This week sees the world BDO darts championship take place just up the road from me in Frimley. The main thing I remember about Frimley is that my twins were born there seven years ago now, not at the darts championship of course, at the local hospital! You don't forget moments like that or the moment we discovered that we were not expecting our second child but twins. Of course lots of people emailed me and asked why I hadn't worked out the probability of that occuring. The words rod and back spring to mind.Anyhow, the other thing that I remember well about this Championship was the fantastic final of two years ago.
In all sports It is always worth looking for disruption points, tangible but slightly amorphous areas where the tide will turn. Having been pretty sporty and competitive for my most of my life I quickly learnt that the gap between top players was pretty small and in fact skill was only one part of the equation. Having the right mindset was also critically important in sport. When you are ‘in the zone’ you don’t want to stop. Breaking your game at this point meant that getting back into ‘the zone’ was always difficult. Professional sports people are always keen to, literally, break the stride of their opponents. Short of getting them selves in the zone, getting others out of it is the next priority. Sometimes this can be forced by tactical play but sometimes these breaks occur ‘naturally’.
In the word BDO darts championships final in 2006, favourite Martin Adams was no doubt in the zone when he stormed to a 6-0 lead in the final. He only needed one more set to win the championship and that looked an absolute certainly at 6-0, He was priced to lay at 1.01, the lowest price available on the exchanges. So in such a commanding position would you lay him at 1.01! The answer is simple, after six sets they were scheduled for a break. You would lay at this point hoping for a wobble after the break. Would Adams have too much time to think during the break and would he allow himself to get out of ‘the zone’? Adams traded at 1.01 to lay for ten minutes and slowly but surely Phil Nixon, the unknown qualifier, got his head and hands together and Adams simply fell apart. Just less than forty minutes later Nixon had pulled back to 6-6 and Adams was now trading odds against and was in severe danger of losing the championship.
It never quite transpired and Adams successfully closed out the championship at 7-6. For anybody laying at 1.01 with £1000, a risk of only £10, they could have closed out for a profit of £500 regardless of who went on to win. An excellent example of how a disruptive break can create an opportunity.
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