Darts, Beers, & Cheers!

Posts Tagged ‘Phil Taylor’

My Taylor Signed Shirt n Photo – cheers Bravo

If you follow this website closely, then you’ll know I ‘worked’ for Bravo TV during their European Darts Championship coverage a couple of months ago.  I was their ‘online darts guru’ – which meant I did their twitter coverage for them, keeping people up with the scores, giving stats and head to head info for every game.

As way of thanks, they sent me a few goodies – and I thought I’d get a picture and post them up here, as they are taking pride of place in my small darts collection (along with the Steve Maish original darts of course!).

I’ve now got a Phil Taylor autographed PDC white shirt – very smart it is too – maybe I’ll wear it on a special occasion, and a Bravo branded Phil Taylor signed photo (A4 and very nice quality).

I’m chuffed to bits with the shirt – as Phil has added “3 in Germany” on it, as he was celebrating his 3rd success as the only ever winner of the European Darts Championships!

Taylor Retains Title – Wins WMP in Blackpool

Well I watched the final of the World Match Play in a local pub, enjoying the 3D Sky coverage.  The 3D is AMAZING and better than I thought it would be.  We did literary duck some of the early darts..

The good news was, Barney was up for a fight, and kept the game close until near the end.  Taylor was quite awesome though, he never lets up, keeps hitting the big numbers again and again.   The finishing was deadly too – both players knew they had to finish immediately, even when the opponent was back on a ton+ finish.

So all in all a great final, with proper competitive darts – something that Taylor hadn’t had all tournament.

Match Stats

Raymond van Barneveld	12-18	Phil Taylor
46	100+	35
24	140+	28
2	180	9
33.37	Ave1	35.05
100.11	Ave3	105.16
136	High Finish	135,105
1	Legs Against Throw	4

World Match Play Semi-final results

Well I managed to sneak home earlier than I thought, so managed to start watching the Barney vs. Wade game before the end.  So the great news is, it is the REAL BARNEY – he is back!   The game actually looked a little one sided, Barney pretty much destroying James Wade.

So we’re possibly going to have a very interesting final depending on how the Phil Taylor vs. Simon Whitlock game goes…

Game 1: RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD 17-8 JAMES WADE

Game 2: PHIL TAYLOR 16 – 4 SIMON WHITLOCK

Oh dear – Phil is kicking bottom early on in his game vs. Simon Whitlock… it’s serious stuff, and Whitlock needs to pick up his average big time now.

Simon continues a low average, and Taylor is beating him up big style here.  I thought that Simon would do more, but couldn’t see him beating Taylor as I said in my preview earlier today.

Taylor ran away a winner in the end, leaving Whitlock way behind.

So our finals is the ‘old firm’ clash, of Taylor vs. Barneveld.

PDC Unicorn Women’s World Championship Final

Stacy Bromberg 6-5 Tricia Wright
Best of 11 legs (first to six, no tie-breaker)

Nerves are playing a big part in tonights game between Tricia and Stacy – both missing darts they’d normally easily hit.  It can’t be easy coming up late after two big games, and with a crowd so large.  Tricia is not scoring well, but Stacy has missed important doubles to keep the game with throw.

Tricia breaks Stacy, and goes 3-2 up.. if she can hold her throw.. WHICH SHE DOES.  4-2!  Two more and we have an English world champ!

Well done Stacy – who took the last two legs to win the match, and to become the 1st PDC Womens World Champion!

World Match Play, Semi final preview by Krispy

Semi-Finals

7pm start
James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

So it’s the business end of the play from Blackpool, and this year’s event has thrown up what I’d probably call “The Dream 4″ – pretty much the four best darts players in the world at the moment (be that PDC or BDO) playing each other in the semi finals.  All in 3D too!  If you fancy watching the games in 3D, you’ll need to find yourself a pub showing it – 3D pub finder here.

The bad news for me – I’m out this evening, so will miss the games!!  So no live updates from me     I’ll tape it and watch Sunday morning, so no telling me the scores!

Anyway, back to this evening’s games… and where would I start?

James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld

Tasty!  Even when you look at the stats you can hardly separate these two, and the head-to-head wins is; James Wade 12-13 Raymond van Barneveld – so Barney JUST has the edge.  Even this year, their two games in the premier league are split 1 win each.

Barney has been good and relaxed all tournament – almost back to his best.  Wade started badly, but has improved game by game.  Wade is also a big game player, as I think big games give him that kick up the bum to concentrate.

To be honest I can’t really call it – if we have got the old Barney back, then I think he will win, but it’s a test like this against Wade which will determine if he still does have the mental strength to win.

Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

This game keeps popping up this year – with a cracker of a world Final to start them off.  Many people (me included) see Whitlock as one of the 2 or 3 players who will be challenging for the worlds best spot as (WHEN?!) Taylor starts to lose his power.   Taylor still dominates Whitlock when you look at their head-2-head, 7-2 in Taylors favour.

Based on tournament form – and seeing Taylor win the other night without actually getting into top gear or being challenged by Painter, I think Taylor will win tonight, BUT it will be a close game, with a HUGE average (110) if Whitlock does push hard.

Ladies World Championship

Don’t forget, tonight is also the PDC Womens World Championship final! It’s a shame it’s being shown AFTER the men’s semi’s, as the crowd might be a little worse for wear and all cheered out, but we can’t have everything.  I hope it’s not too late for the ladies, as they deserve the respect they are due.  There’s big money on offer, with a £10,000 top prize (which is huge compared to prizes they have played for previously), plus other benefits (qual for the grand slam of darts included).

The ladies final is best of 11 legs, and is between England’s Tricia Wright V Stacey Bromberg of USA.

p.s. Bravo TV have released their trailer for their upcoming darts coverage (starts Thursday).  see it here; http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=412780966620

World Match Play – Night 6 Results and Krispy Review

First things first… tonight’s walk on girls were Sarah Tunnicliffe (Blond), and Kathy Mugglestone (dark haired), as I know a lot of you like to know the important things!     You can find more info and pictures about the walk-on girls at http://www.walkongirls.co.uk/ a new site created by a darts mad friend of mine!

Game 1: Gary Anderson 12 – 14 Jelle Klaasen

Phew what a game (in the end!).  Started pretty slow… Gary Anderson playing poor, and Jelle taking an early lead.  Both players were missing a load of doubles.. and it was almost pub darts.  Then Gary Anderson started finding his range and turned it around, and I thought looked good for the win.

The trouble was, Gary has been suffering from a dodgy shoulder since Vegas, and it was showing the longer the game went on.  Not taking anything away from Klaasen, he still had to hit the doubles and win.. which he did in the end.

I’m personally disappointed, as I count Gary as one of my darting aquaintences now.  I hope he can get some treatment and be ready for the next big tournament – the Euro’s in Germany.

Game 2: Kevin Painter 14 – 12 Mark Walsh

At the break, it’s 4-1 to Mark Walsh.  But after round 1.. who knows what will happen, as Painter can go on a run if his confidence catches hold.  I tell you what, there’s no way I’d mess with either of these two in a pub! 

Painter is back in it yet again.. he’s back to his snarling best – maybe he’s a player who needs a kick up the bum to really get going! 8-5 and he’s buzzing now.   Walsh breaks n holds… and goes into the break 8-7 down.. phew another close game!

Painter gets to 11-9… and Walsh holds to 11-10… so its very close.  7 games on the trott going with throw.   If it stays like that Painter will win.  Painter takes his time … and hits his double to go 12-10.  12-11 …

What a game – Walsh finally hits a double to get the game back to 12-12 (breaking Painter) – after both missed a ton of doubles there.. both were laughing at how bad they were after the game.  Walshy had properly put his darts away at one point, and told Painter off for making him take them out again (or so it looked like on the TV).

Painter has double top to break back … 3 darts just miss over the wire.  And Walsh does the same!  3 more darts at a double missed.  Both players must be playing on nerves now.   13-12 to Painter.. he just has to hold to win.

Painter WINS, on his knees in relief in the end!  Great win – hats off to him.

Game 3:  Phil Taylor 10-4 Steve Beaton

Interesting tonight, as Phil Taylor has been getting some boos from the crowd?  He was booed when shown on the screens practicing in the Painter game… and again during the walk-on.   Steve Beaton the crowd favourite?  Or has The Power said something in a local paper to annoy the Blackpool fans??  If you know let me know!

Great start by Beaton!  2-0 up.. but then Taylor breaks back after being shocked into action.  Beaton has “been there, seen that, done it”, and he doesn’t seem to be phased by playing The Power like a lot of other players.   Beaton is just so smooth in his action (and look)… GAME ON!

Oh dear, I was worried that Phil would get angry.  After going 2-0 down.. 6 legs won later and it’s 6-2.

Beaton managed to get one leg back (8-3 down).. Taylor looks angry now.

Game 4:  Simon Whitlock 13-10 Steve Brown

Almost a surprise in the last game, as Steve Brown was 8-7 up at one point, but Whitlock relied on his amazing finishing to win the game.  Whitlock was suffering from flu, and the game did take it out of him, but he has great concentration, and managed to ignore it.

Bad luck to Steve Brown – lets hope he continues to get to the big TV tournaments and breaks into that top 32.

Todays games

Quarter-Finals
1.10pm James Wade v Wayne Jones
3.00pm Jelle Klaasen v Simon Whitlock
7.10pm Co Stompe v Raymond van Barneveld
9.00pm Kevin Painter v Phil Taylor

Behind the scenes images; Phil Taylor filming Bravo Trailer

My friends at Bravo TV, who will be televising the European Darts Championships next Thursday onwards, have released some cracking images of Phil Taylor being filmed for their TV trailers.

I’ve been given permission to snaffle a few – you can view the rest here on Bravo’s new facebook page just for the Euro Championships.  I believe Bravo will be running a great competition soon – to win some great darts stuff signed by some of Europe’s greatest players - follow em on twitter to make sure you find out how to enter!

Bravo TV European Darts Championships – press event

I am back in one piece from a fantastic press event organised by Bravo TV for their upcoming coverage of the European Darts Championships.

For a couple of hours in a secret location in London (upstairs in a darts pub), I rubbed shoulders with some of darts royalty;  Barry Hearn, Phil Taylor, Dave Allen (PDC Media officer), Róisín O’Shea of Unicorn (looks after their stars), Dave Gorman (funny man, TV presenter, and darts fanatic), and a room full of darts journalists and the lasses and lads of Bravo TV (thanks to Nicki for looking after me!).  Maybe that makes me darts aristocracy by association.. ish.

Barry Hearn welcomed us all, and went on to say how pleased he was that Bravo was showing the darts at the end of the month (July 29th it all starts).  I did get to talk to Barry, and as the footballers cliche goes, “I was over the moon” when he said that he reads my website sometimes.  Mr Hearn (to you) said that he does keep up with all the forums, as “70% of the stuff is pure rubbish, 25% is interesting, and 5% is pure gold”.  He went on to say that “if you read the minutes of the PDC board, you’ll find that nearly everything is stolen from ideas I read in darts forums” – which I’m sure was said in jest, but it does go to show that Mr Hearn knows his audience, and knows that you need to please them 1st if you want a successful product.

I was pretty much in darts heaven (the free drinkies and food helped of course), especially when I introduced myself to Dave Gorman (another hero), and he pointed to my DB&C t-shirt and said, ahh yes Krispy from that darts website.  Get in there! I decided it was time to get my darts out, and I joined Dave Gorman on one of the Unicorn dartmates that was set-up to throw a few arrows.  We chatted about his current darts form – after a rush of 180′s he said they’d dried up.. to be honest his 13 is 10 more than mine.. so I have to bow to his darts as well as his comedy!

At one point in the evening Russ Bray called everyone to attention – as there was to be a darts competition.. luckily for the teams involved, no-one had me as a handicap!  Dave Gorman played for team Bravo – and they were in the running for a while, but in the end it was the journo’s from the Sun and another called IDS (? bah I didn’t get proper details) who won through to the final. While the teams fought it out I got more time with Barry Hearn and Dave Gorman – and thought I’d dare a joke, as I warned Dave that he could become known as “the poor mans Stephen Fry” once he’s done his stint as Darts Presenter.  Dave is really looking forwards to it, it’s talking about something he’s really interested in.

If you read the minutes of the PDC board, you’ll find that nearly everything is stolen from ideas I read in darts forums - Barry Hearn, joking with me at the Bravo press event.

The highlight of the night (in fact of the year to be honest for me), was when Russ Bray announced that Phil Taylor would play a few of us…  and would you believe it, darts in hand I stroke to the oche to take on the big man.  OK so I was semi pushed forwards by my Bravo minders (cheers ladies!), and had a few “go on Krispy” coming from Dave Allen.

To say I didn’t quite hit my mediocre top level of darts is an understatement!  I can’t think why.. I mean it was just me Krispy playing the greatest darts player of all time, in the form of his life… with Barry Hearn, “Mr Darts” himself watching and laughing… and assorted sports journalists heckling as I threw my 26′s.   It didn’t help, as with me back on 200 or so, and Phil on a double, I stepped forwards, Russ Bray said (over the microphone to the entire room), “OK Krispy, you need…. f*cking loads!“  Yeah cheers mate

I’m sure Phil was relieved when he came through the ordeal and beat me – probably one of the hardest tests he’s ever faced (haha!).    I don’t care that I was rubbish to be honest, I got to play The Power, and shook his hand afterwards.. and there’s not many people who can say they’ve done that.

So all in all a top night – I’ve made a few more contacts, met some of my heroes, thrown some bad darts, and talked darts with Barry Hearn.

So now really looking forward to the European Darts Championships on Bravo TV (more info here, and the draw here) – and hopefully helping the team anyway I can

European Championship Schedule of Play

Thursday July 29
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm Paul Nicholson v Andy Smith
8.30pm Mark Walsh v Antonio Alcinas
9.00pm Terry Jenkins v Andree Welge
9.30pm Simon Whitlock v Dennis Priestley
10.00pm Gary Anderson v Jamie Caven
10.30pm Phil Taylor v Co Stompe
11.00pm Jelle Klaasen v Vincent van der Voort
11.30pm Mervyn King v Barrie Bates

Friday July 30
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm Bernd Roith v Denis Ovens
8.30pm Mark Dudbridge v Robert Thornton
9.00pm Adrian Lewis v Wayne Jones
9.30pm Tomas Seyler v Michael van Gerwen
10.00pm James Wade v Colin Lloyd
10.30pm Raymond van Barneveld v Andy Hamilton
11.00pm Colin Osborne v Wes Newton
11.30pm Ronnie Baxter v Alan Tabern

Saturday July 31
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Play commences 2pm German time (1pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
2.00pm Walsh/Alcinas v Klaasen/van der Voort
3.00pm Jenkins/Welge v Whitlock/Priestley
4.00pm Baxter/Tabern v Osborne/Newton
5.00pm Roith/Ovens v Lewis/Jones

Evening Session
Play Commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
8.00pm King/Bates v Anderson/Caven
9.00pm van Barneveld/Hamilton v Roith/Ovens
10.00pm Taylor/Stompe v Nicholson/Smith
11.00pm Wade/Lloyd v Seyler/van Gerwen

Sunday August 1
Afternoon Session
Quarter-Finals
Play commences 2pm German time (1pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
2.00pm Jenkins/Welge/Whitlock/Priestley v King/Bates/Anderson/Caven
3.00pm Wade/Lloyd/Seyler/van Gerwen v Baxter/Tabern/Osborne/Newton
4.00pm Taylor/Stompe/Nicholson/Smith v Walsh/Alcinas/Klaasen/van der Voort
5.00pm van Barneveld/Hamilton/Roith/Ovens v Lewis/Jones/Dudbridge/Thornton

Evening Session
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time – on BRAVO!)
Semi-Finals
8.00pm
9.15pm

Final
11.00pm

Format

First Round – Best of 11 legs
Second Round – Best of 19 legs
Quarter-Finals – Best of 19 legs
Semi-Finals – Best of 21 legs
Final – Best of 21 legs

Day 2 Tropicana USA results – Taylor wins again!

Well Phil Taylor looks in terrifying form – winning two days in a row, in two different formats.  The Power took out many good players along the way, who might have won if he had not traveled to Vegas; Wade, Walsh, and then beating Ovens in the final.

The 2nd place for Ovens cements his current form – two finals in recent player championships, and a good run in the UK Open.

Nigel Heydon was on a good run until meeting Taylor – Nigel is gaining a lot of fans in the darting world at the moment, and seems to be on the up.  It was also a great day for Jelle Klaasen, as he was in danger of going out of the top 16 in the OOM for the world match play qualification – but a semi-final for him has almost certainly meant he will be at Blackpool.

Fourth Round
Phil Taylor 6-3 Nigel Heydon
Mark Walsh 6-2 Mark Hylton
James Wade 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Barrie Bates
Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Alan Tabern
Gary Anderson 6-4 Steve Brown
Terry Jenkins 6-4 Darin Young
Denis Ovens 6-4 Steve Hine
Losers £500

Quarter-Finals
Phil Taylor 6-2 Mark Walsh
James Wade 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Jelle Klaasen 6-3 Gary Anderson
Denis Ovens 6-4 Terry Jenkins
Losers £1,000

Semi-Finals
Phil Taylor 6-1 James Wade
Denis Ovens 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Losers £1,500

Final
Phil Taylor 6-3 Denis Ovens
Winner £6,000
Runner-Up £3,000

Day 1 Tropicana USA results – Taylor wins the Cricket

It seems that whatever the format or game of darts being played, Phil Taylor is still the boss!  I thought that the day of playing ‘cricket’ would see someone else win, possibly one of the northern American players (as they play cricket more than the UK / European based players), but no – the final was between Phil Taylor and Mark Walsh – which you could easily predict if it was a normal tournament of 501.

World number one Taylor showed his class to take the World Cricket Championship title, only dropping four legs throughout the Saturday’s event.

He was a 3-0 winner against Howard Meyers, Andy Fordham and Kirk Shepherd in his opening three games, before defeating former World Champions Richie Burnett and Steve Beaton 3-1 to reach the semi-finals.

There, he defeated Mark Dudbridge 3-0 to move into the decider, where he faced Walsh.

Hertfordshire ace Walsh dominated the opening two legs of the final to take a 2-0 lead, before Taylor edged a high-quality third and then levelled in a tight fourth leg.

The deciding leg saw Taylor take control of the 20 bed immediately, but Walsh hit back to close the 19, 18, 17 and 15 beds – only for Taylor to hit back and seal victory with two bullseyes.

“I’m really happy to win this because it’s a tough format, The cricket format really makes you think and it’s a great leveller.” - Phil Taylor

Sunday sees the PDC US Open take place as the first of three successive days of Players Championship action, before the New Tropicana World Series of Darts Festival concludes on Wednesday with the North American Darts Championship.

Fourth Round (full results here)
Ronnie Baxter 3-0 Barrie Bates
Mark Walsh 3-2 Andy Hamilton
Steve Brown 3-0 Wes Newton
Darin Young 3-2 Matt Clark
Mark Dudbridge 3-1 Chris Thompson
Co Stompe 3-1 Shawn Brenneman
Phil Taylor 3-1 Richie Burnett
Steve Beaton 3-2 Andy Jenkins
Losers £225

Quarter-Finals
Mark Walsh 3-1 Ronnie Baxter
Darin Young 3-2 Steve Brown
Mark Dudbridge 3-1 Co Stompe
Phil Taylor 3-1 Steve Beaton
Losers £450

Semi-Finals
Mark Walsh 3-1 Darin Young
Phil Taylor 3-0 Mark Dudbridge
Losers £900

Final
Phil Taylor 3-2 Mark Walsh
Winner £4,000
Runner-Up £2,000

MDA presents Phil Taylor and Jamie Caven, exhibition report

I’ve had a report back from a big darts exhibition run by MDA Promotions – which was a chance to see (and PLAY) Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in action, taking on Jamie Caven and others.  MDA are running some BIG exhibitions around the Leciester/midlands area, with some big names taking part.  I myself will hopefully be going along to their exhibition in Derby in November, which is just before the Player championships there that weekend.