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
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