Ratajski

[cannibal]

Yes playing at potters piss palace is a risk but if it is all you have then you take that risk that is part of being a sportsmen you push yourself to compete. With his talent rats has an excellent shot at going deep if not winning it.

We here laugh at potters piss up, but it still does mean something to win it. Nowhere near what it use to but still something. And certainly adding it to ones resume is better than adding nothing.

[M H]

Being a Grand Slam qualifier does give it some value but he's already qualified via the Winmau. Turning it down without Ally Pally in the back pocket I agree is premature

[Randall]

I imagine the bdo were pressing him for a decision.
Hard to see why he would have made this call before this weekend otherwise.

[cannibal]

I agree they were probably pushing for a decision. But if I was rats I would have said yes to potters piss up then continued on trying for ally pally and played it then let the BDO decide what they wanted to do. Reason is I dint think he would have violated any published rule of the BDO and if they decided to fuck rats off because he played ally pally I think the BDO looks the fool.

[Randall]

If that option was on the table he'd have surely deferred his decision.

[limegas]

Contracts have been handed out to all qualified players. Obviously he contacted them saying he cannot play at Lakey. He will be in the PDC world Championship as rumour is the top 20 of the Players will qualify

[cannibal]

You mean those contracts that Wolfe claimed he doesn't sign because he doesn't sign contracts that restrict where he can play his darts?

Curious as to what top 20 your talking about oche?

[sennafan24]

Curious as to what top 20 your talking about oche?

Pro Tour rankings?

[Rogg]

The European Championship was never a bad second prize to have as a guarantee in case he missed Ally Pally. Better prize money than Lakeside, better time, location, exposure. Guesswork, but it does compare well in several aspects. He couldn't play the Euros and Lakeside as I understand it, because of the PDPA upgrade thing. No doubt he balanced up the whole strange situation.

If he's all about playing PDC next year, he still gets his chance to crack the Top 64 and so avoid the need to do Q-School. He'll probably need a semi-final. A favourable draw and who knows.

[The Thorn]

The European Championship was never a bad second prize to have as a guarantee in case he missed Ally Pally. Better prize money than Lakeshite, better time, location, exposure. Guesswork, but it does compare well in several aspects. He couldn't play the Euros and Lakeshite as I understand it, because of the PDPA upgrade thing. No doubt he balanced up the whole strange situation.

If he's all about playing PDC next year, he still gets his chance to crack the Top 64 and so avoid the need to do Q-School. He'll probably need a semi-final. A favourable draw and who knows.

Also you have to consider the emotional aspect. This is a guy whose dream is playing the PDC. In the BDO they treated him like shit, they were seething at him, mainly because he's not part of the clique (the family)

Anything other than winning Lakeside would have been a failure. A Lakeside semi or final holds no prestige whatsoever. Yes, probably he's going to end up with less prize money with choosing the PDC this year. (unless he gets in the Worlds somehow)
But as the fanatics often say, it's not all about money.

[cannibal]

I thought the BDO exclusion rule was if a player had a tour card he could not compete in ranking events. PDPA membership has a bunch of types, day full, assoc etc. I believe full is attached to tour card but there are full that have no tour card. I haven't looked at this crap in awhile, but last time I did there was a loop hole in the BDO rules as long as you stayed out of the top 32 in oom, didn't have a tour card, and where not a full member, one could play ranking BDO events. This loop hole for lakeside and masters was covered by the invitation clause that basically said BDO makes the criteria and can interpret the rules the way we want. Zeyes would know and I am to lazy to look this shit up.

The BDO rules are a convoluted cesspool of sewage. The PDC rules can be too but over the years they get better while the BDO get worse. Contracts and rules are only as good as the enforcement behind them.