Great day and great night of darts

Atmosphere in there was brilliant if at times a little intimidating as an Englishman. Especially when Anderson went 4-0 up. Though there were a few comments/ shouts which were a little OTT (as with some of the comments Hankey received in the Grand Slam)
There seemed a resignation after Wade's great comeback that Taylor was going to hammer Thornton and it'd pretty much be game over. And that's how it turned out.

Just read in paper some mad jock swilled the power

The draw for the [url=http://www.pdc.tv/page/WorldChampsDetail/0,,10180~1897380,00.html2010 Ladbrokes.com World Championships[/url.

The first £1million tournament.

No Anastasia ?

Jamie Caven gets Gary Anderson after drawing Taylor and Wade in his last 2 TV tournament 1st rounds.

Someone up there does not like him.

Terry Jenkins v Paul Nicholson and Colin Osbourne v Simon whitlock stand out for me.

Just looking at the draw again and Peter Manley has Andy Jenkins.....I thought Jenkins was banned for 4 months or has that been overturned????

I think he's appealed so the ban won't start until after that hearing which is after the Worlds
Puts him in a bad position for next year if it's upheld as he'll be banned during a lot of the qualifying tournaments

That's about what I can gather from amongst the insults and stuff on [urlhttp://www.doublefinish.com[/url

Oh right makes sense.

Not this year, you're out of luck. She lost in the final of the Russian qualifying!!

Can't wait now, I'm going on the Sunday the match of the round for me is Mark Walsh v Mark Webster and that's on the Sunday afternoon so I'm very happy. It seems so long since May or June when the tickets came out, I'll be on the front tables all day so plenty of tele appearances too

Webby has not really proved himself yet with the PDC and its a tough draw....much as I would love him to win think Walsh will be too good in that one.

I'm with Walshy on that one, I like Walsh. Couldn't throw a dart few years back and now he's playing better than ever. Last year at the Worlds Walshy played the afternoon I was there and almost hit a 9 darter, he missed the double.

Anyway, Manley in a TV tournament at last, needs big one this time. COME ON ONE DART!!

Agree with you on Manley and fingers crossed for a good run from him

Most definately. It's been far too long. Hasn't been in a TV tournament since Las Vegas Classic and before that it might have been the world champs last year! Not good enough. Good run and he can fly back up the rankings.

Hope his heart is still in it as he still has a lot to offer but once players get on that slippery slope falling down the rankings it is not that easy to stop. Mardle is finding that and I would not be surprised if John Part is the next to follow them down once his World Title win does not count for the rankings he could easily end up out of the top 16 in no time.

Agree there,Manley is a good player and he can take the flak from the crowd.
To me Mardle is trying to be more of a showman ,than a darts player.
As for John Part,I feel hughely disappointed about his form,always been one of my favourite players.Is it the travelling,or is it the fact there are a lot more excellent players out there that has caused his dip in form?

Hard to say as I do not think the likes of Hamilton, Lewis, Baxter etc in and around the Top 10 are getting any better, take away King and no one has really made a massive impact despite some top players being displaced. Anderson will be up there in no time but him apart people you might have expected to push on have not ie. Thornton, Tabern, Osbourne. Perhaps the fact Taylor is so dominant means average players have average ambitions and the are happy to make quarter finals and the odd semi without having a real winning mentality and the fact they can make £150k a year doing that probably does not help in driving themselves forward.

For me Wade ,King and Anderson could give Taylor a challenge on their day. Although love or hate him,Taylor is obviously in a league of his own.
(Although in one of the "I love darts" magazine,Hankey did state Taylor was scared to play him.

)

I have no problem with the players down to Terry Jenkins in the rankings as I tend to think they get what they deserve it is the next ten to twenty players who achieve very little and reap the benefits without ever looking like reaching a final or testing a Taylor or even a Wade, Barney or King.


I think infact the BDO players have probably more bottle and a killer instinct as they have to win tournaments to make a decent living and they showed at the Grand Slam they can put some big name PDC players away with ease.

Isn't Mardle affected by a health problem ATM?

He is but he has been on the slide since his exit to Kirk Shepherd in the World Champs 2 years ago and the way the rankings work his illness has only had a partial effect on his fall.

Oh yeah, no doubt. But the illness won't help him improve his performance.

It's a shame for the sport really, it needs characters like Mardle to be doing well and doing well in tournaments, because he gets crowds going.

Agreed though he does not help himself as often he goes too far in the walk on and lets the first few legs slip away without getting into them. He struggles to get the balance between the showman and the darts player right I am affraid.

The problem is, the crowd expect big things from Mardle during his walk. That's all part of the Mardle package, I agree, he definitely needs to improve the way he starts matches as that is his problem, by the time he gets going, he is often too far away to win the match.

On his day, he is as good as anybody else, he just doesn't seem to have "his day" too often, not lately anyway.

I imagine he'll still get one of the wildcards for the Premier League just because he is such a big crowd pleaser and atmosphere creater, which Sky and the PDC ultimately want.

I've been saying for ages I think it will be Anderson and Priestley (as he is supposed to be quitting next year) but time will tell.

I didn't know that "been sh17" is a health problem.