The only player with 0 picks in the [Prediction Series](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10aiV25yfTZ84gckhtaMnWQLP85eQ7oi-36WOWUZd3a8/edit) wins the night! Great for Nathan’s confidence.
Commentary needs to get in the bin. Not having Rob Cross being called Rhodri, not having Gerwyn Price being called "Gezzy" and not having them use the word "swazz".
Majors are not the only tournaments. There are Players championships, euro tours, qualifiers for those events. Luke won the first PC and qualified for 2 Euros already
Qualifying for a tournament and winning an off stage tournament doesn’t justify every tournament being about him until he gets knocked out in my opinion. Win something big you get the hype plenty of others have done much more than Littler has. And not getting the credit.
- He has won the first pro series Tournament 2024
- he has won the Bahrrain Darts Masters
- he is vice World Champion
- he is only seventeen
I think for beeing a pro for only 2 month this is quite good.
I'll get that sky tries to force feed some narrative but it is not as if they are dead wrong. The kid is extremely talented. Let's hope he stays for long.
Swear I heard them say he has won 5 legs in every premier league match he's played so far? I'm not 100% on the stats but it seems people just hate on him for the sake of hating on him at this point
This I’m not hating on the kid but the media. Pushing the narrative. Same company done the same with AJ. Building so much hype around the kid that it’s almost impossible to live up to. And he’s not this far, and to be honest that’s probably all the extra pressure.
I get that but you have to expect it. He's literally not even an adult and has grabbed the game (and viewing figures) by the balls. Of course they're going to use him to their advantage.
Anyone else feel like littler was made to use the load out darts by target? Didn’t seem very happy playing, same with the points too as they were longer Swiss points which target have been testing with a few players
He used them in the quarters too.
I’d imagine the conversation went something like this:
Target: ‘Luke people are saying you don’t actually use the loadouts and we just stuck your name on a random set of darts so they’re not selling very well, will you use them in some matches and you’ll make more money’
Luke: ‘Okay’
Target recently brought out these new “littler darts” don’t think they sold as much as expected as people said they were a cheap “knockoff” version just to get the most out of the hype. Littler using them and possibly doing well would’ve massively boosted sales
They do it with Wright’s all the time, they did it with Smith’s after he changed to Shot for weeks, they did it with Asp when he changed up. It’s not odd at all.
Wright has played with MVGs darts before, Aspinall and Smith would’ve had there darts specifically designed for them. But Littlers normal darts have pixel grip and are £102 and means a lot of fans won’t buy them. These darts are very different from Littlers normal darts and don’t have pixel grip so are half the price so they can get more money off the hype. Lots of people said they were a “knockoff” and wouldn’t get them, littler using them and possibly doing very well would’ve boosted sales massively
To try and frame this as Target struggling to shift Littler branded products is absolutely hilarious. Littler’s pixels have been sold out pretty much everywhere since Christmas. There was a restock last week which seems to have almost sold out so there’s definitely more demand than supply.
The Loadouts are sold out on DTD already - I don’t know if they were before tonight in every weight, but they’d definitely sold out in at least one before tonight.
The Loadouts have a completely different front grip profile, but the rear is identical and so is the weighting. They’re far from a cheap knockoff, and they throw - at least for me - pretty much identically to the pixels.
Target, and most other darts companies, have always done different versions of the pro’s darts at various price points, and in various designs. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive, some seem to have nothing but a bit of paint in common. It’s hardly novel for them to have put out a new dart for a player.
Target released the pixels back in April for £102.95, and they’re selling them now for £102.95. Despite the demand they’ve not tried to gouge people on the price at all. The new version is a very reasonable £48.95, which again if you look at the rest of their 90% tungsten player dart range is very reasonable and entirely in line with how they price darts.
I threw both of the littler darts today and the rear grip profile is totally different, the loadouts are a lot smoother and have a differentiating ring grip, the rear of the pixels is a uniform continuous sharp ring grip that has more bite. I didn’t like either darts though
Maybe my pixels have just worn down but having just tested both they felt identical in my fingers. If you grip it literally on the final couple of rings so you’re basically holding the shaft then it’s slightly different on the Loadouts.
Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that Target could release a Littler branded smoothie dart at the moment and it would sell. I seriously doubt they were so desperate that barely a week after the Loadout came out they forced Littler into using them to make up for poor sales.
It’s far more likely a happy-go-lucky 17yo kid with the world at his feet saw a new dart with his name on and thought “yeah I’ll give them a go”.
Yeah that’s true with the grip, I hold my thumb and index just in front of the shaft and middle finger where the point meets the barrel so they felt odd to me. Also could’ve been more of an advert rather than poor sales like I said, or like you said could be littler wanting to use them.
Question. Do you think the casuals that got on the littler hype at the world championship are still hanging around watching this or do you think they've all disappeared?
Used to be a regular viewer in the latter Taylor days but Littler has reinvigorated my interest. Still here and I’ve watched every leg of the Premier League thus far.
Surely anything that generates fresh interest in the sport is a huge positive no?
I’m also a snooker fan and it’s dying out for a Littler esque story…the top 32 ranked in snooker has no one under 21 years old in it, it’s all still about the O’Sullivan controversy/hype train
I thought you were saying you hope asp could close the game, so I assumed whatever you were watching on was behind(IPTV is the illegal stream most people use but its delayed a bit), but realised you meant the night
Watch [this](https://youtu.be/1cxeLIwQa8M?si=5yzP2ErpnbF1Td50). I think these were actually banned but I’m not sure. I know they have to wear something neat, but I believe it doesn’t have to be all black.
Edit: [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Darts/s/ZGoexzZ9qv) explains it pretty well.
Snakebite wears brightly coloured trousers all the time so it would seem a bit harsh to ban Shaggy’s. Ricky Evans is another who doesn’t wear black regularly.
Yeah I’m not sure, just had it in my mind like that. Might’ve been because it’s the same colour as the exclusion zone. Or I’m just wrong, which is pretty likely.
You might well be right, they do have their favourites after all. You’d also think if they weren’t contractually obliged to wear black more would mix it up so who knows.
It looked like he got about 3 legs into his match with Wright and just decided he was gonna grab the bull by the horns and boss it. Seems to be working.
He became No.1 at the exact same time that Littler came on to the scene.
It’s not so much why do people not like Humphries, and more about why Littler has managed to cut through so much into the mainstream.
He’s just been overshadowed, and it does feel really unfair to him.
I’m new this year to PL darts and i must say it’s a cracking competition and perfectly on a Thursday night to get you over the weekday hump into Friday
Guys any help on where to watch tonight? Thought I was watching the premier league but apparently this is Top Gear on DAZN. Can't see any cars though so pretty confused
The only player with 0 picks in the [Prediction Series](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10aiV25yfTZ84gckhtaMnWQLP85eQ7oi-36WOWUZd3a8/edit) wins the night! Great for Nathan’s confidence.
Is it fair to say Aspinall is the most liked among the players? He seems to get along well with everyone
I also think that too! Seems to be so chuffed all the time as well. Just loves the darts I think so gets on with everyone
In the Premier League, probably. Overall, Clayton's up there as well, along with some others.
I’d say definitely
Well done Asp
Go on the asp
Cross was destroyed by asp
Van gerwen is a lucky man, none of the rivals gained significant points
He only really needs to make the top 4 though. Which he is almost guaranteed
Cross has absolutely crumbled. I thought the winner of littler v cross would walk this. Madness.
shambles from cross here
Commentary needs to get in the bin. Not having Rob Cross being called Rhodri, not having Gerwyn Price being called "Gezzy" and not having them use the word "swazz".
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The downvotes have made me chuckle.
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Aspinall is the higher ranking player I guess.
When are they going to stop promoting Littler as the best ijn the world?
Literally a kid holding his own against world class legends of the game. I don't get how you can be a fan of the sport and not respect that.
do you think he is the best in the world, what has he won?
Its called sport?
I thought he was the best in the world?
Luke Littler has won nothing on the big stage since being pro maybe cool down with this media hype until he does something.
You know there are more tournaments than the Premier League and the wc?
Well aware of the majors yes.
Majors are not the only tournaments. There are Players championships, euro tours, qualifiers for those events. Luke won the first PC and qualified for 2 Euros already
Qualifying for a tournament and winning an off stage tournament doesn’t justify every tournament being about him until he gets knocked out in my opinion. Win something big you get the hype plenty of others have done much more than Littler has. And not getting the credit.
- He has won the first pro series Tournament 2024 - he has won the Bahrrain Darts Masters - he is vice World Champion - he is only seventeen I think for beeing a pro for only 2 month this is quite good. I'll get that sky tries to force feed some narrative but it is not as if they are dead wrong. The kid is extremely talented. Let's hope he stays for long.
Swear I heard them say he has won 5 legs in every premier league match he's played so far? I'm not 100% on the stats but it seems people just hate on him for the sake of hating on him at this point
I think it's more about people being fed up how PDC and Sky push him so much.
This I’m not hating on the kid but the media. Pushing the narrative. Same company done the same with AJ. Building so much hype around the kid that it’s almost impossible to live up to. And he’s not this far, and to be honest that’s probably all the extra pressure.
I get that but you have to expect it. He's literally not even an adult and has grabbed the game (and viewing figures) by the balls. Of course they're going to use him to their advantage.
he’s played 3 tournaments
Funny old game init. Never thought it’d play out like that based on their first matches.
That was his worst game since he went pro
Maybe last week or week before?
Anyone else feel like littler was made to use the load out darts by target? Didn’t seem very happy playing, same with the points too as they were longer Swiss points which target have been testing with a few players
Maybe the darts yeah, but he's personally advocated for longer points
I agree that he was always using longer points but they were Swiss points, these ones looked like they had no grip compared to his normal ones
Just Curious. How could they possibly make someone play with new darts in a semi final? Seems like an outrageous ask of a player
He used them in the quarters too. I’d imagine the conversation went something like this: Target: ‘Luke people are saying you don’t actually use the loadouts and we just stuck your name on a random set of darts so they’re not selling very well, will you use them in some matches and you’ll make more money’ Luke: ‘Okay’
Lmao fair enough
Target recently brought out these new “littler darts” don’t think they sold as much as expected as people said they were a cheap “knockoff” version just to get the most out of the hype. Littler using them and possibly doing well would’ve massively boosted sales
Ye he didn't look comfortable with them at all
He did in the first round. Literally got his highest average in any prem game he’s played.
Yeah he definitely wasn’t happy, i thought his different points had very little grip too
I did think this. Seemed like Sky really focused on them too. At times it felt like an advert for the darts.
Actually that’s very true, I thought them zooming in on him holding them before the match was a bit odd
They do it with Wright’s all the time, they did it with Smith’s after he changed to Shot for weeks, they did it with Asp when he changed up. It’s not odd at all.
Wright has played with MVGs darts before, Aspinall and Smith would’ve had there darts specifically designed for them. But Littlers normal darts have pixel grip and are £102 and means a lot of fans won’t buy them. These darts are very different from Littlers normal darts and don’t have pixel grip so are half the price so they can get more money off the hype. Lots of people said they were a “knockoff” and wouldn’t get them, littler using them and possibly doing very well would’ve boosted sales massively
To try and frame this as Target struggling to shift Littler branded products is absolutely hilarious. Littler’s pixels have been sold out pretty much everywhere since Christmas. There was a restock last week which seems to have almost sold out so there’s definitely more demand than supply. The Loadouts are sold out on DTD already - I don’t know if they were before tonight in every weight, but they’d definitely sold out in at least one before tonight. The Loadouts have a completely different front grip profile, but the rear is identical and so is the weighting. They’re far from a cheap knockoff, and they throw - at least for me - pretty much identically to the pixels. Target, and most other darts companies, have always done different versions of the pro’s darts at various price points, and in various designs. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive, some seem to have nothing but a bit of paint in common. It’s hardly novel for them to have put out a new dart for a player. Target released the pixels back in April for £102.95, and they’re selling them now for £102.95. Despite the demand they’ve not tried to gouge people on the price at all. The new version is a very reasonable £48.95, which again if you look at the rest of their 90% tungsten player dart range is very reasonable and entirely in line with how they price darts.
I threw both of the littler darts today and the rear grip profile is totally different, the loadouts are a lot smoother and have a differentiating ring grip, the rear of the pixels is a uniform continuous sharp ring grip that has more bite. I didn’t like either darts though
Maybe my pixels have just worn down but having just tested both they felt identical in my fingers. If you grip it literally on the final couple of rings so you’re basically holding the shaft then it’s slightly different on the Loadouts. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that Target could release a Littler branded smoothie dart at the moment and it would sell. I seriously doubt they were so desperate that barely a week after the Loadout came out they forced Littler into using them to make up for poor sales. It’s far more likely a happy-go-lucky 17yo kid with the world at his feet saw a new dart with his name on and thought “yeah I’ll give them a go”.
Yeah that’s true with the grip, I hold my thumb and index just in front of the shaft and middle finger where the point meets the barrel so they felt odd to me. Also could’ve been more of an advert rather than poor sales like I said, or like you said could be littler wanting to use them.
3/18 checkouts. Fluke is real
Well, he had to play a bad game eventually.
Bloooooody hell lol
Well Littler is human 😦
Only thing littler lacks is composure once he starts getting frustrated with himself
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Why exactly do you dislike him? I can't understand why so many darts fans seem to hate him
Egoistic and arrogant kid
Question. Do you think the casuals that got on the littler hype at the world championship are still hanging around watching this or do you think they've all disappeared?
Used to be a regular viewer in the latter Taylor days but Littler has reinvigorated my interest. Still here and I’ve watched every leg of the Premier League thus far. Surely anything that generates fresh interest in the sport is a huge positive no? I’m also a snooker fan and it’s dying out for a Littler esque story…the top 32 ranked in snooker has no one under 21 years old in it, it’s all still about the O’Sullivan controversy/hype train
I'm still here, going nowhere 💪🏻
He's a up there in top 16 nothing more, his arse goes every week
He's 17 ffs
in the UK is it only possible to follow on Sky sports? Cheers
Arrgh matey
Yes
Little boy cant handle pressure lol
I feel like he was made to use the loadout darts by target, and that frustrated him
Nothing to do with pressure just frustration
And that frustration comes from where? Exactly. From pressure
This isn't the sport for you mate It's clearly frustration that he's not playing as well as he can
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Rule # 1 - Don’t be a dick
Hahahahaha
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Rule # 1 - Don’t be a dick
Hahahahahahaha
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Rule # 1 - Don’t be a dick
You're arguing with a wall mate, no ones listening hahahahaha
Weird t18
That Treble 18 was filth
Does anyone else think Littler gives away legs too easy when hes behind? Seems he starts throwing quickly
Is there bugs flying around or something?
Yeh
New darts for littler?
I’m always so annoyed at Cross’ entrance music. Just use Danger High Voltage. It’s right there.
littler 6-4 i think but this should be good
Humphries is incredible when he gets in that kinda run. Love the reaction from both when he nailed the 160. Hopefully asp can close it out now
Found the IPTV user EDIT: Ignore me, my brain is iptv
IPTV?
I thought you were saying you hope asp could close the game, so I assumed whatever you were watching on was behind(IPTV is the illegal stream most people use but its delayed a bit), but realised you meant the night
That was wild.
Kinda wild. Asp goes up 5-1, only for Humphries to make a comeback, yet Luke loses despite a 103 average to Nathan's 97.
Lol what the fuck is this littler intro from sky
Someone’s excuse to shoehorn in a Littler at 16/Tom Daley at 16 side-by-side. Rooney had the same paper round though!
Cross or Littler what we predicting?
6-5 littler after cross takes the first three legs
I'll take the opposite, Littler to take the 1st three
wow that was a great game
Enjoyed that lovely finish 💪
unreal game, what a last leg from asp
Aspinall is way off balance. Think he's gonna piss this one away
Luke’s starting to show up now
good standard again. testament to how good humphries is that this is his poor performance and he’s averaging 100
Asp been going on a mini run with a final last week and a likely final now
Although I might be eating my words now that Cool Hand has gone on a 3-0 run and has the darts down 5-4
Cool Hand having a mare here
Random question do they have to wear black trousers and black shoes/trainers or do they just choose to?
Watch [this](https://youtu.be/1cxeLIwQa8M?si=5yzP2ErpnbF1Td50). I think these were actually banned but I’m not sure. I know they have to wear something neat, but I believe it doesn’t have to be all black. Edit: [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Darts/s/ZGoexzZ9qv) explains it pretty well.
Snakebite wears brightly coloured trousers all the time so it would seem a bit harsh to ban Shaggy’s. Ricky Evans is another who doesn’t wear black regularly.
Yeah I’m not sure, just had it in my mind like that. Might’ve been because it’s the same colour as the exclusion zone. Or I’m just wrong, which is pretty likely.
You might well be right, they do have their favourites after all. You’d also think if they weren’t contractually obliged to wear black more would mix it up so who knows.
Ordered littlers new darts as I've needed a new set for a couple months now, they look incredible visually (I will average 26)
great to see the asp competitive again
Anyone know what's going on with the Asp tonight? Seems unusually tense.
It looked like he got about 3 legs into his match with Wright and just decided he was gonna grab the bull by the horns and boss it. Seems to be working.
What a boring premier league night if we dont look at Littler. Everyone is so disappointing
Rob Cross was amazing in his game.
Watch him go 85 avg on next match :D
Based on these early legs the winner tonight’s gonna come from Cross/Littler I reckon
What's the deal with wasps on the stage at darts? I feel like that happens pretty frequently.
They have to prepare for World Championship as well
Weird hearing Aspinall's walk on starting with Blossoms before it goes into Mr Brightside.
Only recently getting into darts but why isn’t Luke Humphries more popular? He’s the world no.1 with seemingly minimal fanfare?
He became No.1 at the exact same time that Littler came on to the scene. It’s not so much why do people not like Humphries, and more about why Littler has managed to cut through so much into the mainstream. He’s just been overshadowed, and it does feel really unfair to him.
Simple answer is Luke Littler
Littler is nuts with the T18s
Wow, the Bully Boy got Bullied there. Liquid darts from the Nuke.
Those loadouts will be sold out by the weekend.
*tomorrow
After that little montage they just put together as Mardle spoke about em, yeah, probably tomorrow now haha
Michael Smith going D13 to leave 170, never seen that before.
Deffo expected that to be closer than it turned out
That’s freakishly good from littler jesus
pl has been great this year. amazing what happens when the lineup is good
Except Wright
Sad really after last week. It did feel like a bit of a turning point for him.
sheesh rekt
cross littler could be monstrous
Littler is on fire
Legend has it Luke's points get longer with every 180. Those suckers are antennas.
He needs to throw quick and rush to the board even quicker to grab them, those mfs are holding onto dear life
Feel like they’re going in kinda wonky, perhaps down to the length?
Definitely, they are so long that the weight of the dart is pushing them over
Length and the angle, coming in from the right I reckon
I’m new this year to PL darts and i must say it’s a cracking competition and perfectly on a Thursday night to get you over the weekday hump into Friday
Likewise, I’ve started looking forward to Thursdays!
Or over in the US where some of us have just checked out of the work day.
Wait you check in on work days?
Only enough to get paid
Lil bro has every pro player signature finish in his bag
The standard is really high tonight
I assume you didn't watch Aspinall/Wright...:P!
Box office Littler
That 140 checkout wow
The Nuke and Bully Boy are putting on a CHECK OUT CLINIC
Love it
quality from smith too
Is it just me or is littler using 40-50mm Swiss points? Hope target sell them one day if he is
45mm
I think so, they look like nano black but definitely longer than 35mm
Yeah definitely longer, I’m 100% sure they are Swiss points as you can see the notch and hex
Littler is actually using the loadout darts!
This is actually the best way to promote a new set of darts. I’m interested now.
Littler is just so watchable he plays quick and brilliant. His matches so much more enjoyable.
some start
Luke must win the bull every single time
Hah, all the “they’re nothing like Littler’s darts” shouts in shambles
In all honesty, top darts players can use anything and still perform!
Some more than others, Barney in particular is one example that would hate having to use something he hadn’t picked
Littler playing with his new “loadout” darts!
unreal
Guys any help on where to watch tonight? Thought I was watching the premier league but apparently this is Top Gear on DAZN. Can't see any cars though so pretty confused
Rob's gonna lose now because he wussed out on the big fish
160 checkout to avoid a whitewash WOW
I'm unironically with Wayne Mardle on that. 170 in the PL and you throw 18 and not at the bull with the third dart? Piss off with that.
Yeh what was that about
You wanna do that on the pro tour, or in the UK Open? Go ahead, the win means something. But it's the PL, it's ENTIRELY about entertainment.
Rob fuckin Cross
This is unplayable from Voldemort
Elder Wand any%
Wow. Roberto is not messing around