Thursday April 18th

Been a while since me and Andy have played against each other online (well him in his cave me in mine) but normal service resumed tonight earlier than usual 301 DIDO tonight best of 13, could I do the double and get another win under my belt after taking my first win a few weeks ago?? before that though we both played our first tournament for a while (well 5 years for me), Pairs tourney at our local pub, 2 singles 501 and a doubles decider if needed, we were expecting a tough time considering the standard of players that normally turn up at these events but a disappointing turnout and only 1 really good pair who are county players, we drew them first, I played pretty well considering and should have took a few legs but lost 4-0, Andy just couldn't get going and struggled, again a 4-0 defeat, 1 game down 4 to go (round robin format), again we lost 4-0, 4-1 ( I hit a 171 to leave 24 while the opponent was on a double, 3rd game was straight forward really, darts were going very well and I took a 4-0 win including a 180 and a few tons and 140s, Andy won too 4-2 throwing his best darts all afternoon, we lost the last 2 games and didn't get any further but great afternoon and lot more to come.

Anyway back to tonight and our latest online practice, we both struggled to get going but fairly good scoring once we did, Andy won the first leg but that was it til the fifth leg because I took 4 in a row D8 my favourite tonight, Andy won the 6th leg with a brilliant 93 checkout while I was sat on 84, leg back I needed 2 to win the match which came pretty quick so a 7-2 win and back to back for me, carrying on where my darts have been in a good place for the last 6 or 7 weeks, I seem to be winning more than losing games and scoring very well, Andy playing good too so proof that our practice nights are working we just need to get back to our regular routines. Next week is 501 normal darts.

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Wednesday 20th March

After a few weeks break for personal events and reasons me and Andy resumed our battles, this time playing Live Practise at a local venue. Something different for a change even though we play for the same team on Sundays. Best of 13 501 normal darts as I call it and best of 7 301 DIDO Sunday rules which consists of Nominated Double to start and NO BUST rule, don't ask me to explain it I'm still confused 10 years after first hearing about this daft rule, Score more than you require is BUST simple as that but the league we play in have these daft rules. Anyway away we went both struggling to get going properly, scores hit and miss probably more lows than highs, Andy won the first leg in 33 darts, yes it was bad but finishing was the issue for most of the games. It finally kicked in for me because I won 4 in a row to take a 4-1 lead, 5th leg was absolutely horrendous, god knows how many darts at D1. Andy absolutely battered me in the 6th leg I just could not get going, don't think the Staropramen 0.0 had kicked in (yes sober darts for me), 7th leg and I finally started to show a bit of form and hit a 20 darter which I know I am capable of doing just not consistent enough, Andy just couldn't get going and everything I threw seemed to go where it was supposed to, that leg could have been a 17 or 18 darter but doubles went on holiday, again the 8th leg could have been the same (15 darter) but 15 darts at D4 cost me but gave me a 6-2 lead before Andy had a decent leg to pull a leg back leaving me wanting 1 leg still to win, Leg 10 it was then a win again for The Tykester 4 weeks in a row but great practise again.

So after a break we played BO7 301 DIDO with said Sunday Rules, for 7 weeks I have not beaten Andy at this format so was fearing for the worst again but for the first time in a while I broke first time on D20 in 5 out of 6 legs scoring fairly well, Andy was lethal on the D18 but finishing let him down and I know he can hit doubles for fun usually but the Carling must have been taking affect, we both had a 15 darter Andy had a 116 break in the 3rd leg, I struggled again but that gave Andy a 2-1 lead, 4 legs left and again I needed to pull something out of the hat to get a first win which I did with a 15, 22 and 18 darter and before somebody says it yes the number of darts taken we should be doing that at 501 but DIDO is a different beast especially nominated doubles but hey for the first time I took a Double Win against Andy, going to be a few weeks off now while he is on holiday but we resume battle after easter.

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Wednesday 28th February

Another Wednesday night, another battle of the arrows with my mate Andy, this week best of 13 301 DIDO, as always I expected a battering with this format, 6 games so far, 6 defeats was this the week I turn it round well I nearly did. No battering this week though we went the distance, a couple of bad legs for us both but a lot more good ones, I bought some more darts last week, Luke Littler 23g Loadout darts, the cheaper more affordable darts compared to the Gen 1s which are bloody expensive. They seem to fit my style even after not a lot of use so tonight was a big test, my average was the best I have thrown yeah it was only 42 but still big improvements, darts were better too best leg was 12 darter beating my previous best of 13, worst was a 30 darter twice which compared to previous weeks was a whole lot better, my worst leg was a 41 darter which for 301 is bad. Andy is throwing better too, his best leg is 11 darts and worst one was a 33 darter, he seems to be more settled at 301 whereas I'm happier in the longer 501 format (proper darts as I call it). Andy shot in to a 3-0 lead and I thought here we go again but it suddenly clicked and I pulled back to 3-2 with a 12 darter in the 5th and 113 checkout T19 20 D18 before he took a 4-2 lead, I thought keep plugging away and who knows well it happened I went in front 5-4 before Andy took 2 legs for 6-5, here we go again I thought but no a 26 darter pulled me level so decider it was, amazing what a change of darts as done even my double starting was better so Thanks Luke Littler for designing a good dart, decider could have gone either way but Andy took it while I was sat on a double, ah well at least I played better this week I will get him in 2 weeks when we play 301 again, next week is 501 BO13, my turn to win again hopefully for 4 times in a row.

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Wednesday 21st February

Here's my first blog about mine and my mate Andy's weekly darts nights we play and practice 501 and 301 DIDO and also play online against each other, he is in his cave and I am in my Dart Cave. We use Dart Connect as a scorer. Bit of background about us, we both play for the same Sunday team in Willenhall, West Midlands, format of the league is 301 DIDO 6 players singles and 501 DIDO 3 doubles matches, the rules are nominated double to start and no bust rule (still cant get my head round hat, always thought bust is just that).

So Wednesday night 21st Feb was another of our challenge nights, we normally play Thursdays but personal circumstances at the moment changed the night. At the moment I am on a 3 match winning run of 501 winning 5-3, 7-3, 5-3 so far although 5-2 up over the 7 matches we have played so far, every week we seem to be improving on this format especially me, after not playing for a few years my averages are getting back something like at last, Andy is improving too, we will never be up with the professional averages but comfortable with what we are doing. We play bets of 9 501 normal darts and best of 9 301 DIDO, inconsistency is the story of our 301 games with good mainly bad games, I struggle for some reason but starting to work on the starting problem whereas Andy is getting better and smashing me 6-0 over our game weeks, I will get him at some point hopefully next week, so thats just a short bit about what we do I will hopefully add a bit more next week but a Google Sheet on this site (click the link at the top of the page, you will have to scroll across the page but it gives you loads of information and stats about what we do.y first blout mine and my matesa paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.