2020 PDC Q-School (16-19 Jan)

[HalloweenJack]

Will Smith use his tour card? Who knows? If he does, will he do well? Doubt it...

he will probably come over and do a few weekends. But the most important thing for most of the North Americans is the World Cup. I think if Smith is winning to pay for his trips then he will be over more. Don't see that happening tho. Jeff probably has the best ability out of all the North Americans to get a decent sponsor deal as he is popular over there. Still I doubt he is going to get the kind of deal to cover all his travel expenses.

I like Jeff Smith I hope he does well. I haven’t read all the pages so this may have been mentioned, but Smiths car business apparently burnt down. Who knows he may relocate for a year to the U.K. and give the tour a good go.
I really wish you all the best Jeff.

[thegentle]

Will Smith use his tour card? Who knows? If he does, will he do well? Doubt it...

Depends on how his next movie does.

And how much he gets in royalties for when Meulenkamp uses his song for his walk-on!

[thegentle]

Am I right in thinking that Murray and Hamilton are basically there via the league and that Heta and Jacques will probably be joining them?

I would bet everything I own all 4 could not turn up tomorrow and get cards.

I think Heta might be a decent addition. Don't know anything about Murray. Not looking forward to seeing Jacques again. Admittedly, it would have been funny if Hamilton failed, but if he's going to be back on tour, I hope he plays some half decent darts towards how he used to play. Maybe sloshing around with Des, the fat Farmer, the chuckling bearded prick and Warty was a wake up call for him?

Heta will be a fantastic addition to the tour, think of what he's done already, and that's without regularly competing with the best (and presumably not focusing on the sport full-time as well). Pleased for Kyle Anderson as well, should help him having an old pal around the place. Murray will probably be typical lower tour card level, won't be completely embarrassing, but won't qualify for much, if anything. Not much interest in Hamilton, he's had his time, don't see him as anything more than a straggler at this stage. Jacques won his tour card a few years back by getting into the top 64 without a tour card, but then subsequently lost it after a year by having an absolute mare and didn't do much at all on the Challenge Tour last year, looks painfully obvious that it was just a purple patch more than any indication he'd be a solid player long-term

[whereisman]

Heta will be a fantastic addition to the tour, think of what he's done already, and that's without regularly competing with the best (and presumably not focusing on the sport full-time as well). Pleased for Kyle Anderson as well, should help him having an old pal around the place. Murray will probably be typical lower tour card level, won't be completely embarrassing, but won't qualify for much, if anything. Not much interest in Hamilton, he's had his time, don't see him as anything more than a straggler at this stage. Jacques won his tour card a few years back by getting into the top 64 without a tour card, but then subsequently lost it after a year by having an absolute mare and didn't do much at all on the Challenge Tour last year, looks painfully obvious that it was just a purple patch more than any indication he'd be a solid player long-term

My worry with Heta is that we might have already seen the best of him and the grind of the tour might mean he fails to deliver on a long-term basis. I hope it allows him to develop his game and become consistent though. I guess Hamilton being back is only going to be worth it if he actually gets back into TV comps regularly- there's no point a player who has already had success coming back only to be an also ran on tour. I fear he might be though.

[tungsten tossers]

Will Smith use his tour card? Who knows? If he does, will he do well? Doubt it...

he will probably come over and do a few weekends. But the most important thing for most of the North Americans is the World Cup. I think if Smith is winning to pay for his trips then he will be over more. Don't see that happening tho. Jeff probably has the best ability out of all the North Americans to get a decent sponsor deal as he is popular over there. Still I doubt he is going to get the kind of deal to cover all his travel expenses.

Here is his interview with Dan Dawson.. he says he plans on doing the pro tour

[whereisman]

Will Smith use his tour card? Who knows? If he does, will he do well? Doubt it...

he will probably come over and do a few weekends. But the most important thing for most of the North Americans is the World Cup. I think if Smith is winning to pay for his trips then he will be over more. Don't see that happening tho. Jeff probably has the best ability out of all the North Americans to get a decent sponsor deal as he is popular over there. Still I doubt he is going to get the kind of deal to cover all his travel expenses.

Here is his interview with Dan Dawson.. he says he plans on doing the pro tour

If he does do the tour, I hope he does well and isn't immediately buried by the pressures of the whole situation. Even if players don't succeed, you hope that the tour doesn't break them and instead improves their talent, consistency and general matchcraft.

[Mabbsy]

Have the Bournemouth Echo reported on the fortunes of the farmer yet ?

[cannibal]

Heta will be a fantastic addition to the tour, think of what he's done already, and that's without regularly competing with the best (and presumably not focusing on the sport full-time as well). Pleased for Kyle Anderson as well, should help him having an old pal around the place. Murray will probably be typical lower tour card level, won't be completely embarrassing, but won't qualify for much, if anything. Not much interest in Hamilton, he's had his time, don't see him as anything more than a straggler at this stage. Jacques won his tour card a few years back by getting into the top 64 without a tour card, but then subsequently lost it after a year by having an absolute mare and didn't do much at all on the Challenge Tour last year, looks painfully obvious that it was just a purple patch more than any indication he'd be a solid player long-term

My worry with Heta is that we might have already seen the best of him and the grind of the tour might mean he fails to deliver on a long-term basis. I hope it allows him to develop his game and become consistent though. I guess Hamilton being back is only going to be worth it if he actually gets back into TV comps regularly- there's no point a player who has already had success coming back only to be an also ran on tour. I fear he might be though.

Having to play at a high level all the time week in and week out is a whole other kettle of fish than having a few big events a year that you need to up your game for. Give him a year to settle into the routine and see if he can bring the big event game to making it his week in and week out game. Which he will need to do in order to get to the business end of PC's.

Hamilton is shit, maybe good enough to hold onto his card at the end of 2 years but don't think he is good enough to hold on to it for long.

Kando, I think he is what he is now, maybe good enough to get back into top 32 but that is about it.

I think many here get way over excited by prospects that appear to have a good run once maybe twice. Fallon is the perfect e.g. she is not proven at this level never showed any ability to maintain a 90 avg over a long term. Yet she did it and thanks to people shitting their pants she went 3 rounds at Ally Pally. Not a bad run for her but look at her back in Q school throwing her normal avgs. More time on the development tour will be good for her. And she can throw the ladies events in the WDF and BDO for a bit of fun and to fill the gaps.

[whereisman]

Having to play at a high level all the time week in and week out is a whole other kettle of fish than having a few big events a year that you need to up your game for. Give him a year to settle into the routine and see if he can bring the big event game to making it his week in and week out game. Which he will need to do in order to get to the business end of PC's.

Hamilton is shit, maybe good enough to hold onto his card at the end of 2 years but don't think he is good enough to hold on to it for long.

Kando, I think he is what he is now, maybe good enough to get back into top 32 but that is about it.

I think many here get way over excited by prospects that appear to have a good run once maybe twice. Fallon is the perfect e.g. she is not proven at this level never showed any ability to maintain a 90 avg over a long term. Yet she did it and thanks to people shitting their pants she went 3 rounds at Ally Pally. Not a bad run for her but look at her back in Q school throwing her normal avgs. More time on the development tour will be good for her. And she can throw the ladies events in the WDF and BDO for a bit of fun and to fill the gaps.

I guess this is the double edged sword of the professional environment of the PDC. If you get a tour card, you get to play against the best players over a number of events in the best possible environments- in theory, that should allow a player to learn and develop their skills. However, it is such a brutal environment that you could easily be crushed by a string of defeats, lose all confidence in yourself and see your game slide away. It's a challenge for everyone- how many players who have looked supremely talented have ultimately fallen by the wayside?

[Fiss Plaps]

Having to play at a high level all the time week in and week out is a whole other kettle of fish than having a few big events a year that you need to up your game for. Give him a year to settle into the routine and see if he can bring the big event game to making it his week in and week out game. Which he will need to do in order to get to the business end of PC's.

Hamilton is shit, maybe good enough to hold onto his card at the end of 2 years but don't think he is good enough to hold on to it for long.

Kando, I think he is what he is now, maybe good enough to get back into top 32 but that is about it.

I think many here get way over excited by prospects that appear to have a good run once maybe twice. Fallon is the perfect e.g. she is not proven at this level never showed any ability to maintain a 90 avg over a long term. Yet she did it and thanks to people shitting their pants she went 3 rounds at Ally Pally. Not a bad run for her but look at her back in Q school throwing her normal avgs. More time on the development tour will be good for her. And she can throw the ladies events in the WDF and BDO for a bit of fun and to fill the gaps.

I guess this is the double edged sword of the professional environment of the PDC. If you get a tour card, you get to play against the best players over a number of events in the best possible environments- in theory, that should allow a player to learn and develop their skills. However, it is such a brutal environment that you could easily be crushed by a string of defeats, lose all confidence in yourself and see your game slide away. It's a challenge for everyone- how many players who have looked supremely talented have ultimately fallen by the wayside?

I think the most recent example of that complete loss of confidence is Michael Barnard. Destroyed the Challenge Tour 2 years ago and had a handy few runs on the Pro Tour, but the moment he got his Tour Card he absolutely collapsed. I remember seeing something on here about him needing a sports psychologist but it must have broken him.

[tungsten tossers]

Having to play at a high level all the time week in and week out is a whole other kettle of fish than having a few big events a year that you need to up your game for. Give him a year to settle into the routine and see if he can bring the big event game to making it his week in and week out game. Which he will need to do in order to get to the business end of PC's.

Hamilton is shit, maybe good enough to hold onto his card at the end of 2 years but don't think he is good enough to hold on to it for long.

Kando, I think he is what he is now, maybe good enough to get back into top 32 but that is about it.

I think many here get way over excited by prospects that appear to have a good run once maybe twice. Fallon is the perfect e.g. she is not proven at this level never showed any ability to maintain a 90 avg over a long term. Yet she did it and thanks to people shitting their pants she went 3 rounds at Ally Pally. Not a bad run for her but look at her back in Q school throwing her normal avgs. More time on the development tour will be good for her. And she can throw the ladies events in the WDF and BDO for a bit of fun and to fill the gaps.

I guess this is the double edged sword of the professional environment of the PDC. If you get a tour card, you get to play against the best players over a number of events in the best possible environments- in theory, that should allow a player to learn and develop their skills. However, it is such a brutal environment that you could easily be crushed by a string of defeats, lose all confidence in yourself and see your game slide away. It's a challenge for everyone- how many players who have looked supremely talented have ultimately fallen by the wayside?

I think the most recent example of that complete loss of confidence is Michael Barnard. Destroyed the Challenge Tour 2 years ago and had a handy few runs on the Pro Tour, but the moment he got his Tour Card he absolutely collapsed. I remember seeing something on here about him needing a sports psychologist but it must have broken him.

Barnard is a weird situation. It shows how much that confidence is key in all sports. He obviously had the ability, which he showed in the CT and pro tour, but somehow totally lost it when he started losing. The new card holders going to need to earn around £30-£35k each year to keep their card after the two years. I think we will see a lot of players yoyoing in and out of the tour card system over the next few years. Hopefully second time around they will have a better understanding of what is needed to succeed. That is why so many of the jobbers hang around the rankings, they are more adept at knowing what is required..

[Zeyes]

I think the most recent example of that complete loss of confidence is Michael Barnard. Destroyed the Challenge Tour 2 years ago and had a handy few runs on the Pro Tour, but the moment he got his Tour Card he absolutely collapsed. I remember seeing something on here about him needing a sports psychologist but it must have broken him.

I think there was more going on there with Barnard though; he was basically having sub-80 disaster matches from day one of his tour card season, didn't even need any confidence-crushing losses to get there. Just came out of the year-end break as a totally different player than what he'd been on the CT.

[Fiss Plaps]

I think the most recent example of that complete loss of confidence is Michael Barnard. Destroyed the Challenge Tour 2 years ago and had a handy few runs on the Pro Tour, but the moment he got his Tour Card he absolutely collapsed. I remember seeing something on here about him needing a sports psychologist but it must have broken him.

I think there was more going on there with Barnard though; he was basically having sub-80 disaster matches from day one of his tour card season, didn't even need any confidence-crushing losses to get there. Just came out of the year-end break as a totally different player than what he'd been on the CT.

That's a fair point. Seem to remember his Worlds game with Jose was a massive struggle and then he got blitzed by Wattimena. All seemed to go wrong from there.

TT also has a good point about players yo-yoing in and out of the Tour Card system. Arguably the most significant recent example of that was Nathan Aspinall.

[The Gronk]

Having to play at a high level all the time week in and week out is a whole other kettle of fish than having a few big events a year that you need to up your game for. Give him a year to settle into the routine and see if he can bring the big event game to making it his week in and week out game. Which he will need to do in order to get to the business end of PC's.

Hamilton is shit, maybe good enough to hold onto his card at the end of 2 years but don't think he is good enough to hold on to it for long.

Kando, I think he is what he is now, maybe good enough to get back into top 32 but that is about it.

I think many here get way over excited by prospects that appear to have a good run once maybe twice. Fallon is the perfect e.g. she is not proven at this level never showed any ability to maintain a 90 avg over a long term. Yet she did it and thanks to people shitting their pants she went 3 rounds at Ally Pally. Not a bad run for her but look at her back in Q school throwing her normal avgs. More time on the development tour will be good for her. And she can throw the ladies events in the WDF and BDO for a bit of fun and to fill the gaps.

I guess this is the double edged sword of the professional environment of the PDC. If you get a tour card, you get to play against the best players over a number of events in the best possible environments- in theory, that should allow a player to learn and develop their skills. However, it is such a brutal environment that you could easily be crushed by a string of defeats, lose all confidence in yourself and see your game slide away. It's a challenge for everyone- how many players who have looked supremely talented have ultimately fallen by the wayside?

I think the most recent example of that complete loss of confidence is Michael Barnard. Destroyed the Challenge Tour 2 years ago and had a handy few runs on the Pro Tour, but the moment he got his Tour Card he absolutely collapsed. I remember seeing something on here about him needing a sports psychologist but it must have broken him.

As many have said, he has to prove his worth over 2 years. That being said his way of playing could stand up, he isnt that slow compared to some and has shown glimses of class. Hope he does well.

[Zeyes]

I think we will see a lot of players yoyoing in and out of the tour card system over the next few years. Hopefully second time around they will have a better understanding of what is needed to succeed. That is why so many of the jobbers hang around the rankings, they are more adept at knowing what is required..

And to be fair, that's kind of what one would expect from a mature professional sport system, a fair number of guys continually riding the elevator between the tiers because they're too good for the lower one and not good enough for the higher. The first few years of the tour card era had an astounding number of players who completely dropped off the face of the darting world after they lost their first-time card. Some ended up resurfacing on the Challenge Tour eventually but nowhere near challenging for cards again.

[skweezit]

PDC twitter struggling for any sort of picture of been man.

In a shocking development it turns out that one of today's tour cards was won by a fake player name that was only put in the draw to cover the possibility of late sign-ups...

uh-oh. that will probably turn up the heat for everyone now.

[SuperSwede]

1 Netherlands Derk Telnekes 12
2 Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 12
3 Netherlands Martijn Kleermaker 12
4 Netherlands Berry van Peer 12
5 France Thibault Tricole 11
6 Poland Krzysztof Kciuk 11
7 Sweden Daniel Larsson 11
8 Croatia Boris Krcmar 10
9 Netherlands Wesley Harms 10

Roll on the bloodbath!

You were spot on with the Euro school, bloodbath is the word, going to be very harsh on a handful or more.

[SuperSwede]

Is waites not playing today?

Nope

Unless something has happened on a personal level, what an arrogant idiot for not showing up and thinking he can walk it. Unless it’s double time on a weekend at the council.

Erm, county weekend mate.

And he prioritises that over Q School?? Doesn’t deserve to get a card then

Waites isn't and never has been bothered about a tour card, even if he had one he'd only play when it suited him.

[SuperSwede]

[Zeyes]

Brown will probably be bottom or near bottom of the 10-pointer pile, has a legs won tiebreaker of only 53 (50 from the 10 wins, which everybody else will have as well, and just 3 from his 3 losses). Kind of doubt he'll hold on to a card spot.

That being said, considering his tournament average of 84.29 in no less than 15 matches...