2012 PDC World Matchplay Thread

Kingp35

So the biggest darts tournament of the summer gets going tomorrow night at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. The Matchplay is usually an excellent tournament and always manages to produce some epic battles on the oche. We have a full 8 days of darts on the TV ahead of us so make sure you get plenty of beers in!

Here is tomorrow nights order of play:

First Round
Saturday July 21
7.10pm Paul Nicholson v Andy Smith
8.00pm Terry Jenkins v Kim Huybrechts
9.00pm Adrian Lewis v Robert Thornton
10.00pm Raymond van Barneveld v Michael Smith

Treble20

Really looking forward to this tournament. The 2nd biggest major IMO in the PDC. Some cracking games tomorrow night and the potential for a number of upsets out of the first 3 games but Barney should have no problems against his younger opponent Michael Smith in the last game of the night.

tcite

Barney to me is a good e/w shout at 12/1. Surprised to see three of the Sky panel plump for him to win this, especially with it being Taylor's strongest format.

Nicholson struggling early doors.

mackeire

http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/131508/1/watch-pdc-world-matchplay.html

Kingp35

Dunno how Huybrechts didn't win, pity because that's the last we will see of his bird!

Good win for Lewis but Thornton never showed up.

tcite

Good win for van Gerwen over Whitlock tonight. Hopefully he can back it up now as the tournament progresses.

Beaton overcome Painter as well.

Wade's match probably went as expected.

Good win for Mark Walsh as well.

Taylor v King tomorrow night.

The Idyll Race

tcite wrote: »

Good win for van Gerwen over Whitlock tonight. Hopefully he can back it up now as the tournament progresses.

Beaton overcome Painter as well.

Wade's match probably went as expected.

Good win for Mark Walsh as well.

Taylor v King tomorrow night.

van Gerwen was entertaining to watch, on winning one leg he gurned one like a chicken trying to lay a square egg

tcite

Ha, done well to turn it around, thought he might have lost his way at the end of the first session.

Whitlock must really love the Winter Gardens...........

leggo

I'd love if MVG went on a run in this.

Kazooie

Damn it, I missed Kuybrechts match and now he's out.

Kingp35

Dolan having an absolute nightmare but still only 3-2 down. Tells you all you need to know about the quality so far.

Stevecw

Kingp35 wrote: »

Dolan having an absolute nightmare but still only 3-2 down. Tells you all you need to know about the quality so far.

Lost 10-7.

2nd game was interesting Ian White beat Van der Voort 10-5. Looks a good player this guy White.

Phil v King next up. Not the best of mates, but can only see Phil win 10-3 or 10-4

elevendarter

What darts did Phil use? Were they Phase 6? He talks about them right now on tv, but I don´t speak english that well to understand it correctly. However, they looked a bit different from Phase 6, mainly near the stem.

Kingp35

King will have nightmares about that double 12. He had Taylor on the ropes and would have been favourite to win. Great game though

Stevecw

Kingp35 wrote: »

King will have nightmares about that double 12. He had Taylor on the ropes and would have been favourite to win. Great game though

Brilliant game, King played so much better than I expected. Was great viewing, so exciting and went all over the place. Yep that D12 will haunt him for a while for sure.

Tonights line up doesn't really inspire, esp as Justin Pipe is involved. He turns me off watching darts!

Kingp35

James Hubbard really looks like a cracking prospect. Only just gone 20 and he is already class. Makes you sick :P

FANTAPANTS

ronnie baxter at 9/4 surely to good off a price

cgpg5

Jeepers lads was away all weekend only getting to start watching now, something else by Winstanley. Ando literally has zero bottle at times! Crowd were happy anyway!

Kingp35

Wow, what a brilliant game that was. Anderson went to sleep in the middle and Deano struggled at the start but otherwise the standard was too notch. Loads of 180's and the best bull finish I have ever seen.

Delighted Deano won!

cgpg5

Chizzy baxter should be a cracker now!

hawkwing

Looking like "Mr T" all the way now,4 players from the few that could beat him all gone,King,Whitlock,Anderson and Chizzy

leggo

hawkwing wrote: »

Looking like "Mr T" all the way now,4 players from the few that could beat him all gone,King,Whitlock,Anderson and Chizzy

Well keep in mind that Robert Thornton beat him in a major final just last month. And that wasn't Taylor having a horrible run of form either, he wasn't at his best but he was just beaten fairly by a guy who played the perfect 'Taylor game'.

The thing, for me, with the PDC in 2012 is that, yes, Taylor can still beat the field if he's on his A-game. But he struggles to sustain that level for an extended time these days. And the field have caught up that they won't let him away with lapses of form like they used to. How many times in a major final did we see Taylor dip in form, think the other guy had him, only to have Taylor nick a leg then pull away again? But when was the last time that happened? You'd have to go back a while to find a time when he was doing so tournament after tournament. Probably three years, when he won his last World Championship (off the top of my head, so I could be forgetting something there).

So, while he'd still have to be the favourite, I think it's unfair to say that he has it in the bag, especially when Lewis looks back to form. Even an in-form Baxter could probably take him in a TV environment these days. There are still a lot of darts to be played!

hawkwing

Yes that's true but as the games get longer Taylor is more likely to win.Scoring power-- Lewis will keep with him or better him but the "rocket" etc could not be fancied over a long format i fear.VG's top form could trouble him but so inconsistent from leg to leg let alone match to match,Webster possibly???Chizzy was the hope and my bet

leggo

I know, I went ahead and tipped Chizzy as an outside bet on my sports podcast just yesterday. Typical that he loses the day after it goes online! I can't help but feel at least 1% responsible for jinxing him.

Yeah, like I said, I agree Taylor should still be the favourite. I just think it's a bit early to be pencilling his name on the trophy, especially when Mervyn King was just one D12 away from us perhaps having a very different conversation!

leggo

MVG just hit a 9-darter! Literally just as I tuned in!!

Watch now, he'll lose the match after this.

cgpg5

9 dart!!! Unbelievable stuff! And what a game. Two lightning players, Beaton is playing out of his skin. No doubt about it MvG is the best player in the world to watch when on form!

Kingp35

Top class game and it's safe to say McG is back to his best with a 9 fatter and a 104.5 average. Brilliant and great to see.

leggo

I know he's had his problems, but it's frustrating to see James Wade play this well. If he could play like this every night, he'd be a world champion by now.

cgpg5

MvG really reminds me of Lewis circa 07/08. Bags of talent and potential but consistency and self discipline a real problem. At times his scoring power is phenomenal and if he could get a bit of consistency into his game he'd be well on his way.

Also another similarity is what I call the first dart problem or in other words when they hit a poor first dart and fail to recover in the next two. Very often he needs to get a perfect first dart to score well. However the flip side to this is when he gets that first dart in he very often follows it up with two beauties! However when he has three darts at a double too often for my liking he seems to blow it. On the other hand he's lethal on the big (ton plus) finishes. Consistency again!

Anyway... Really looking forward to this. The raging Bull is something of a bogey player for The Man in majors. It should be a cracker!

cgpg5

C'mon Terry! Delighted... Can be so frustrating to watch at times but he's a grafter and what a likeable guy. Barney was so inconsistent throughout. Yet another poor major showing. Terry is the one guy he hates playing in majors!

leggo

Every year, I forget how much I love the Matchplay. What a night, and it's not even over!

Juwwi

A typical Barney performance when things start to go wrong he starts sulking.

cgpg5

leggo wrote: »

Every year, I forget how much I love the Matchplay. What a night, and it's not even over!

Best tournament to watch by a mile imo

Diego Maradona

Delighted for Jenkins, would love for Smith to beat Lewis but I can't see it happening.

13-0, another whitewash on the way I feel.

leggo

cgpg5 wrote: »

Best tournament to watch by a mile imo

Hmm, tough to disagree with. The PL drags out a bit long; the UK Open is great at the start but can get a bit too mental and random by Sunday; the Grand Prix is a bit of a chore; and the Grand Slam a bit over-complicated. The Worlds will always be more special, but some years it can be a bit dodgy and disappointing (I think it goes on so long that if it's not great, it feels anti-climactic).

The Matchplay is relatively short, but has long battles with only the heavyweights involved, and a knockout format so every game counts. Yep, on reflection I'd agree with that assessment!

Gotya

Adi makes it look so easy..

cgpg5

Diego Maradona wrote: »

Delighted for Jenkins, would love for Smith to beat Lewis but I can't see it happening.

13-0, another whitewash on the way I feel.

Early doors but it's looking like it certainly won't be far off!

leggo wrote: »

Hmm, tough to disagree with. The PL drags out a bit long; the UK Open is great at the start but can get a bit too mental and random by Sunday; the Grand Prix is a bit of a chore; and the Grand Slam a bit over-complicated. The Worlds will always be more special, but some years it can be a bit dodgy and disappointing (I think it goes on so long that if it's not great, it feels anti-climactic).

The Matchplay is relatively short, but has long battles with only the heavyweights involved, and a knockout format so every game counts. Yep, on reflection I'd agree with that assessment!

Yeah I'm a big fan of the matchplay. Nice time of year for it too! The GP can get annoying with the double in and the UK open can get very annoying to watch. PL dragged out definitely! Worlds are the highest stature but I just prefer the legs format. However I used to prefer the Matchplay final on the saturday but it's not that big a deal!

In other news, how on earth does Aidy Lewis get such goodlooking women! I know that he's two time world champ but come on! Also what happened to that weight loss routine he promised? For his age it is dangerous how overweight he is you'd think

Silvio.Dante

Just tuned in. Whats the difference between matchplay darts and 'ordinary' darts..?

cgpg5

robbie1977 wrote: »

A typical Barney performance when things start to go wrong he starts sulking.

Psychologically he's terrible. Looking at him tonight for the first time you'd be shocked to hear he's won world championships! Seems to lose it at times during games.

Gary Anderson is another. Started laughing and joking when Deano took out a cracking finish yesterday. Seems to zone out during games and lose concentration.

cgpg5

Surely a record of consecutive legs and it's only increasing!

Diego Maradona

Lewis is unreal

cgpg5

Ah pity a part of me would've loved a whitewash!

Lewis is simply a pleasure to watch when in full flow

leggo

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Just tuned in. Whats the difference between matchplay darts and 'ordinary' darts..?

Matchplay is based on best of a certain amount of legs, set play is on sets (1 set = first to 3 legs). So matchplay is almost like a sprint, where you get ahead and have to try stay ahead, whereas set play is more strategic. You can afford to drop a set and still stay in the game over a long enough format. If you lose a few legs in a row in match play, you're looking at defeat.

cgpg5

leggo wrote: »

Matchplay is based on best of a certain amount of legs, set play is on sets (1 set = first to 3 legs). So matchplay is almost like a sprint, where you get ahead and have to try stay ahead, whereas set play is more strategic. You can afford to drop a set and still stay in the game over a long enough format. If you lose a few legs in a row in match play, you're looking at defeat.

Exactly. In set play you can technically win more legs than your opponent but still lose the match on sets

Aidy is half way in his cot now, to be fair to Smith he's not giving up but with Lewis only going half-heartedly this is quite boring to watch

leggo

It says a lot about how good Lewis is that he's won the past two World Championships while still being the type of player who can completely lose interest in the entire game halfway through. I wonder if he's getting like Taylor in that Taylor beats himself up if he doesn't hit a 9-darter, now Lewis is perhaps frustrated that he didn't whitewash.

cgpg5

On another note I cannot stand Wayne Mardle in the commentary. Forgot since the PL how annoying he is!

You'd miss Dave Lanning!

buster180

Brilliant

Kingp35

So bad it's good :P

Diego Maradona

Justin Pipe is painful to watch

Diego Maradona

Except for the part he finished 132 with 2 bulls and double 16 Brilliant!

cgpg5

Diego Maradona wrote: »

Except for the part he finished 132 with 2 bulls and double 16 Brilliant!

The ultimate sentence would be to have to sit down and watch him play Dennis Priestley on loop for a day!