Darts
09 Darts 
/ Betfair Education / 07 March 2008 / Leave a comment
We are probably in the best ever darts era and this is mainly due to the excellent coverage from Sky Sports and the newly-formed Premier League of Darts. There are two different darts governing bodies; the PDC and BDO. The PDC tournaments are generally covered by Sky Sports and the BDO have a couple covered by BBC.
The PDC seems to be thriving and the BDO are losing players to the PDC every year it seems. Once the best BDO player over the last 10 years left for the PDC, Raymond 'Barney' van Barneveld, the best players are now in the same events. No longer is it all about Phil 'The Power' Taylor or Barney, the young guns like James Wade and Adrian Lewis are demanding respect.
Betting on the Outright Winner Market
• Until Barney joined the PDC, the decision to make was either back or lay Phil Taylor, who traded heavily odds-on (like Federer does in most tennis tournaments). When considering backing a runner look at their draw, when will they meet Taylor & Barney, do they have an easy or hard route to the final?
• What kind of form is the player in? (Both averages and double percentages)
• What record does the player have at this tournament?
• What type of tournament is it? Sets, just legs, number of sets and legs in each game/round, start off with throwing a double etc. If it is a short game and no seeding this is where it could be value to oppose the favourites as the shorter the games are the more chance for a lucky result. If they have to start off with a double you need to know who has the best check out percentage as this could be a large factor as a heavy scorer who struggles on doubles with struggle at this type of tournament.
Factors to Consider when betting on:
Match Odds
• Form in last few months and form in the current tournament (three-dart average and checkout percentage).
• Head-to-head record of the two players (this is hard to find an exact figure but you should be able to find out a general opinion on who is winning overall)
• Big game player - Some players don't perform as well on the TV stage and the bigger games. Might be worth researching their results when on TV.
In-Play Betting
• Bottler? - Some players become tense when near the finishing line and allow their opponent to catch up, so possibly value in laying them when they approach the finishing line at very low odds.
• Momentum - Players seem to go in and out of form a few times during a match. At one point they will be hitting the big scores and checkouts, then suddenly they can't hit anything. There are momentum changes in darts and if you can get on the right end of these you should find healthy profits. As you don't need to pick the winner, you just need the market price to change in your favour and then you can possibly trade out for profit on both outcomes
• Breaking the throw - The person who throws first in a leg has the advantage (similar to tennis with the server) and if the player breaks the throw this will have a larger affect on the market then if the thrower holds his throw. In a best of 5 set the person who goes first in the first leg has the advantage in this set but the next set the other player has the advantage
Leg Betting - Factors (Extremely fast and furious type of gambling)
• The person who throws first has the advantage
• Make sure your feed (i.e. Sky Sports) does not suffer from a large delay (Sky Sports on Sky box is acceptable in my opinion.
• Big scorer and bad finisher? Or vice-versa - if a strong scorer but poor finisher it might be value to lay him when he gets a big gap in the leg at low odds and hopefully fails to check out.
• Important leg? If it is a very important leg than the players may tense up and checkouts might prove difficult for players. Could be worth backing the outsider in these cases at the right price.
Did you know?
At the start of the 20th century, betting on darts was an illegal activity as it was considered a game of chance and not skill. In 1908 a Leeds publican faced charges of allowing gambling on games of chance at his establishment, at trial the said publican brought his darts and a Yorkshire dartboard with him. After the accused had thrown three darts into double top, the presiding judge tried his hand and only hit the board once.
He declared, "This is no game of chance, case dismissed!"
Useful links:
Planet Darts including player profiles, scheduling information and video highlights
Bullseyenews - news and views
