I am delighted to announce that I have agreed a deal with Birmingham darts store and online web shop This Is Darts until the end of January 2011. They have a full range of products for sale including goods from darts, shirts,  and all other darts accessories. I hope to have a long working partnership with the company and you can visit the website (www.thisisdarts.co.uk) by clicking the link on my home page or on the links page.

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We had our first visit of the year to the Robin Park Sports Centre for the Wigan double header, with the player championship on the Saturday and the third UK Open Qualifier. I had the following results:

Player Championship (Saturday)

Rd 1 - v Chris Mason - Lost 5-6

Uk Open Qualifier 3 (Sunday)

Rd 1 - v Mark Carter - Won 6-3

Rd 2 - v Wayne Jones - Won 6-2

Rd 3 - v Wayne Mardle - Won 6-4

Rd 4 - v Mark Webster - Won 6-2

Quarter Final - v Gary Anderson - Won 6-3

Semi Final - Mark Dudbridge - Won 6-3

Final - Phil Taylor - Lost 0-6

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After spending most of the Friday in hospital with my wife, as she had taken ill - I nearly didn't go to Germany for these events. As she was picking up in hospital she persuaded me to go and book another flight (as we had missed the first one) and get the last flight out of Stansted at 8.30pm. I arrived at the hotel in Gladbeck at around 11pm and prepared for the weekend with the following results (Saturday):

Rd 1 - beat Hannes Schnier 6-1, Rd 2 - beat Mark Hylton 6-1, Rd 3 - Beat Peter Wright 6-0, Rd 4 - beat Darren Johnson 6-2, Quarter Final - beat Colin Osborne 6-4, Semi Final - lost Wayne Jones 3-6.

(sunday):

Rd 1 - lost 1-6 Barrie Bates

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I had the long 5 minute journey to the Moorways Leisure Centre on the Saturday and had the following results:

Rd 1 v Kevin Dowling - won 6-3

Rd 2 v Paul Williams - won 6-1

Rd 3 v Dave Smith - won 6-4

Rd 4 v Brendan Dolan - won 6-2

Quarter Final v Chris Thompson - lost 4-6

 

The second of the eight UK Open qualifiers was on the Sunday, I had the following results:

Rd 1 v Mark Jones - won 6-1

Rd 2 v Wayne Jones - won 6-2

Rd 3 v Peter Manley - won 6-1

Rd 4 v Co Stompe - lost 2-6

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Travelled down to Swindon for these events in good form and good frame of mind. For the player championship on the saturday, I had the following results:

Rd 1  v Mark Carter - won 6-0

Rd 2 v Michael Barnard - won 6-2

Rd 3 v Kevin Painter - won 6-0

Rd 4 v Simon Whitlock - won 6-3

Quarter Finals v Colin Lloyd - won 6-5

Semi Finals v Andy Hamilton - lost 5-6

 

In the first UK Open play off on the Sunday, I had the following results:

Rd 1 v Adam Huckvale - won 6-0

Rd 2 v Mark Dudbridge - won 6-4

Rd 3 v Peter Hudson - won 6-5

Rd 4 v Mervyn King - lost 3-6

 

 

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Flew to Gibraltar on Friday 5th with Debbie from Gatwick into Gibraltar around 1pm. Checked into hotel and had a quiet build up to the Eddie Cox memorial on Saturday. Had the following results:

Rd 1 - beat Lee White 6-1

Rd 2 - beat Kirk Shepherd 6-1

Rd 3 - beat Denis Ovens 6-5

Rd 4 - beat Wes Newton 6-2

Qtr Finals - lost to Mervyn King 4-6

 

Sundays event I had the following results:

Rd 1 - beat Harry Zapota 6-1

Rd 2 - lost to Par Riihonen - 5-6

Very satisfied with weekends results. I played very well to reach the quarters on the Saturday and on the Sunday I lost to a better player on the day, as I didnt do a lot wrong.

Roll on the next ones in Swindon on February 20th and 21st.

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The first event of 2010, and looking forward to playing on terestrial TV. ITV4 cover the whole tournament from the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, and I have drawn Michael Van Gerwen by virtue of me finishing 14th in the rankings and him 19th. Going into this match I was probably too confident and the short format saw me play probably the worst match on TV that I have so far. There was nothing wrong, it wasnt too hot or uncomfortable - it was just a bad day at the office and Michael won 6-2.

Well done to Paul Nicholson for winning the event, beating Taylor in the semis with some outstanding finishing.

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When the draw was made for the worlds, I knew I probably had the toughest match out of all of the seeds. It was the first time I was a seed for a TV event as I was 26th seed. My match against Gary Anderson was a good fight. We both missed loads of doubles, scored highly and gave the crowd something to shout about. Gary came through 3 sets to 2, but I take lots of positives from the match and averaged around 92 which wasn't the best, but thats was down to missed doubles. Looking forward to 2010, after a great 2009.

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Travelltd to Halle with Debbie. We flew from Luton to Dortmund and then a group of players got a coach hired for the hour trip to the Gerry Weber centre. The German Championship is a real good event as there is a good pay out for it and is ideal preparation for the World Championships. First round I beat Kevin Wensink 6-1, then in round two i had the same scoreline in beating Ingo Vogt. In the last 32 I was opponent to my former practise partner Colin Osborne. Colin ran out 6-4 winner but I still played much better than I did in Irvine, and picked up £1,000.

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There was around 200 competitors for the one available space in the Grand Slam of Darts. These were my results in this play off. Rd 1 - James Weldon 4-0, Rd 2 - Justin Pipe 4-3, Rd 3 - Matt Draper 4-0, Rd 4 - Danny Pinhorne 4-0, Quarters - Ronnie Baxter 3-4. Steve Maish won it beating Aaron Monk in the final.

On the Saturday in the player champs I had a frustrating first round loss 5-6 to Steve Evans from Wales. I feel it was a match I should of won but missed chances proved costly on the day.

On the Sunday it was a case of deja vu, as I lost in my opening match to Dave Smith. To be fair to Dave he probably should have won 6-3 but I need to alter a couple of things and recharge my batteries for the next one.

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After a lovely few days relaxing in Delft, I did an exhibition at an english pub called 'The Office' in Delft. A lovely warming pub who's owner Peter made me feel so welcome and a fab night was had by all. I possibly played the best exhibition darts I have to date, maybe because it was so relaxed! Went on to Amsterdam to pick the wife up from Schiphol, then on to the European Championships on the evening for the first round match against Terry Jenkins. We were on first match so I didn't want to be the first one eliminated, we both played some good stuff as I raced in to a 4-1 lead, only to see Terry come back at 5-4 to me and Terr's throw first - I produced an 11 darter to win the match 6-4 with a 94 average and a second round match against local favourite Jelle Klaasen. This was also a brilliant match and went the distance in this best of 17. At 8 each Jelle quickly made his mark on the leg and sat on 16 with me on 132. 25 t19 and just wiring the bull to leave 25 was not enough to stop Jelle progressing into the quarter finals. Phil Taylor beat Steve Beaton in the final.

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We returned to the Van Der Valk Hotel in Nuland for the next 2 events on the pro tour. A busy schedule lies ahead, as I am to stay in Holland for 9 days. After the weekends events I am to stay in Delft with some friends, including an exhibition at an English pub called 'The Office' and then head to Amsterdam on the Thursday morning as we play the European Championship through til Sunday. Back to my results for Saturday: Round 1 v Nandor Bezzeg 6 - 2, Round 2 v Kirk Shepherd 6 - 4, Round 3 v Tony Eccles 6 - 2, Last 16 v Alan Tabern 4 - 6.

Sundays Results: Round 1 v Darren Johnson 6 - 1, Round 2 v Steve Grubb 6 - 3, Round 3 v Andy Jenkins 6 - 3, Last 16 v Gary Anderson 4 - 6. Although I got beaten in last 16 both days I was pretty pleased with my performances. My finishing was notably good, where I recall at crucial times taking out a 170 against Tony Eccles on the Saturday being 1-0 down at the time. I took a 152 out against Kirk Shepherd and a 150 out against Steve Grub with him on a shot out. I also had 2 110 finishes against Andy Jenkins. Looking forward now to the Europeans which start on 29th October in Amsterdam.

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After performing an exhibition in Birmingham on the Friday night, I travelled to Killarney with Kirk Shepherd and Dennis Smith. The annoying part of the journey was that the original flight was cancelled which meant we could not get there in time to play the non ranked Gleneagle Irish Masters. Although this was non ranked, there was still 5000 euros up for grabs to the champion so there was a quality field out there chasing that. I believe Phil Taylor won it anyway so that was that. On to the ranking event. We arrived at the venue around 9.30 am ish, to pursue some practise, and before we knew it the tournament was ready to begin. I had the following results: Round 1 Glen Fitzpatrick 6 - 0, Round 2 Mark Willis 6 - 0, Round 3 Tony Eccles 6 - 2, Last 16 Alan Tabern 6 - 3, Quarter Final Wes Newton 6 - 5, Semi Final Paul Nicholson 5 - 6. Paul lost in the final to Taylor 6 - 0.

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We travelled to the luxurious CityWest complex in Dublin for the two ranking events in the build up to the SkyBet World Grand Prix. There was anew venue built on the complex for the darts and other events in the future. This meant that for the first time there would be allocations of 3,000 tickets for the Grand Prix instead of 900 capacitys they used to have in one of the conference rooms.

On the Saturday I had a really disappointing day. After having a bye in the first round, I faced John Magowan, the Irish stalwart who doesn't seem to care whatever he is up against, yet still a fantastic dart player. He smashed me to pieces with a 6-2 scoreline and in all honesty I was lucky to get 2 legs! Afterwards his dear wife Maggie was there apologising for his win, I found it really quite funny, and she always makes me smile.

On to the Sunday, I wanted a good run to boost morale for the Grand Prix. I had the following results:

Round 1 Bye, Round 2 Wayne Atwood 6 - 2, Round 3 Andy Smith 6 - 3, Last 16 Steve Hine 6 - 0, Quarter Final v Vincent Van Der Voort 6 - 5 (after beiing 5 - 1 behind!) Semi Final Wes Newton 5 - 6.

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Myself and my wife Debbie travelled to Salzburg on the Thursday to have a couple of days before the competitions, as we haven't yet had time for honeymoon. We arrived at the lush hotel around 11am and went for a swim and a walk as we just chilled for the remainder of the day. After a couple of hours of practise I was ready for the first event on Saturday 5th.

My first round was a tough draw against Kevin McDine, and we were scheduled as sixth match on the main stage. This match went on at around 3pm, and after going behind 3-1, I hit a cool 142 finish to stay in the match and came back to win 6-3. This was soon halted as I was beaten 6-3 in the next round to Brendan Dolan. Adrian Lewis won the event beating Carlos Rodriguez 6-4 in the final including a nine darter. Well played Adrian.

On the Sunday I was more focussed and seemed more determined as this was the final event before the cut off for the World Grand Priz in Dublin. As it stood I was in the qualifying spots by the skin of my teeth. My first results of the day were:

Round 1 - won 6-0 v Christophe Stehmann
Round 2 - won 6-0 v Felix Losan
Round 3 - won 6-5 v Andy Smith (14)
Round 4 - won 6-0 v Tony Eccles (30)
Round 5 - won 6-1 v Kevin Painter (22)

This set up another stage match, this time it was a semi final against my conqueror on the Saturday - Brendan Dolan. Looking for revenge I didn't have the best start as I lost the throw for the bull and the first 3 legs went with throw as I found myself 1-2 down. Luckily for me, Brendan missed a couple of crucial doubles and I ran out 6-2 winner to reach my third pro tour final of the year.

My opponent in the final was against 1996 World Champion, Steve Beaton who had beaten Vincent Van Der Voort in the other semi. I won the bull and raced into a 4-0 lead including a 104 finish. Steve then pulled the next 2 legs back including a 117 finish, but I kept my nose in front and closed out the match to take the title with a 6-2 win.

This was massive for me as it guaranteed me for the Grand Prix and also has put me in good stead to qualify for the European Darts Championships at the end of October, and my current order of merit position is now 29th.

Thanks

Jabba

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Went down to the arena for early practise with Kevin Painter, we had some solid practise for an hour or 2 before the event started. My results were as follows.

Rd 1 v BYE
Rd 2 v Bill Davis - Won 6-0
Rd 3 v Kevin Painter - Won 6-1
Last 16 v Alan Tabern - Lost 5-6

Played some great stuff in this event, the only downside being after beating Painter, I had to wait nearly two hours to play my next match. oh well on to Salzburg in a fortnight.

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I travelled with Colin Osborne, Andy Hamilton and Kevin Painter to Heathrow as we flew to Atlanta. It was weird flying 9 1/2 hours on the Friday knowing this had to be done again on the Sunday just 2 days later!

On the Saturday for the players championship, I had been practising with Kevin and we were both throwing well. My results were as follows:

Rd 1 V BYE
Rd 2 v Peter Schaumann - Won 6-0
Board Final v Gary Mawson - Won 6-2
Last 16 v Ronnie Baxter - Won 6-5
Quarter Final v James Wade - Lost 4-6

A good day - played really well for most of it and the £700 puts me much closer to the Grand Prix spot in October.

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I travelled to Blackpool for this years event with fiancee Debbie and step son Alex. We set off early to be in Blackpool for breakfast, and we arrived around 8.30am. We checked into Debbie uncles hotel and had a lovely full english breakfast before a wander around the shops until our room was ready.

In the hotel bar I set up my dartmate to get me some practise before my first round match with James Wade. Both Alex and Debbie's brother Julian gave some practise to try and keep me on my toes. By the time the Tuesday evening came around I was ready for the match. All preperations with rest and practise were fine, but on the night the heat on the stage got the better of me and my performance was poor. James easily beat me 10-3, but the experience of it is priceless. The crowd on the night were fantastic and I had so much support.

Phil Taylor won the event for a tenth time.

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I set off to Birmingham to fly to Dusseldorf Weeze with Andy Hamilton and Colin Osborne for the double header weekend in Germany with good feelings for the events over the weekend. We arrived in Germany and shared a 6 seater with Andy Smith, Terry Jenkins and Nick Fullwell for the half hour drive to Duisburg. To be honest our hotel wasn't the best but not to worry as I was there for the darts and not a holiday.

Saturdays events started well for me, beating Markus Kremser 6-1 without getting out of second gear. This set up a tough second round match against former BDO World Champion - Mark Webster. This was a good match with both of us playing well but my finishing was the difference in a 6-3 win. Board final I had another hard match, this time against 'Jackpot' Adrian Lewis. Another good match with some excellent scoring and finishing by both of us, and I won 6-4 to set up a last 16 match against Mark Walsh. For some reason at the minute Walshie can do no wrong and he swept me away 6-2 with no fuss at all.

It took a 9 darter from Andy Smith to put him out in the quarters and the pie man went on to win the tournament beating Colin Lloyd 6-5 in the final.

I had a poor Sunday, losing in the opening round to one of Germnay's best, Michael Rosenauer. It was a fair match to be honest, and I was 3-0 down and 4-2 down so I left a bit too much to do. Although I took the next 3 legs to go 5-4 in front a missed double 18 cost me as he went out on 100 (20, tops, tops). He then won the decider in 14 darts with the throw which meant I would of had to do a 12 to beat him. Not surprisingly Mark Walsh won Sunday's event beating Andy Hamilton 6-5 in the final.

Next up for us is Las Vegas, and I am so looking forward to that!

 

Thanks for reading........

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Taken from the Unicorn Web Site.

He is one of the brightest young talents in world darts and now Jamie Caven has become the latest member of the world’s top darts team!

Caven, who is currently in the form of his life, has signed a three-year-deal as a Unicorn Contender as he continues his bid for a place in the world’s top 32.

And the man they call ‘Jabba’ will wear the Team Unicorn colours for the first time this weekend in Germany at the Players Championship double-header in Dinslaken.

“I am chuffed!” he said. “It is perfect timing for me, because I’ve had a good six months. When I look at Team Unicorn, it really is the best of the best, so it is an exciting time for me. It will be an honour to play under the Unicorn banner.”

Caven is the third new face to sign for Unicorn in the last three months – following on from Raymond van Barneveld and Anastasia Dobromyslova.

The 33-year-old has catapulted himself from nowhere to the top 40 in the world in just two years and earlier this month he enjoyed his best ever run at a TV ‘Major’ when he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Open in Bolton.

He beat the likes of Jelle Klaasen and Alex Roy, before losing to his great friend Colin Osborne in the quarter-finals.

The pair are both in great form at the moment and they practice together three times a week in their hometown of Derby.

Caven has already played in two World Championships at the Alexandra Palace and last month, he won his first PDC Pro Tour title – beating Alan Tabern in the final of the UK Open Welsh Regional in Newport.

And only last weekend, Caven reached the final of the Players Championship tournament in Barnsley but was edged out 6-4 by Mark Walsh in a tight match.

And Caven revealed his dream move to Team Unicorn came about purely by chance!

“After the UK Open Final, I was on Facebook and Edward Lowy (Unicorn’s Managing Director) came to the page and we started talking. He congratulated me on reaching the quarter-finals in Bolton and I said it would be great to be involved in Team Unicorn one day….but I did put ‘ha ha’ at the end of my message!”

Caven continued: “Edward came back with a message saying ‘I’m not joking’ and it all sprung from there!”

He is also heading out to Las Vegas later this month and has qualified for the World Matchplay in Blackpool through the Players Championship Order of Merit.

His darts career is all the more amazing because Jamie has been blind in his right eye since he was a baby.

“It hasn’t really affected me, because it is all I’ve known, so I just get on with it!” he said.

It’s been quite a year for Caven and it’s about to get better when he gets married to fiancée Debbie in August.

By STUART PYKE

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