dartbase.com - The Dart Thrower

'01 out central

© Ken Berman and Karlheinz Zöchling
November 20, 1999

501 double out is the most common game played in tournament darts. Although there is a lot of cricket played (especially in the US), and a lot of master out games (in soft-tip), '01 variations with double out are the traditional and most widespread games in darts.

For being successful in '01 games (or double out games, you can take these as synonyms), the term "know your finishes!" is very important. So this section of TDT has been made to help you improving your knowledge of finishes. It includes an excellent article about the general principles of finishing (written by Ken Berman), and a collection of out shot tables (written by me).

How to use this section of The Dart Thrower:

1) How The Pros Do It
Start with Ken Berman's article "How The Pros Do It". Ken provides the principles behind outshot mathematics and gives an out shot table for all finishes from 170 down. This article is the main part of the '01 outs section. "How The Pros Do It" is published here with permission from the author.

2) Out shot tables
Some finishes have equal options, some have only one useful way. Most out shot tables only give you one option when more are possible. These tables are meant to give you an overview over as much useful out shot combinations as possible.

3 - darts out shot table
This table shows what you should play if you have a full throw, means 3 darts, left to get them. Note that there are finishes that could be checked with only 2 darts. But it makes sense to distinguish if you have exactly these 2 darts left or if you have a full throw for them. In some casess, if you really have 2 darts for them, it is better to play differently. This is discussed in the following

2 - darts out shot table
which contain, just as described above, recommended ways for 2 - dart out shots with really 2 darts left.

The above out shot tables are quite extensive, because I wanted to list as much useful combinations as possible, and also combinations that are often seen but in fact wrong. If you have problems understanding the charts here is a legend for the symbols I have used.

3) Further reading

For further reading about '01 outs I can recommend two books:

The Dart Book by Kari Kaitanen

Fundartmentals by Frank Pratt and F.M. Harris

Karlheinz Zöchling, November 20, 1999