We plant our thoughts ahead of the PDC Ladbrokes World Championships and scatter our performance analysis, betting advice and other miscellany ahead of the finals.

Are all these Players Outstanding in the Field of Darts?

Posted: 13.12.10 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We plant our thoughts ahead of the PDC Ladbrokes World Championships and scatter our performance analysis, betting advice and other miscellany ahead of the finals.

Welcome to The Darts Performance Centre Darts Blog

Blog Update - 13 December 2010

We have a book review and a competition too!

Darts Miscellany - Review

Our signed copies of the Darts Miscellany have turned up as promised and it’s good! The write up on the cover promises one hundred and eight-eeee facts tales and anecdotes about the game and it does what is says on the book! You can skip through the `modern` history of the game from Deller to BraveDart, Sid, Rod Harrington and The Power (yes Robbie and Ricky get a shout out too,) they are all mixed in with The Crafty Cockney, Leighton Rees and Trina.

If lists are your thing then great, there are some classics, a couple of which we are going to pinch and put on the blog, so look out for them. There is even some sports science advice from, “The Viking” who reveals his pre-match nutrition routine “Before a match I like to relax with 25 bottles of Holsten Pils and six steak `n` kidney pies". If you find that hard to swallow “The Pie Man` reveals that he is a heart-throb in Holland, apparently the ladies of The Netherlands are not concerned if darts players carry a few extra pounds. “A few extra pounds” queries Matt Bozeat, the incredulous author of this neat piece of work.

If you want something to dip into whilst you are waiting for the next match to start during the forthcoming World Championships then this is the book for you and you won’t need too many extra pounds to get a copy. In fact none at all if you enter our competition to win one.

The Competition

In the spirit of the book send us your own trivia lists, they can be on any topic you like providing they are related to darts, no matter how tenuous the link. All we ask is for a minimum of three entries on your list and a maximum of ten. Email them to paul@dartsperformancecentre.com and anyone who sends in a list will go into the Darts Performance Centre hat where a winner will be drawn out by Junior Darts Analyst next Saturday. The best ones will also be popped onto the blog.

Ladbrokes.com - PDC World Championships

The first of the two World Finals, the PDC event, sponsored by bookmakers Ladbrokes gets underway on Thursday and we will be following events from Alexandra Palace, “the iconic venue that offers everything you want for an event”, except for an underground station or a taxi home at the end of the night I seem to remember!

What are you talking about?

The recent World Cup and the Grand Slam have given us plenty of blog fodder. We will of course be looking out for any performance analysis issues during the World Finals, you can bet on that. We will also be analysing Ladbrokes’ involvement with the competition, in particular the relationship between sport and gambling. We may even dispense some tips, but only if they are underpinned by a firm statistical base or we have thrown a dart at the fixture list to choose our winner.

See You Next Thursday

I can`t wait. It will be great to see some of the players we were `introduced` to at the recent World Cup. Magnus from Sweden and Mensur Suljovic, the player who baffles our bio-mechanist friends with his `unique` action. Also the dynamic Spaniard Alcinas, who rather incredibly seemed to have crept under the PDC radar despite reaching the last 16 in the PDC Amsterdam tournament this year? We will have more on his match against Wade nearer the time.

A Man Outstanding in his Field

Apparently, and keep this under your hat, the key to profitable betting is to back the value bet. There are just two other elements of `sage` betting advice I know. The first is that the odds generally reflect the chances of the likely outcome, hence the principle of `value` when the bookies potentially over-rate or under-rate a player`s chances. The second is form is crucial. Form may only be temporary but if it lasts for a whole darts match then happy days!

With that in mind we were surprised to see a man who has been outstanding in the darts field this season, Steve Farmer chalked up with just a 4 to 1 chance of beating our favourite Ozzie, Paul Nicholson. Steve Farmer has had a fantastic year, the excellent Darts Database website can help you here and by all accounts he is very dedicated to his practice regime (we like that). Nicholson does have the edge when it comes to experience on the stage so perhaps that may see him through. However, if you are that way inclined, it may be worth ploughing a pound or two into the `Farmers Market`.

Author: Paul Gillings ( paul@dartsperformancecentre.com )

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