It's Hammer Time

Hamilton makes a mockery of his Premier League omission by winning the UK Open Qualifier 1

The Hammer won his first title on the PDC Pro Tour since 2007 as he produced a fantastic 105.27 average to beat his Stoke compatriot Adrian Lewis in the final. Hamilton turned round his recent run of poor form and beat 3 Premier League players on his way to picking up the title. He began his title bid by getting a bye through round 1 but then beat Michael Burgoine in round 2 (6:3) before edging out Jeff Batham (6:5) in round 3. In round 4, Hamilton won 6:2 against, World Number 6, James Wade and then he astonishingly beat World Number 1 and current World Champion Michael Van Gerwen (6:4). As Hamilton reached the quarter finals he took his performance to another level as he knocked out Kevin Painter (6:4) before thrashing the Premier League's Dave Chisnall (6:1) in the semi final. 

In the final, The Hammer came up against his close friend Adrian Lewis who was full of confidence from his 7:1 Premier League win over Simon Whitlock the night before. However, Hamilton was full of confidence himself and produced another fantastic performance. The final finished with Hamilton winning 6:2 with an average of 105.27 and hitting a 'Hamilton-like' 144 checkout. 

Personally, I am delighted that Hamilton is back to his best and he thoroughly deserved to win this title. Also in this tournament, there were 3 9 darters hit by Dave Chisnall, Terry Jenkins and Dave Ladley which shows the incredible depth of quality in the professional game today. Finally, in my opinion, I think that the main message to come out of this tournament is that Andy Hamilton should have been chosen for the Premier League as he is made for the big stage and with averages of 105, he could easily have challenged towards the top of the league.

Premier League - Week 1

Taylor thrashed on an unbelievable opening night

As Liverpool kicked off this year's Betway Premier League, in the words of Wes Newton's walk on song, it was a "crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy night!". It was the night that all darts fans had been waiting for and it certainly did not disappoint with plenty of dazzling darts, drama and dancing! 

The night kicked off with Premier League debutant Dave Chisnall winning 7:5 against the below par Robert Thornton. The match swung both ways before ending up in the hands of Chisnall as he punished Thornton for his 'double trouble'. After that game, we were all left wondering if Thornton would have to walk 500 miles back home if he doesn't survive relegation at the end of week 9. Current BDO world champion Steven Bunting watched on with admiration as he looks to start his PDC career and who knows if this time next year he could be playing in the Premier League. 

The second game of the night saw Thornton's fellow scot Peter Wright have no such 'double trouble' as he beat Wes Newton 7:3. Throughout Wright's performance we saw his charisma and skill shine through and he is certainly a fantastic addition to the Premier League. Could he be a dark horse for this year's title? However, Wes Newton wasn't at his best, he is known as the warrior and he is certainly going to have to fight for his place to avoid relegation again this year. 

In the third game of the night, Gary Anderson was looking to build on his German Darts Championship title from last weekend and despite averaging 100.7, he was quickly beaten by a brilliant Raymond Van Barneveld. Barneveld was truly unstoppable and after the first 3 legs he was averaging an unbelievable 128. He then went on to hit 7 perfect darts in leg 6 before wrapping up the win 7:2. 

Game 4. Michael Van Gerwen 7 : 0 Phil Taylor. Yes, you read that correctly. 16 time world champion, Phil Taylor, suffered only the 4th ever Premier League whitewash at the hands of current Premier League champion Michael Van Gerwen. This huge defeat would be easy to blame on Taylor's new darts or his incredible weight loss but in all honesty, he was truly outclassed by Van Gerwen. Van Gerwen averaged 109.6 and hit all of his first 5 attempts at the double and he showed he is clearly the favourite to retain his Premier League crown this year. As we have seen over the years, you should never write Taylor off, but could this now be the end of Taylor's dominance?

The night concluded with Adrian Lewis winning 7:1 over Simon Whitlock. This game saw the number 3 and number 4 in the world rankings go head to head but in truth it was never a close contest. Lewis averaged just under 100 whereas an under the weather Whitlock could only manage an average of 86. Whitlock was nearly relegated from the Premier League last year and he will need to vastly improve his performance to avoid another fight this year. In contrast, Lewis will now be looking up and challenging to make the top 4. 

Week 2 Predictions 

Wes Newton 1 : 7 Raymond Van Barneveld
Dave Chisnall 3 : 7 Peter Wright
Gary Anderson 7 : 5 Simon Whitlock
Adrian Lewis 6 : 6 Phil Taylor
Robert Thornton 2 : 7 Michael Van Gerwen

Jamie Caven

The Way Eye See The Game

An inspirational, emotional and incredible book.
In the last 7 days, I started and finished reading "The Way Eye See The Game" - Jamie Caven's autobiography. This book is a must read for not just anybody who follows the game of darts but for anybody needing inspiration in order to overcome a setback in their life. After reading this book, I truly understand the hard work and determination that is needed in order to become a professional darts player but replicating it, like Caven has done throughout his career, is a different matter. "The Way Eye See The Game" follows Caven's life to date and shows how he has worked his way to becoming one of the World's best darts players despite his blindness in one eye. In addition to this, he also has type 1 diabetes due to having his pancreas removed in 1996 and he lost both his parents by the age of 36. However, not one to feel sorry for himself, Caven overcame the setbacks in his life and carried on working hard through it all and is still competing at the highest level today.
Now, that is just a brief overview of this fantastic autobiography as I want you to read this book for yourselves as not only is it an inspirational story but it is expertly written with the help of David Kirby from DK Darts. Moreover, it is a very easy read as it has short and clear paragraphs, images to break up the text and it is only 140 pages long.
Caven says on page 103 that he "decided to write this book, knowing that I can make a difference and inspire others to achieve" and he has certainly achieved that on my part and I am sure he has done the same for everyone else who has read this book.
In conclusion, I would like to highly recommend "The Way Eye See The Game" to any darts fans; I would like to congratulate David Kirby for producing such a fascinating autobiography and I would like to thank Jamie Caven for writing this autobiography and as a result, becoming an inspiration for many people throughout the world.
Since reading this book I would definitely now add Jamie Caven to my list of favourite players and it will be an amazing day when he wins his first major title. 

Good Luck Jamie Caven!