Darts Tactics for Cricket

[@bronco197879]

not new to the game, you pointed out a few things that Id call the thrill of the chase...mistakes Ive made, work smarter not harder, great video

[@mrcolts99]

Great video, I wish cricket was more popular in the uk

[@10mins]

I'm pleased that you enjoyed it. I grew up playing in a Yorkshire Doubles board league, so I hardly ever encounter the game of cricket until I move to Holland and played in a league there. (There we called the game Tactics and played the numbers 20 down to 10, plus bull.) I now live in America where cricket is very popular (20 down to 15, plus bull). It is a fun game. Beginners tend to enjoy it more than 01 games, and I suspect the fact that scoring doesn't require subtraction is a big plus for many.

[@andyh2460]

Your video's are excellent - keep em coming

[@10mins]

Thank you Andy, I'm pleased you like them.

[@kodyeuckert6755]

While I agree with most of the strategy you are teaching in this video, I strongly disagree with the suggestion to shoot the 20 if your opponent tries to close following you doing so but is unsuccessful. If you have the 20 closed and they have only 2 marks, the ideal shot would be to shoot at the 19(more specifically the t19) in the event that u don't hit the 19 or t19 then shoot the 20 again. Also the last rule of thumb you mentioned, I disagree with this one strongly as well. If you have the game darts in your hand, only needing 2 of the 3 to win, shoot at the win shot first if you miss then score. The game of cricket is a lot more complicated, strategically, than most people truly understand. So with everything I have said, if you have a shot at winning the game with only 2 darts and have all 3 in hand, take a shot at winning the game. Throwing away from the winning shot leaves an opening for your opponent if you happen to miss, at least if you shoot at the game shot there is a chance you could hit it without needing that 3rd dart.

[@10mins]

Kody, thank you for taking the time to watch my video and to reply with your helpful comments. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I did say at the very start of the video that I wasn't offering a definitive strategy for winning the game. I wanted to present some ideas to get people thinking beyond a simple "chase the numbers" approach. I sometimes find that my strategy changes depending on how well I'm playing; how confident I feel. Some days I'll attempt that win shot without hesitation, other days I'll hedge my bets. Hopefully visitors to this video will take your comments onboard and figure out their own personal strategies for tackling this wonderfully complex game. Have you seen my video about the dart game "Trifecta"? (kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKvFoYWfmb2MkJY). It adds a whole new level of strategy on top of cricket. Please try the game, let me know what you think of it.

[@cliffbiddle1299]

Always bury your opponent when you can. I'm an American I was playing a tournament back in the late eighties, it just so happened my doubles partner and myself ended up in the cricket singles finals against each other. I won the cork to start, I hit triple 20, triple 20, triple 20, closed the 20s and scored 120 points. The game was over. Always bury your opponent.

[@cliffbiddle1299]

Whe9

[@steverosenthal9005]

Great video, nice graphics too! One thing that caught my attention is that my mates and I never play slop. It would be helpful if you could explain if you would use different tactics when playing slop vs. no slop. For example, would one alter their tactics whether to shoot bulls out of order if playing no slop?

[@10mins]

Steve, I confess I have not given the "No Slop" version of the game much thought. The leagues I've played in have always allowed slop. My initial thoughts in response to your question center around the fact that the combined area of the bull and the double bull is three times the area of a treble. That means, in theory, you are three times more likely to hit a bull than to hit a specific treble. With that in mind, I would still be tempted to take a shot at the bull in the kind of situations I describe in the video. I feel that getting even just a single bull early in the game gives you a slight psychological advantage in the closing stages. (I certainly feel disadvantaged when I'm on the receiving end.)

[@duckasarus3663]

Great video, I play my girlfriends dad a lot and he’s really good. These tips will help a lot. TY!

[@10mins]

You might want to still let him win a few. It's never wise to alienate your girlfriend's dad. :)

[@duckasarus3663]

@@10mins I threw a double bullseye today!. but he had 220 points above me. so your advice is taken lol.

[@rockdemon4485]

Im curently pissed up playing this game and wanted to dominate my m8s it worked ty

[@realtoast7036]

The scoring is confusing me. I’m just learning. Other videos and resources are saying we get points only after having closed a mark, as long as the opponent hasn’t closed the same mark. Here, it appears scoring is occurring before a number is fully closed out. Am I misunderstanding?

[@10mins]

You are correct in stating that you only score points after closing a mark as long as the opponent hasn't closed the same mark. So for example, if you throw first and hit say, 20, 20 and treble 20, you've hit the mark 5 times. Three of those hits close the number and you score 40 points for the other two. I'd be interested to know where in my video you thought I was saying something to the contrary. Can you give me a rough idea of the timing mark and what's said to confuse you?

[@10mins]

realtoast - I watched through the video again and it occurred to me that maybe you are not familiar with the way I'm marking the scoreboard (which is seen on the left of the screen throughout). I use a standard method of chalking for cricket. If you hit an available number just once in a turn, the board is marked with a slash "/". When you hit it a second time a back-slash changes the mark to an X, and on a third strike a circle is drawn over the X. If you hit all three in one turn, I don't bother drawing the X, I just draw the circle. That's why you'll see a mixture of circles, circles with a slash, and circles with an X. All you really need to know is that a circle = 3 strikes on that number. BTW, in the introduction, I pointed out that the video is aimed at players already familiar with the game. That's why there's no explanation of the markings - it's assumed you already know. That doesn't mean you're not welcome to watch and hopefully take away some useful tips, but if you are (as you said) just learning the game, there may be some things that you're not going to get straight away.

[@realtoast7036]

@@10mins Thank you for helping out and the great video. My family and I are now playing and scoring many times each day. I can tell you, novice American players think Cricket is simply closing out numbers 15-20 and bulls before the opponent does. I've seen this in bars and homes for years. I've shared your video and have since last night played the "real" way (well, the real American way you describe) from 1:15-on about a dozen times! Very different and very fun. Totally different strategy game.

[@10mins]

@@realtoast7036 I'm delighted to hear that you're enjoying playing the full version of the game. It really does have a lot of depth and complexity to it. If my video has helped you at all then I feel making it has been well worth my while. When you become more experienced and comfortable with the game and would like to try something with an added level of strategic thinking, you should take a look at my video on the darts game of Trifecta. It’s a game that my circle of dart playing friends and I invented a couple of years ago. It incorporates Cricket, 501 and 301. Since first coming up with the game we’ve hardly played anything else. Watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKvFoYWfmb2MkJY

[@sammyjankiss287]

So....thermonuclear darts then?

[@10mins]

I tried that once, but I bombed. ;-)

[@sammyjankiss287]

@@10mins HA!

[@chrisox]

Great video, but if your opponent closes lets say 20s and points you 20 or 40 points, why wouldn't you try and close 19s and hopefully hit a triple 19 then you can point on the 19s. I know 20s are more, but woudnt it make your opponent go for 20s again.... I know its a point game, but you cant win unless you close all your numbers.

[@10mins]

Erm... I believe I am saying just that. Rule of Thumb #2 "Get ahead on points and stay ahead". If you're behind on points, you need to open a number you can score on. If I'm your opponent and I open with 5 x 20, I'd expect you to start by throwing at 19. If you threw at 20 trying to close a number I've already scored on, you'd be putting yourself at a disadvantage. Let's say you hit five 19s. Score is now 40 - 38 in my favour. On my turn, ideally I'd like to close out your 19, so my first dart will be aimed at that segment. What happens next depends on what that first darts hits... > If it hits treble 19, great, I can now either go back to 20 and try to rack up more points, or I can tab a stab at another number. > If it hits a single 19, I'll stay on 19 with my 2nd dart. > If it misses 19 altogether, I'll switch back to 20 and try to score more points. (Rule of Thumb #3). The only caveat I have to that is, some people think it's rude to pile on the points. If I'm playing in a match, then I don't care what my opponent thinks. I'm going to do what I think gives me the best chance of winning. But if I'm playing for fun, I might (depending on who I'm playing) take a different approach to ensure everyone is enjoying the game.

[@chrisox]

@@10mins I agree 100% thank you again for the video and clarifying. Definitely will like and share video to others.

[@chrisox]

Quick question. So how would you beat a player that just likes to point. Both players or decent. But one is slightly better then the other, The one that points is the lesser of the two. But he keeps winning because he's pointing all the time I read this article on Google, and whoever wrote it. They said if your playing a weaker player to just point them... Its so frustrating, I end up giving up.... Do you have any advice?

[@10mins]

If someone is racking up a lot of points, ultimately, you've got to score more points than them AND you've got to close the number they're scoring on. The question then becomes, do you try to close their number and then catch up on points, or do you try to get ahead on points and then close their number? Typically, I'll attempt the latter approach. If they are scoring on, say, 20 and I'm on 19, I'm going to try to out throw them, get my score above theirs and then have a stab at closing 20. For example, if their score is 100 and I'm on 76, let's say I hit two single 19s, I'm now ahead by 14 points and I'll probably throw my third at 20. Even if I just hit a single I'm one step closer to closing their number. There are exceptions, and it depends on who I'm throwing against. I have one friend who is deadly accurate on 19s, so when I play him I start on 19 and close it out as soon as I can. I have other friends who are really good on 20, so I'll try to close 20 regardless of where the scores stand. So, what I'm saying is, if you know which numbers your friend favours, try to close those numbers first. I've also had games where I've switched to the bull when someone is pointing like crazy. I have (admittedly rare) days when I am pretty accurate on the bull. The combined area of the inner and outer bull is three times that of a treble segment, so it's actually a relatively large target. It scores more than any other number, and if you miss it there's a 6 in 20 chance you'll hit one of the other cricket numbers. I've been known to slop three darts in my opponent's open number while trying to hit bulls. Maybe not the most satisfying way to win, but I'll take what I can get.

[@chrisox]

@@10mins this is great advice. Thank you so much. Very much appreciated 👍🏻👍🏻🎯

[@BlkbeemerE46]

Lol i was told cricket has no strategy 🤷‍♂️

[@wadecohagan2388]

this is all great until you throw a third player in the game lol'

[@10mins]

Very true. Three-way cricket is a different beast. I don't play it often enough to have formed any opinions about which tactics work best.