Hello everyone,
Today's checkout is 30. To start, here's a video of Ronny [sic] Huybrechts checking out 30.
30, like all even checkouts from 2-40, is pretty much a no-brainer. You just go for the appropriate double (in this case double 15). In the video, Ronny Huybrechts does just this, landing the double 15 with his third dart.
The only really worthwhile things to say about an even checkout between 2 and 40 is what happens if you miss. So here's a quick summary for 30.
1) The most likely miss is hitting the big single 15. This leaves you with 15 to get. What I recommend here is not to go 7 D4 because, though D4 is alright, with 7 you have the risk of hitting the treble and busting. So I recommend 15 1 D7. The other option with a safe treble is 15 3 D6, but I prefer double 7 to double 6, so that's my best bet.
Alternatively, though not one for me because I don't like double 5, you can go 15 5 D5. This has the advantage of staying in the same segment for darts two and three. Not for me (in this case), but worth thinking about (only if you hit the single 15 with your first dart, of course). The same segment shorts do have a certain charm.
2) Another neighbour is double 10. If you hit that, it's fairly obvious that you go double 5. Same sort of story for if you hit the other neighbouring double, double 2, where you obviously go for double 13. Neither of these is the nicest double on the board, but at least you haven't bust, which is always the nice thing about having a double with two smaller neighbours.
3) The other likely-ish misses are big single 10 and big single 2. If you hit big single 2, you're on double 14, which is a double I quite like. And if you hit big single 10, then you need double 10, so staying in the same segment, which is nice, and double 10 isn't bad either.
In fact, having both neighbours as even and lower (see point 2) means that all four possible misses in the neighbours leave you on a double. From this point of view, 30 is a nicer checkout to be on than 38 (D19) or 34 (D17), which have two odd neighbours (7, 3) and one odd neighbour (3) respectively.
Sunday, 14 September 2014
Friday, 12 September 2014
Part I – Checkout advice: No 2: 50
Hello everyone,
You might have been expecting No. 2 of Part I to be about a 167 checkout, but I've decided to go a slightly different route (no pun intended) and cover the checkouts which are vaguely relevant for posts I've already written. In the last post, I mentioned the fact that if you're on 170 and hit T1 T20 T19, you're left on 50, but that that's not all that great. So here's the post on a 50 checkout.
To start, here's a video of Phil Taylor checking out 50.
Taylor goes 10 for Tops, which is quite common and has the following advantages:
1) A lot of people like Tops (D20), so it's good to get on it.
2) Your one-darter on the bullseye is so unlikely it's not worth thinking about.
3) If you do accidentally hit treble 10, then you're left with double 10, which is a very nice plan B.
You do, however, have other options. As my favourite doubles are double 16 and double 8, I would go a different route, namely 18 D16. This, however, isn't without its pitfalls, mainly that if you hit treble 18 by accident, then you bust your score, which is obviously worse than the equivalent mess-up on the 10 D20 route.
That said, I still recommend 18 D16 because it's as straightforward a two-darter as you're likely to get, and it goes onto my favourite double. And I'm really not very good on Tops.
The other neighbours of 18 are D18, 1 and 4. I won't be looking at neighbour misses in great depth but as a quick summary:
If you hit D18, you're left with 14, which is double 7, which I don't mind: D18 D7.
If you hit 1, then you're left with 49, so you just go single 17 for double 16. You have the same problem of a potential bust if you hit treble 17, but at some stage you should be hitting a fat single number: 1 17 D16.
If you hit 4, then you're left with 46, which isn't bad at all. It means you're looking at 14 for double 16, and if you do hit treble 14, then you can still check out on the same visit with a cheeky double 2, so: 4 14 D16.
You might have been expecting No. 2 of Part I to be about a 167 checkout, but I've decided to go a slightly different route (no pun intended) and cover the checkouts which are vaguely relevant for posts I've already written. In the last post, I mentioned the fact that if you're on 170 and hit T1 T20 T19, you're left on 50, but that that's not all that great. So here's the post on a 50 checkout.
To start, here's a video of Phil Taylor checking out 50.
Taylor goes 10 for Tops, which is quite common and has the following advantages:
1) A lot of people like Tops (D20), so it's good to get on it.
2) Your one-darter on the bullseye is so unlikely it's not worth thinking about.
3) If you do accidentally hit treble 10, then you're left with double 10, which is a very nice plan B.
You do, however, have other options. As my favourite doubles are double 16 and double 8, I would go a different route, namely 18 D16. This, however, isn't without its pitfalls, mainly that if you hit treble 18 by accident, then you bust your score, which is obviously worse than the equivalent mess-up on the 10 D20 route.
That said, I still recommend 18 D16 because it's as straightforward a two-darter as you're likely to get, and it goes onto my favourite double. And I'm really not very good on Tops.
The other neighbours of 18 are D18, 1 and 4. I won't be looking at neighbour misses in great depth but as a quick summary:
If you hit D18, you're left with 14, which is double 7, which I don't mind: D18 D7.
If you hit 1, then you're left with 49, so you just go single 17 for double 16. You have the same problem of a potential bust if you hit treble 17, but at some stage you should be hitting a fat single number: 1 17 D16.
If you hit 4, then you're left with 46, which isn't bad at all. It means you're looking at 14 for double 16, and if you do hit treble 14, then you can still check out on the same visit with a cheeky double 2, so: 4 14 D16.
Part I – Checkout advice: No 1: 170
Hello everyone.
Today's checkout we'll be discussing is 170. To get started, here's a video of Raymond van Barneveld checking out 170.
Now, 170 is probably one of the least interesting checkouts to talk about, because there's only one way of finishing it: T20 T20 BULL.
There's no getting around the fact that your first dart has to aim at treble 20, that if you hit your next dart has to aim at treble 20 and, if you hit that, your last dart has to go for bullseye.
So what I'm going to talk about is what you do if you miss with your first dart and hit the single 20, which will happen a lot of the time. Clearly, you might also hit 1 or 5 or treble 1 or treble 5 (or something else way off), but if I really went through all the possible ways of missing, then these blog posts would get too long. So I'll look at what to do if you hit the single 20, the treble 1 or the treble 5, as those are the three neighbours of treble 20.
Single 20 with first dart
Clearly, you're not going to be able to check out at this visit, as you're sitting on 150 with two darts in your hand, so you want to put yourself on as reasonable as finish as possible. Some people will tell you to go T20 BULL with your next two darts, thereby leaving Tops. However, for this blog, we're assuming that we're highly unlikely to hit a bullseye (see introduction), so we're not going to do this. Other options are (I'm including the first single 20 each time):
1) 20 T20 T20 – this leaves you with 30, which is double 15. This is a double, which is good, but it's not great, because double 15 isn't one of my favourite doubles. See also the post on 30. Maybe there's a better way.
2) 20 T20 T18 – leaves you with 36, which is double 18. This is preferable to double 15, so rather go with this than option 1.
3) 20 T19 T19 – leaves you on the same score as option 2 – 36 – but it's probably easier to hit two treble 19s than a treble 20 and then a treble 18, so rather go for this. Also not a terrible idea to get away from treble 20 if you've shanked your first dart into the single (and possibly even blocked your route partly to the treble bed).
Those are all the options you have to get down to a finish, so here my recommendation is 20 T19 T19.
Treble 5 with first dart
As above, you now can't check out at this visit, because you've only scored 15 points and still have 155 to get rid off. But can you get down to a sensible finish?
The answer, I'm afraid, is not really.You can't score 115 with two darts (which would leave Tops). The only way to leave a one-dart finish is to fire in treble 20 and treble 19 to leave 38 for double 19. Double 19 isn't great (see also the post on 38 [reminder to add link]) but it's still your only real option here: T5 T20 T19.
Treble 1 with first dart
Terrible luck obviously to hit treble 1 with your first dart, but that's what tends to happen when you aren't very good at darts. This leaves you with 167, which means that even treble 20, treble 19 will leave you on 50, which is theoretically a one-dart finish (bullseye), but easily the worst one-dart finish for people at my level so that I wouldn't even recommend trying to one-dart it (see also post on 50. In fact, as 50 is so terrible, you might as well be on 47, so I would just recommend just trying to knock off points, which means going for two treble 20s. So my recommendation here is T1 T20 T20.
That's the end of my discussion of how best to approach a 170 checkout. Let me know what you think in the comments box.
Herr Bench
Today's checkout we'll be discussing is 170. To get started, here's a video of Raymond van Barneveld checking out 170.
Now, 170 is probably one of the least interesting checkouts to talk about, because there's only one way of finishing it: T20 T20 BULL.
There's no getting around the fact that your first dart has to aim at treble 20, that if you hit your next dart has to aim at treble 20 and, if you hit that, your last dart has to go for bullseye.
So what I'm going to talk about is what you do if you miss with your first dart and hit the single 20, which will happen a lot of the time. Clearly, you might also hit 1 or 5 or treble 1 or treble 5 (or something else way off), but if I really went through all the possible ways of missing, then these blog posts would get too long. So I'll look at what to do if you hit the single 20, the treble 1 or the treble 5, as those are the three neighbours of treble 20.
Single 20 with first dart
Clearly, you're not going to be able to check out at this visit, as you're sitting on 150 with two darts in your hand, so you want to put yourself on as reasonable as finish as possible. Some people will tell you to go T20 BULL with your next two darts, thereby leaving Tops. However, for this blog, we're assuming that we're highly unlikely to hit a bullseye (see introduction), so we're not going to do this. Other options are (I'm including the first single 20 each time):
1) 20 T20 T20 – this leaves you with 30, which is double 15. This is a double, which is good, but it's not great, because double 15 isn't one of my favourite doubles. See also the post on 30. Maybe there's a better way.
2) 20 T20 T18 – leaves you with 36, which is double 18. This is preferable to double 15, so rather go with this than option 1.
3) 20 T19 T19 – leaves you on the same score as option 2 – 36 – but it's probably easier to hit two treble 19s than a treble 20 and then a treble 18, so rather go for this. Also not a terrible idea to get away from treble 20 if you've shanked your first dart into the single (and possibly even blocked your route partly to the treble bed).
Those are all the options you have to get down to a finish, so here my recommendation is 20 T19 T19.
Treble 5 with first dart
As above, you now can't check out at this visit, because you've only scored 15 points and still have 155 to get rid off. But can you get down to a sensible finish?
The answer, I'm afraid, is not really.You can't score 115 with two darts (which would leave Tops). The only way to leave a one-dart finish is to fire in treble 20 and treble 19 to leave 38 for double 19. Double 19 isn't great (see also the post on 38 [reminder to add link]) but it's still your only real option here: T5 T20 T19.
Treble 1 with first dart
Terrible luck obviously to hit treble 1 with your first dart, but that's what tends to happen when you aren't very good at darts. This leaves you with 167, which means that even treble 20, treble 19 will leave you on 50, which is theoretically a one-dart finish (bullseye), but easily the worst one-dart finish for people at my level so that I wouldn't even recommend trying to one-dart it (see also post on 50. In fact, as 50 is so terrible, you might as well be on 47, so I would just recommend just trying to knock off points, which means going for two treble 20s. So my recommendation here is T1 T20 T20.
That's the end of my discussion of how best to approach a 170 checkout. Let me know what you think in the comments box.
Herr Bench
Part I – Checkout advice – Introduction
Hello everyone.
As you may have read in the welcome post to this blog, this blog is about darts.
Part I is going to be about checkout advice. Now, there are lots of freely-available tables of recommended checkout routes, such as this one or, indeed, this one, which aren't all identical, but which show a lot of overlap. For example, the first link has 69 in treble 15 (T15), double 12 (D12), whereas the second one suggests 19 BULL. They're the same though, for example, on 129, where they both suggest treble 19, treble 16, double 12 (T19 T16 D12).
Now, tables like these take some sensible things into consideration like "what happens if I miss with the first dart?" This "miss" generally refers to hitting a single instead of a treble. This explains why 129 starts with T19 because, should you hit the single 19, you can still go out via treble 20 and the bullseye (T20 BULL).
There are two main issues with these tables:
1) they're designed for ease of use so don't offer the kind of explanation that a blog can.
2) they're not aimed at players who are as bad at darts as me and a lot of other people.
The Massive Blog 180 is going to address both of these issues, by:
1) providing an explanation of each checkout.
2) taking factors into consideration that affect people who aren't very good at darts.
On the whole, these factors are expected (these are the ones I have at time of writing the introduction – it's possible that this may change as the blog is written) to be:
1) You would usually hope to hit a single number, such as a big single 5, but you're not guaranteed to (remember we're not very good at darts), so, if relevant, it may be worth thinking about what the neighbouring numbers are.
2) Because we're not very good at darts, we're highly unlikely to hit an outer bull (25), and even less likely to hit a centre bull (50), so any finishes that can avoid aiming for these should be preffered.
3) Will consider the normal tables, obviously. Things like the T19 start of 129 are still highly valuable.
4) Hitting a treble and a single of the same number is a big bonus, because you can "miss" with one dart. This is almost certainly already covered by normal tables, at least in part, but it may be a bit more important for me.
5) Similarly, single, single on the same number is easier than hitting two different numbers. So if you did need 38, single 19, single 19 would be easier than 18, 18, for example. Worth thinking about. Same goes for trebles: treble 19, treble 19 (T19 T19) easier than treble 20, treble 18 (T20, T18).
6) My personal favourites are currently double 16 (D16) and double 8 (D8). Tops (D20) has the advantage of being the biggest double (see also point 2), though I'm not very good at hitting it. I quite like double 14 (D14), definitely prefer it to double 12 (D12), partly because I prefer double 7 (D7) to double 6 (D6). Double 18 (D18) is OK. Double 10 (D10) fine too. All the other doubles are pretty much last resorts, though there may be some favouring when it gets down to the nitty gritty.
7) This is very important. Although you're not very good at darts, you do quite like darts and are so always keen to think about what you're throwing and make sure you're doing something for a reason to maximise your chances and also to make the game more interesting.
Clearly, point 6 – and to a lesser extent all the other points as well – is a personal matter based on how I play the game of darts. Readers may have other favoured doubles. The Massive Blog 180 will therefore aim to provide a reasoned discussion which, whilst based on my preferences, may provide insight into the thinking behind them which may help other not very good dart players to work out what could be best for them.
The first checkout will be 170, and will be the next post! (Reminder to add link later when post written).
Herr Bench
As you may have read in the welcome post to this blog, this blog is about darts.
Part I is going to be about checkout advice. Now, there are lots of freely-available tables of recommended checkout routes, such as this one or, indeed, this one, which aren't all identical, but which show a lot of overlap. For example, the first link has 69 in treble 15 (T15), double 12 (D12), whereas the second one suggests 19 BULL. They're the same though, for example, on 129, where they both suggest treble 19, treble 16, double 12 (T19 T16 D12).
Now, tables like these take some sensible things into consideration like "what happens if I miss with the first dart?" This "miss" generally refers to hitting a single instead of a treble. This explains why 129 starts with T19 because, should you hit the single 19, you can still go out via treble 20 and the bullseye (T20 BULL).
There are two main issues with these tables:
1) they're designed for ease of use so don't offer the kind of explanation that a blog can.
2) they're not aimed at players who are as bad at darts as me and a lot of other people.
The Massive Blog 180 is going to address both of these issues, by:
1) providing an explanation of each checkout.
2) taking factors into consideration that affect people who aren't very good at darts.
On the whole, these factors are expected (these are the ones I have at time of writing the introduction – it's possible that this may change as the blog is written) to be:
1) You would usually hope to hit a single number, such as a big single 5, but you're not guaranteed to (remember we're not very good at darts), so, if relevant, it may be worth thinking about what the neighbouring numbers are.
2) Because we're not very good at darts, we're highly unlikely to hit an outer bull (25), and even less likely to hit a centre bull (50), so any finishes that can avoid aiming for these should be preffered.
3) Will consider the normal tables, obviously. Things like the T19 start of 129 are still highly valuable.
4) Hitting a treble and a single of the same number is a big bonus, because you can "miss" with one dart. This is almost certainly already covered by normal tables, at least in part, but it may be a bit more important for me.
5) Similarly, single, single on the same number is easier than hitting two different numbers. So if you did need 38, single 19, single 19 would be easier than 18, 18, for example. Worth thinking about. Same goes for trebles: treble 19, treble 19 (T19 T19) easier than treble 20, treble 18 (T20, T18).
6) My personal favourites are currently double 16 (D16) and double 8 (D8). Tops (D20) has the advantage of being the biggest double (see also point 2), though I'm not very good at hitting it. I quite like double 14 (D14), definitely prefer it to double 12 (D12), partly because I prefer double 7 (D7) to double 6 (D6). Double 18 (D18) is OK. Double 10 (D10) fine too. All the other doubles are pretty much last resorts, though there may be some favouring when it gets down to the nitty gritty.
7) This is very important. Although you're not very good at darts, you do quite like darts and are so always keen to think about what you're throwing and make sure you're doing something for a reason to maximise your chances and also to make the game more interesting.
Clearly, point 6 – and to a lesser extent all the other points as well – is a personal matter based on how I play the game of darts. Readers may have other favoured doubles. The Massive Blog 180 will therefore aim to provide a reasoned discussion which, whilst based on my preferences, may provide insight into the thinking behind them which may help other not very good dart players to work out what could be best for them.
The first checkout will be 170, and will be the next post! (Reminder to add link later when post written).
Herr Bench
Welcome
Hello everyone.
My name is Herr Bench. You might know me as the author of the Massive Blog or you might know me from my occasionally hilarious Twitter account or, less likely, from my newish Twitter account about darts.
This is my new project, the Massive Blog 180, which is a blog about darts for people who like darts but aren't very good at darts. It's not, however, just a blog for armchair fans of darts – it is about playing darts, just written by people who aren't very good at darts for people who aren't very good at darts.
So that's the welcome post done with. Check out the next post for the proper introduction!
Herr Bench
My name is Herr Bench. You might know me as the author of the Massive Blog or you might know me from my occasionally hilarious Twitter account or, less likely, from my newish Twitter account about darts.
This is my new project, the Massive Blog 180, which is a blog about darts for people who like darts but aren't very good at darts. It's not, however, just a blog for armchair fans of darts – it is about playing darts, just written by people who aren't very good at darts for people who aren't very good at darts.
So that's the welcome post done with. Check out the next post for the proper introduction!
Herr Bench
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