Grand Slam of Darts 2013

KevIRL

Are you watching Phil Taylor, MvG showing how to do post match interviews

Kingp35

Kist having a nightmare on the doubles. It's making it easy for Lewis

leoch

Used to like mardle before he came a kiss arse physiatrist. And van gerwan pissed but very funny

rambojon

can any1 stop phil.. not a fan personally,, but seems to be in a diff league to every1 else at the mo.. only 1 leg dropped in 3 games..15-1.. wtf..?

mdwexford

Taylor getting cut from 6/4 to 4/6 for hacking up in an easy group is madness.

He will have to beat Anderson, Wade, Lewis/MVG and god knows who in the final to win it.
For once I hope Anderson shows up vs Taylor, hes been playing out of his skin so far.

Tarzann

rambojon wrote: »

can any1 stop phil.. not a fan personally,, but seems to be in a diff league to every1 else at the mo.. only 1 leg dropped in 3 games..15-1.. wtf..?

And his 2 televised games before that
10-2 Lewis
10-1 Wade

mdwexford

Great performance from O'Shea.

The BDO boys getting the job done tonight.

sc86

2 of the 3 best in bdo, pity bunting isnt there

briany

Ted can't find the proper line or weight so far. Looking not all that interested, but then when does he look all that interested?

Kingp35

Hanley having a nightmare here, really poor stuff.

Delighted O'Shea got through. I expected Waites to win and he didn't disappoint. Good close game between Thornton and King, it could easily have gone either way.

briany

Ted finding some form after all. Next session will be crucial. I think the break came at just the right time for Whitlock.

Kingp35

Ted has finally shown up, acting like a lunatic up there. Whitlock is delighted that the break has stopped Hamlets momentum a bit.

mdwexford

Kingp35 wrote: »

Hanley having a nightmare here, really poor stuff.

Kingp35 wrote: »

Ted has finally shown up, acting like a lunatic up there. Whitlock is delighted that the break has stopped Hamlets momentum a bit.

Auto correct gone mad or very drunk. :P

Kingp35

mdwexford wrote: »

Auto correct gone mad or very drunk. :P

Damn phone, not used to posting on boards with it. That's my excuse anyway

KevIRL

Brilliant stuff from the Count. Whitlock completely folded in that last leg though

briany

Ted wins!!!!!!

Kingp35

Whitlock crumbled under the pressure. Some serious 140 throwing from Hankey, fair play to him.

mdwexford

Whitlock did buckle in the end but Hankey did well to stay in it when he wasnt playing well.

gramar

I know Hankey isn't the most popular but I've always liked him even though he's infuriating to watch at times. One minute he was throwing 26's and the next 140's to beat the band. He looked like he wasn't up for it at all last night and that Whitlock was going to stroll into the 1/4's.

There is no doubt that Hankey's tactics of slowing down the game worked.
Poor dart, a long look to his left, shakes the head, shuffles his feet, drops dart...
All this definitely knocked Whitlock out of any rhythm and once Ted got going he looked really dangerous. He's a match for anyone but with Ted you just don't know who is going to turn up at the oche.

ebbsy

Ted Hankey reminds me of Alex Higgins - you just cannot stop watching for a second.

Although I see he has Scott Waites up next - thats going to be a tough one.

briany

ebbsy wrote: »

Ted Hankey reminds me of Alex Higgins - you just cannot stop watching for a second.

Although I see he has Scott Waites up next - thats going to be a tough one.

Waites doesn't strike me as the type to be affected by anything Ted can do (within reason). He just kind of gets on with it. Then again, I never expected Whitlock to be affected either. Even if Whitlock wasn't affected by Ted's psychological games, his confidence certainly took a knock from something. His confidence was seriously flagging in those last few legs and maybe I haven't been watching him enough, but I don't think I've seen him be that fragile before.

I was thinking last night as the game began that this could be the last time we see Ted on TV. His 2 years since his Lakeside semi final are up and he's still struggling badly to get up the ladder of the Pro Tour, stuck at 86. Save for the odd appearance at the UK Open, if at all, or being parachuted into events for box appeal, this could be it for Ted. He's won the match against Whitlock but maybe even more importantly, people are talking about Ted and taking him seriously.

shockframe

briany wrote: »

I was thinking last night as the game began that this could be the last time we see Ted on TV. His 2 years since his Lakeside semi final are up and he's still struggling badly to get up the ladder of the Pro Tour, stuck at 86. Save for the odd appearance at the UK Open, if at all, or being parachuted into events for box appeal, this could be it for Ted. He's won the match against Whitlock but maybe even more importantly, people are talking about Ted and taking him seriously.

There isnt a hope that Ted will be allowed disappear from darts. Too valuable antics wise.He's not the best player in it and whilst there has been some great games and Taylor has won it twice, since hankeys debut in 2009 he has been the major talking point.The GSOD is his tournament in effect.

There has been talks all week about changes to the format.They changed it once to get him back in (2011) and they'll do whatever it takes to make him a permanent fixture in this.

The public dont want events like this with yer Piemans,Walshie's,Osbourne's etc.Losing Ted (and the BDO players) makes it a whole lot duller.

briany

shockframe wrote: »

There isnt a hope that Ted will be allowed disappear from darts. Too valuable antics wise.He's not the best player in it and whilst there has been some great games and Taylor has won it twice, since hankeys debut in 2009 he has been the major talking point.The GSOD is his tournament in effect.

There has been talks all week about changes to the format.They changed it once to get him back in (2011) and they'll do whatever it takes to make him a permanent fixture in this.

The public dont want events like this with yer Piemans,Walshie's,Osbourne's etc.Losing Ted (and the BDO players) makes it a whole lot duller.

There's no doubt that the PDC would like to keep Ted around but I certainly think there's a limit to what they'll do to keep him on TV. Their business certainly is not reliant on him and MVG, Taylor and Barney are still more than enough to pull in capacity crowds, as well as the fact that huge amounts of those crowds have a passing interest in darts at best and are there for the chance to get drunk, dress up and get a couple of seconds on camera. The more serious fans amongst would like to see Ted on there but at least somewhat on his own merit. Sky might try to push for a wildcard placement in the 2014 Premier League, though.

Kingp35

I wouldn't like to see rules changed just so a player can play in a tournament. If Hankey is good enough to be in it then he should earn the right like everyone else.

I have to agree though that this could be the end of Ted on the TV. He doesn't seem to have the game for the countless PDC floor tournaments and he doesn't seem to be qualifying for the European Tour Events either which are becoming more important as regards ranking points. There's no doubt he is good enough to move up the rankings but he has to figure out how to compete on the floor with no crowd to play off in order to get his career back on track.

retalivity

Nicholson having a mare

Kingp35

retalivity wrote: »

Nicholson having a mare

He can't hit a double to save his life. Wade is playing decent but that's about it, it's all too easy for him. He actually looks embarrassed at times winning some of the legs Nicholson has messed up.

DuckHook

Kingp35 wrote: »

He can't hit a double to save his life. Wade is playing decent but that's about it, it's all too easy for him. He actually looks embarrassed at times winning some of the legs Nicholson has messed up.

Did we expect Nicholson to even be competitive in this, he is a distinctly average pro.

briany

Kingp35 wrote: »

I wouldn't like to see rules changed just so a player can play in a tournament. If Hankey is good enough to be in it then he should earn the right like everyone else.

I have to agree though that this could be the end of Ted on the TV. He doesn't seem to have the game for the countless PDC floor tournaments and he doesn't seem to be qualifying for the European Tour Events either which are becoming more important as regards ranking points. There's no doubt he is good enough to move up the rankings but he has to figure out how to compete on the floor with no crowd to play off in order to get his career back on track.

I'm sure Ted had to grind his way through many a floor game in the BDO so I don't think it's like he was faced with this unexpected culture shock upon joining the PDC. Any pro dart player should be able to bring their A-game to that environment just as easily as they would to the big stage, if not even more easily. I think that Ted has just been lazy with his game, probably wasn't ready for the quality he'd face on a day-to-day in the PDC and came over with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a slight sense of entitlement. He's not ignorant, he knew he'd have to climb the ladder but he'd seen the others make a relatively smooth transition and thought it ought to be the same for him. Not so, it would seem. A pity because I was certainly hoping to see plenty of Ted on TV. The tournaments would be that much better if Hankey, Manley and Mardle could mix it.

Also, admittedly, Ted has been suffering poor health over the last 12 months or so, and that can't help.

Kingp35

I reckon Huybrechts will win this one

DuckHook

Interesting game now with brothers..funny thing if I was up there playing my own bro i would want to hammer him so I could lord it over him for the rest of our days.