subject: Darts Tips - Underhand Tactics Used To Put Off Your Opponent [print this page] Darts is a game that's really taken off in recent years but for many people it's still predominantly a pub game. As a result of this there are lots of underhand tactics employed by players to try and put their opponent off and give themselves an edge. These tactics are commonplace in the game of darts and they are often employed in both friendly matches and the more competitive league matches.
So what are these different forms of gamesmanship that people use?
Well apart from the obvious method of spiking your opponent's drink in order to get them drunk (which does happen), there are a lot more subtle ways of putting your opponent off their game. The first of these tactics is simply to stand right behind your opponent when they are at the board and throwing their darts. This tactic has been going on for years and even the pros have used it on occasions.
Another tactic is to create noises in the background. This is very distracting and is a sure-fire way of annoying your opponent. You can change your flights, tap your feet, or simply play with the barrels of your darts and tap them together.
As soon as it's your turn to take aim, you can take things even further. You will often find that you will come up against both slow and quick players. So in order to try and put them off their natural rhythm, it's always a good idea to dictate the pace of the game yourself. So obviously if they are a fast thrower, for instance, you should take your time throwing your darts (as long as it doesn't put you off your own game) so that they have to wait longer between each throw.
If you don't want to slow your own game down you could throw your darts normally and then really take your time. In other words you want to walk very slowly up to the board and then take your time removing your darts as well. All of which will make your quicker opponent very frustrated.
Finally if you are both scoring the game after each throw, you could take your time working out the scores. Alternatively you can balance the chalk on the edge so it occasionally falls off during your opponent's throw, which is a cheeky tactic that I've seen used by many pub players in my time.
So to sum up, there are lots of ways you can try and put your opponent off when playing darts. I don't necessarily think the game should be played this way as it's basically a form of cheating, but it's worth making a note of them at the very least because even if you don't use them yourself, you will quickly be able to tell when your opponent is trying to use these tactics on you.
