Its easy as ADC

Last night I entered my first ADC sanctioned darts tournament. I didn’t do too bad for my first attempt but first up let me explain what the ADC is.

You’ve probably heard of the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation), the worldwide ‘tour’ where all the Pros play. The ADC (Amateur Darts Circuit) is a regional, average-based league or order of merit for us mere Amateurs. It’s a professionally run setup hosting a series called Vault. Vault 11.0 has just finished where the Top X go through to Regional finals, then the winners of those go through to National finals and the winner gets a shot at the Modus Super Series which has some TV exposure and kind of best explained as a level below the PDC. I hope that makes sense.

However, in between the official Vault seasons, venues can host independent ADC-sanctioned events or series which are run in a similar way and was what I entered last night. It was a 32 player round robin where the top 2 from each group went throught to a Last 16 straight knock-out to find a winner.

The setup of these events is pretty cool. We had 8 boards + 1 practice with ring lights, surrounds, raised oche’s + a digital tablet to score on. All the tablets are linked to a central website (dartsatlas.com) and record all the scores, stats etc but also hosts the tournament online telling players what board, who they are playing and who is scoring etc. Very cool stuff.

The Round-Robin

One player had dropped out so I was in a group of 3 which meant one less game than everyone else but a better chance of qualifying out the group too.

My first group match I played ok. My opponent was clearly better and I offered up some flashes of brilliance at times but ultimately I wasn’t consistent enough and lost 3-1. The aim was to win a leg and I had. Mission accomplished!

For my second group match, to qualify I had to win to give myself a chance. I had the benefit of scoring him first so I got to see him play and felt he was beatable but again I was inconsistent and scrappy and when he drew level at 1-1 he seemed to up a gear. I managed to hang on and catch up when he struggled on the doubles and then I took the next two to win. Only just though to be fair. As he had lost to my first opponent, I qualified out the group in 2nd place.

My throw just wasn’t working. Probably some nerves so I went away and practiced a bit and changed my shafts. I came away a bit more settled and the nerves were gone. Time to just enjoy it now.

Almost

For the Last 16, the cream had risen to the top (that excludes me). Looking at the averages I think I was the lowest qualifier lol and was expecting a 3-0 spanking.

In Leg #1 my first 3 darts were 138 haha. A nice way to make a point. Then reality kicked in and he ran away and closed out the first leg with me stuck on 95. Hmmmm….here we go. Time to get spanked.

Leg #2 I had shit start then banged in a consecutive 140 and 100 to catch up and nick it while he got stuck on D1. He was obviously frustrated. Was he rattled? Seemed to be. It was 1-1 and game on!

For Leg #3 normal service resumed. Despite throwing a 100 I was hammered and left on 149 as he finished. 2-1 to him.

Leg #4 was very scrappy. Neither of us hit a ton and we both got bogged down on a double each. I got away with missing 12 darts for D8 before snatching it and taking the game to a decider. Tense stuff now at 2-2!

I actually played ok in the last leg but he turned on the afterburners with a 132 and 100 consecutively to build a big lead and then checked out quickly. Class won in the end. I was just pleased I gave him a game. Ironically, despite playing my best darts of the night my average was the worst. Getting stuck on the doubles killed it.

My match stats were good though 11 x 100+ and I won 6 legs. Happy with that.

It was my first go at these style of events. There a few dotted around locally so I’m certain it won’t be the last in my ADC career lol. I went with a couple of teammates and we all enjoyed it. The darts league is great but you only get 1 x single + 1 x doubles match where here you can play more matches and legs. These events aren’t free though like the league so horses for courses.

Adios

PS the winner averaged 83+ in the final, so I’ve got a long way to go to be as half as good as Luke Littler but hopefully playing better players will help me improve.

Credit to Jayden Harper for organising the event. Well done sir!