Darts!

[DartsMadJohn]

He is ranked 6th in the BDO, at the moment.

I'm not sure about him becoming a superstar. he does seem to be doing very well at the moment, but he's only 17.

Having said that, look at other young players who burst on to the scene such as Adrian Lewis and James Wade. They first got noticed at ages 19/20, and although it has taken them both a few years, they are now making major headway up the world rankings. As for Jelle Klaasen falling off the radar - didn't he recently beat Phil Taylor over in Holland? I believe it was the Masters of Darts tournament?

[mass mystery]

Thought Klaasen was ready to join the PDC

[DartsMadJohn]

I don't quite know what's happening - I think Klaasen turned up at the Premier League Darts at the invitation of Barneveld, but Klaasen claims he is not going to join the PDC yet. I think if he has a successful run in the World Championships like Barneveld then he'll stick with the BDO because of the money he'll earn, but if he's stuck playing the BDO national opens with poor prize money then he might make the jump sooner rather than later.

[mass mystery]

Guys in the pdc can earn a living ,Gary Anderson has went full time i just cannot see him making a living playing in tournaments some as low as £60, even if he wins these tournaments he will be out of pocket as he lives in the Scottish Borders.

[elvaago]

Niels de Ruijter beats Vincent van der Voort and Wolfie beats Silverback. Two more matches tonight. I hope Daryl wins his match. I love this guy.

[DartsMadJohn]

There was an article in the paper about Andy Smith, who defected from the BDO and is now on the brink of cracking the PDC top 32, where he said that he won the BDO Norway Open. His prize money was £800 - and he'd had to pay £700 for travel and accommodation!

[elvaago]

That's ridiculous prize money!

On a brighter note, Phil Taylor beat Colin Lloyd, who played a flawless game. Just Phil Taylor played an even better game. It was terrible for Lloyd who was sitting at a 37 average per dart score for a while and was 3-0 down.

And youngster Michael van Gerwen beat Mervyn King. He looks like he's the only one who might be able to stop Taylor, but in the form Taylor is in, I don't think anyone can.

[DartsMadJohn]

Did anyone see the Eurosport coverage of the BDO British Open? The prize money issue reared its head again - the champion walked away with £3,000, and I thought this was meant to be one of the BDO's major events?

[..KiD DyNaMiTe..]

No wonder darts players have jobs too

[elvaago]

I'm tired of the BDO. I mean it's nice to see King and Wolfie do their trick and try to get over 30 average, but I'd much rather see people who score 33 average lose to people who score 34 average as often happens in the PDC.

The prize money is also pretty lame.

[DartsMadJohn]

The BDO want to pretend that the PDC doesn't exist, and that one tournament a year on the BBC is adequate coverage. BDO fans like to claim that the PDC wouldn't exist without the BDO, because most of the players have defected, but there has to be a reason why they make the jump - would you rather earn 3k for the BDO British Open or 30k for the PDC UK Open? I know which one I would choose.

Does the BDO get greater coverage in Holland? In the UK we get the World Championships and that's it.

[elvaago]

The BDO gets good coverage. All major tournaments get aired. We don't usually get to see the PDC stars unless they participate in an 'open' BDO tournament. For a short while one channel showed PDC stuff and it really opened a lot of Dutch people's eyes as to the difference. It's like BDO is little league and PDC is major league baseball.

[Semih_Sayginer]

i still much prefer watching the PDC players play darts.