Tournament with Handicaps

 On Friday (3rd October), I signed up for, and played in a tournament in Stroud. 

Two things intrigued me. 1. It was free! 2. It came with a handicap format. 

So how it worked, using darts atlas and local knowledge each player was given a starting score. If you running average was 50, then you start at 500 in all your games. If you your average is 40, then you start at 400. And so on. 

What made this interesting was how I would play if I had a big advantage or big disadvantage. Psychologically would this be different to a normal 'scratch' match. 

And who would the winner be? Someone with a high start, say 700, or someone with a low 300 start. 

Here's what I found. Well from this week anyway......

If I played against someone around my average (50 points each way),  I found that I had the same kind of focus and mind set. I felt the same kind of nerves and performed about the same. 

However,things seemed different when I played a county player. He started on 620 and I started on 490. I won the bull and knew that if I could get a solid 60 with my first 3 darts, I would have a near 200 point lead. This was a real boost as I knew if I kept steady, I should have a few darts at a double. I wasn't too worried about when he started first, I just needed to hold my throw. It seemed all the pressure was on my opponent. I won that 2-0. (He did mutter something about me not being a 490 player, but I'll take that as a compliment!)

In the flipside, I then play someone starting on 400. They actually scored really well throughout, but they had more trouble on the doubles than me, so I stole that match. 

In the last 16 I had to play a 350 player. This was really tough, as they scored well, so were on a finish a lot quicker than me. This is where good scoring was crucial, but I'd hazard a guess that they had a better first 9 than me. Once again, they had way more trouble at the latter stage, so fortunately I came through. 

My quarter final saw me play a 690 player. Again I didn't feel pressure, but they were banging in 100+s for fun. My scoring just wasn't there and I knew once they were ahead, they were likely to finish first. I got a leg, but was a game too far. 

The overall winner was a 540 player, so it showed that everyone had a chance. It was really enjoyable and an interesting format. I'll likely be back next week for more. I'm guessing my starting score will be around 520-530, so will need to make sure I can score heavier next time.