away with myself sometimes