The Power of Numbers!!

by Ken MacNeil

Hello all Shot! fans and customers, my name is Ken MacNeil I and am a new ambassador for Shot! darts, my article for the website this month is going to be about playing 501 using percentage outshots and why it is so important to know the board as best you can. One of my strengths in the game that I'm very confident in, is the fact that I know the numbers on the board very well and know all my outshots fluently. When I was younger I spent as much time with a pen and piece of paper as much as I actually practiced on the board. The main reason to know the board and the numbers to go for is the fact that you don't have to think about what to go for when you miss your target point. The moment you have to think about what you're doing in the middle of a match the more it takes away from your focus on what you are actually trying to achieve which is to play a strong consistent match.

I always try to leave the wedges as much as possible on any out shot, the wedges are the even or odd numbers grouped together such as 8,16:6,10 and 17,3,19,7 , the reason for going for these numbers on an outshot is because under a pressure situation it takes a lot of focus to hit a single number to set up a double, by leaving the wedges it gives you that little more confidence to set up the double because a miss to either side will still leave you a nice double to finish the game on.

The best way to learn the board is sit down with a pen and piece of paper and write down your outshots and the way to take them out, but also memorize what you have to go for if you miss your initial dart. For example say something like 64 you go for t16 with first dart, you should know if you miss the t16 and slip into the t8 that you have 40 left without thinking which means you don't affect the rhythm of your throw. There are plenty of numbers in which to do this that I won't go into depth about, you figure them out the more you do this exercise.

Another way to play percentage darts is to play the outshots by staying with the first triple that you strike, for example let's say you have 140 outshot in front of you and you hit the first t20 the best thing to do is actually go back at the t20 on 2nd dart for the reason you have the first dart to help focus better on the target, and that first dart could actually help the 2nd dart go in the triple , I tend to do this on a lot of outshots and again if you know the numbers it doesn't affect your rhythm, practice different outshots with this technique and you'll see a difference in your game.

The last thing I want to say about knowing the numbers and outshots in the game is as soon as you are confident in knowing your outshots and numbers the best thing to do is while you are in a game and your opponent is shooting, work out what you are going to do when you get your shot, that way you are not thinking about it when it is your shot at the board. There is a lot more to this subject that I didn't dwell on such as playing percentage shots when at a score of 300 and higher, yes there is a reason to do so and maybe I will go into it with more detail at a later time.

Thank you for reading and always remember “ Believe”