Just watched Barry Hearn's World Darts Final

Colin Colenso

Colin Colenso

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It makes the Mosconi Cup look like a jog in the park.

Such an electric fun atmosphere. Who could imagine darts could be produced in such a magnetic way.

The players must be encouraged to celebrate every up moment, the crowd just gets into it regardless. It's amazing stuff... pool ought to follow their lead.

btw. Winner 250k pounds, runner up 100k pounds... I'm guessing nearly double that for US$.

And the crowd booed Barry Hearn when he was announced.... says a lot about the stupidity of the masses.
 
Colin Colenso said:
It makes the Mosconi Cup look like a jog in the park.

Such an electric fun atmosphere. Who could imagine darts could be produced in such a magnetic way.

The players must be encouraged to celebrate every up moment, the crowd just gets into it regardless. It's amazing stuff... pool ought to follow their lead.

btw. Winner 250k pounds, runner up 100k pounds... I'm guessing nearly double that for US$.

And the crowd booed Barry Hearn when he was announced.... says a lot about the stupidity of the masses.
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Yup, I watched the Darts Championship match when I was in England last July, and have watched it many times over the years. I've often seen the contestants actually drink beer during the matches, making them instant idols to those who play this pub game. The announcers are absolutely amazing, too, but the best of them all, Sid Waddell, sadly died during the 2012 London Olympics.

In America, nearly everybody tries their hand at baseball in their youth and the difficulty of hitting the ball a long way is something everyone understands, let alone when the ball is travelling at over 90 miles per hour. I think darts has a similar advantage. Everybody has tried their hand at darts and can appreciate how difficult it is. When somebody throws the maximum 180 with their three darts, people understand that it's something very special.

It has often been pointed out on this forum that the pros make pool look too easy, and, of course, it is easy if you play position as well as Ralf Souquet (or, if you prefer, your favorite pattern player). Pool, too often, is a sequence of shots each at least 75% to succeed. Few understand how difficult the position play really is, and that is to pool's disadvantage.

Darts is, indeed, fun to watch, and the skill of the competitors is hit you over the head obvious. By the way, I'm awful at darts.
 
Booing Barry. I have no idea why they would do that.

. I've often seen the contestants actually drink beer during the matches
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Back when we only had 2 channels to watch. I remember watching the Wide World of Sports on Saturday.

They often televised Snooker and Darts. It was the norm to see a Dart player with a pint of beer on the table next to him and a cigarette hanging from his lips.
 
The trouble with darts, played at a high level, is that it loses it's excitement.

after all, the better you are, the more you get board



you think that's bad?...you should see me play darts
:o
 
sjm said:
It has often been pointed out on this forum that the pros make pool look too easy, and, of course, it is easy if you play position as well as Ralf Souquet (or, if you prefer, your favorite pattern player). Pool, too often, is a sequence of shots each at least 75% to succeed. Few understand how difficult the position play really is, and that is to pool's disadvantage.

Darts is, indeed, fun to watch, and the skill of the competitors is hit you over the head obvious. By the way, I'm awful at darts.
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Very true Stu. I'd say that pub players often take on, and sometimes make shots that pros rarely attempt, playing safe instead. So when the bangers watch a pro match, it looks like most the shots are so easy that they could make it.

I play a no-safety rotation game where 2 rails need to be hit in addition to pocketing the ball. It results in many wow factor shots.

I think that's why artistic pool gets more air play than pro pool, despite all the 1 handed jump shots and other silliness.

Syd was something special :(
 
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he looked me dead in the eye and said "I use a touch of inside on every throw"......

pt109 said:
The trouble with darts, played at a high level, is that it loses it's excitement.

after all, the better you are, the more you get board



you think that's bad?...you should see me play darts
:o
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Yes, I agree. When I lived in Tampa Florida there was a Champion Dart Player I used to hang around occasionally. One night I ask him to show me how good he really played and he did.....it was pretty monotonous, he simply hit every number he wanted every time......I ask him what his "secret" was and he looked me dead in the eye and said "I use a touch of inside on every throw"......WOW, what are the odds?
 
CJ Wiley said:
Yes, I agree. When I lived in Tampa Florida there was a Champion Dart Player I used to hang around occasionally. One night I ask him to show me how good he really played and he did.....it was pretty monotonous, he simply hit every number he wanted every time.
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Yeap, very monotonous to practice darts. The enjoyment of watching the matches is mainly the drama of their nerves being tested at the end of each leg.

Compare that to 9 ball, where 90% of games are decided by the time someone gets on the 4 ball. If I were going to invent a game that lacks drama, it would look something like 9-ball. 9 ball only gets that drama aspect when it is played by C players. But they might as well just play 3 ball.

I like the idea of legs and sets to build drama points within the match too.
 
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.maybe the "aliens" have invaded after all.

Colin Colenso said:
Yeap, very monotonous to practice darts. The enjoyment of watching the matches is mainly the drama of their nerves being tested at the end of each leg.

Compare that to 9 ball, where 90% of games are decided by the time someone gets on the 4 ball. If I were going to invent a game that lacks drama, it would look something like 9-ball.

I like the idea of legs and sets to build drama points within the match too.
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Yes, if they don't start playing 'Two Shot Shoot Out' with 2 Foul rules 9 Ball is doomed. If they change the rules, the whole scenario changes and pool becomes the world's #1 sport.....well, maybe not #1, but "closer" to #1 anyway. ;)

If pool isn't more exciting than darts and poker something's really, really, wrong on planet earth.....maybe the "aliens" have invaded after all. :groucho:
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It wasn't this year,and it wasn't even a WC final,but a few years ago I was flipping thru the channels and ran up on a dart match in their Premier League.

It was Phil Taylor and some other guy. They were playing 701,3 out of 5 sets,races to 5. I only saw them miss ONE time each in an hour. If they needed a double 17,or a single 5,whatever,THEY HIT IT.

There was one time where the official stopped the match and had to change the board,because they wore the triple 20 OUT,like someone hit it with a shotgun.

Phil won,but it was closer than I would have suspected. Tommy D.
 
Colin Colenso said:
It makes the Mosconi Cup look like a jog in the park.

Such an electric fun atmosphere. Who could imagine darts could be produced in such a magnetic way.

The players must be encouraged to celebrate every up moment, the crowd just gets into it regardless. It's amazing stuff... pool ought to follow their lead.

btw. Winner 250k pounds, runner up 100k pounds... I'm guessing nearly double that for US$.

And the crowd booed Barry Hearn when he was announced.... says a lot about the stupidity of the masses.
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That is very cool. Barry is involved in quite a few sports. I like his style.

I actually met a dart hustler in Virginia one time. He traveled the country hustling darts. I guess he was a road agent for darts. :grin-square:
 
CJ Wiley said:
Yes, if they don't start playing 'Two Shot Shoot Out' with 2 Foul rules 9 Ball is doomed. If they change the rules, the whole scenario changes and pool becomes the world's #1 sport.....well, maybe not #1, but "closer" to #1 anyway. ;)
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2 Shot 2 Foul would improve the game. At lease we'd see see the pros going for some tough shots (wow factor), and there is drama in players pushing out to a position that tests the opponent. But most games are still gonna be decided by the 4 ball, after which we see the same old routine finishes that have failed to please audiences.

I think we need a game that forces players to play extreme shots... the kind of shots few can execute, which require extremes in skill, power and english.

I play a version of rotation with 11 balls, where you must hit 2 additional rails. 1 point per ball. Sets are race to 2 legs, each leg is a race to 17 points. When a player misses, or pockets a ball without hitting the required 2 rails, the opponent comes in ball in hand. It's quite a challenge to run 5 or 6. Several shots per leg are wow shots that keep a run going.

Whoever pots the final ball has the break. If the breaker makes a ball, he continues from where the CB finishes, if he doesn't make a ball, it is end of visit, so the opponent gets BIH.

The 2 rails can be any way, such as a simple bank with CB going to 1 rail, or caroming into another OB knocking it 2 rails, or kicking 2 rails to a pot.
 
Dartloupetv has been posting up all the matches on youtube within a day of the match being over.

The Taylor vs Lewis match from last year was the most impressive one I've seen so far: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHoZiiZ9_4

Pool will never come remotely close to golf's popularity, maybe someday it will get close to darts level.
 
bud green said:
Dartloupetv has been posting up all the matches on youtube within a day of the match being over.

The Taylor vs Lewis match from last year was the most impressive one I've seen so far: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHoZiiZ9_4

Pool will never come remotely close to golf's popularity, maybe someday it will get close to darts level.
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Thanks for sharing. Love darts. I played in a dart tourny in Vegas once for some laughs and those foreign guys are REALLY amazing. At 9am with beer in hand they were throwing lights out. Really wild stuff.
 
They've just started promoting big darts events in Australia. There is one next weekend where they are expecting 4,000 people to pay $30 and up seat prices to attend. Last year was the 1st year of this and they got 1,000 people... was a great success based on reviews I've seen and rated very well on TV.

They have a World Snooker event here in OZ too, and can't fill the 200 seats... lucky to get 10 people watching most the matches.

Clearly there is a problem with billiard events as a marketable product. Mosconi Cup the lone exception.

This was the first Australian event, 4 months ago. It makes the Mosconi Cup look like a sleepy hollow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O3--HBJAxk
 
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