The Oche Life Podcast

In the first episode of 2026 I was pleased to be joined by one of the elite darting referees and host of Tops & Tales Podcast 'Houdini' Huw Ware who kindly spent some time on the podcast amongst a very busy schedule on PDC circuit. Huw would play at 2011 WDF World Cup in Aberdeen for Wales and would play against the likes of Jeffrey De Zwaan, Jimmy Hendriks & would even beat recently crowned WDF World Champion Jimmy van Schie in a best of 1 leg match in that event. A very cool achievement. Huw would start refereeing local darts matches and would get his break refereeing on the BDO circuit at World Masters at a young age and would get the chance to ref a couple of matches at BDO World Darts Championship at Lakeside! Huw would do 5 years in total with BDO and would make the switch around about 2017 to PDC circuit but would take a little bit of time before getting a regular spot on the tour but would referee in some Premier League matches and other events.  It was round about 2021 where Huw would step up to the official 4th referee on the schedule and has not looked back since becoming instantly recognisable and is now one of the elite refs in the sport!  Thanks so much to Huw for coming on to chat I really appreciate it! It was a great chat! All the best for this year on your adventures! Download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts & Spotify! 

In this latest episode of The Oche Life I was pleased to be joined by current PDC Tour Card holder Tom Bissell who joined me straight off of a competition win back home in the Black Country including defeating former PDC & BDO star Jamie Hughes inbthe quarter finals. Tom joins us after his first full year on the biggest tour in Darts as we find out about his experiences and more including making it into 3x European Tour events in Austria, Hungary & Germany. Tom would play Rugby growing up before getting into Darts after an injury and would play in the pub leagues, county leagues and Super leagues down in the Black Country alongside some quality operators. Tom would go onto Q School and would be a star of the event gaining his full PDC Tour card which he would openly admit was a stark contrast from the days of the leagues! Tom would play some of the best players on the Players Championship floor events including the likes of Gerwyn Price & Stephen Bunting. In Tom's Euro Tour experiences at Austrian Darts Open  would lose to Ricardo Pietreczko while in Hungary he would beat Dirk van Duijvenbode before losing to Mike De Decker and in Germany put on a valiant effort in a narrow defeat to Luke Woodhouse something The Bizzness can take great experiences from! Had a lot of fun chatting with Tom who was a really nice guy! All the best for 2026! Remember to download via Podbean, Spotify & Apple Podcasts!

It was a pleasure to be joined by 13x WDF title winner including 2025 World Masters major & current WDF World Number 1 player Jimmy van Schie just as he is about to travel to Lakeside to try and add World Champion to his ever growing list of achievements!  The Dutch Sequoia is from Breda in The Netherlands and started Darts after playing a little bit of Basketball growing up but Darts was also the preference for the tall Dutch man. Jimmy made his PDC Pro Tour debut in 2010 & would also win Gold Medal at 2011 WDF European Cup Youth in Aberdeen alongside Jimmy Hendriks, Jeffrey De Zwaan & Mike Zuydwijk.  After a length of time away from the game Jimmy has transformed himself into a serial winner over the past couple of seasons on WDF circuit stamping his authority as the Number 1 player on tour with 13x titles & 4 Modus Super Series week wins! At World Masters in Hungary 'The Dutch Sequoia' would 3 group games & 7 knockout games to stand tall as the World Master defeating the likes of David Pallett, Jason Brandon & Jeff Smith along the way.  We talk about the expectations of being the best player on WDF and if he ever struggles with that pressure some times. Jimmy was very open about it and gave some good answers & also in Pro Knowledge see how the Dutch star gets on can he beat Andy Davidson's 5? Find out! With the Lakeside starting this week, I wish Jimmy van Schie all the best in his aspirations of being World Champ. Download via Podbean, Apple & Spotify! Thanks for the support 

I was pleased to be joined by Dutch born Norweigan PDC player Cor Dekker just as he is about to embark on his debut at PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace next month another great feat in an upward trajectory year which has seen Cor play in 3 big tv title events at UK Open, World Cup of Darts for Norway & World Series of Darts finals. Cor was born in Bovenkarpsel in the northern part of The Netherlands and would grow up at the time idolising Raymond van Barneveld. In 2012 he would move to Askim in Norway to start a new phase of life. His nickname The Sheriff came from being one of the best players on his team at the time and it stuck. He developed his throw by watching Mervyn King with the slight twist at the top and added his own modifications to it. In 2018 Cor would win NB 06 Vaaksy event in Finland on PDC Nordic Baltic Tour. In 2024 on European Tour in Budapest Cor would achieve perfection by hitting his first ever 9 dart finish ever on TV in a 2nd round clash with Stephen Bunting pinning the D18 for the perfect leg and with that gained his own 9 dart pin from the PDC a cool souvenir to have. 2025 would also see him reach semi final of Swiss Darts Trophy defeating the likes of Andrew Gilding 6-3, Peter Wright 6-3, Chris Dobey 6-5 & Jonny Clayton 6-5 before defeat by Luke Woodhouse 7-3 in the semi final, a great experience. Cor would also sign a contract with Darts manufacturer Bull's in April. I wish Cor Dekker nothing but the best ahead of his time at The Palace. Thanks! Download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

In this latest episode it was a pleasure to be joined by Welsh pro Nick Kenny as we discuss his latest form on the Pro Tour that has got him into the Players Championship Finals in Minehead where he is due to face off against Niels Zonneveld in the first round and of course the big one at Ally Pally next month for PDC World Championship as Nick takes part in his 4th PDC World's after last year's heroics beating Stowe Buntz 3-0 with a 170 checkout then beating 5x World Champ Raymond van Barneveld 3-1 in R2 which included a massive run across the stage celebration before bumping into World Number 1 Luke Humphries losing 4-0 to the defending world champ at the time. Nick is from Cwmbran in South Wales and is actually moving into a new house in Newport a very exciting time and played in the pub & county leagues before winning the WDF European Cup Youth Singles in Kirchheim. In 2014 Nick would win 2 Development Tour titles in high calibre fields before making his mark on BDO circuit winning 7 individual titles between 2016 & 2020 and also winning WDF World Cup with Team Wales a proud achievement for a player that loves his country colours. Nick would make 3 BDO World Championship appearances in 2017, 2018 & 2020 most notably having a brilliant match against the number 1 Glen Durrant at the time narrowly losing 3-1 averaging 92. In his last couple of events on BDO before switching to PDC in Romania Kenny would win the final but while going for double the crowd would heckle him enticing a passionate reaction to the winning double jumping off the stage to celebrate.  Nick has been an ever present on PDC circuit since 2020 & this year has been his most solid and will have a tour card for a 4th consecutive year! Find out how Nick gets on in Pro Knowledge at the end it may surprise you! Thanks Nick was a great chat. Download via Podbean, Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

As we gear ever so near to the World Championship in mid December the big tv Majors keep coming with the Grand Slam of Darts this week at Wolverhampton Civic Hall with the group format then marathon finishes it always delivers as Luke Littler looks to defend his Grand Slam of Darts crown after handsomely beating Martin Lukeman 16-3 in the final last year.  I was joined by my good friend & Betfred Darts tipster Sean Rafferty as we go over group by group giving our thoughts on who we think will play well and who will struggle as well as make our own draw bracket to find out who we think has a shot of winning. The standout groups for me are Gian Van Veen, Josh Rock, Wessel Nijman, Lisa Ashton & Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Niko Springer & Beau Greaves. See who we think will finish 1-4 in their groups and who we fancy after the group stage. Some obvious shouts and some rogue shouts to keep it fun! Download via Podbean, Apple Podcasts & Spotify! Thanks again for listening!

In this episode of the podcast it was a pleasure to be joined by current WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk as we chat about his monumental day at Lakeside last December defeating legendary Paul Lim 6-3 in the final to become Ireland's first ever World Darts Champion as well as finding out about his expectations as champ, his 2025 year on the Challenge Tour events and more. Shane is from Castleblayney in County Monaghan in Republic of Ireland and has always played Darts growing up with numerous boards to perfect his game and would start to play professional in 2018. In 2019 Shane would win Development Tour 13 in Hildesheim beating the likes of Kevin Doets, Martin Schindler & Nathan Rafferty before defeating Keane Barry 5-4 in the final. On the WDF circuit Shane would win 2022 FCD Anniversary Open defeating 2023 World Champion Andy Baetens 5-4 in the final & would win 2023 Irish Open defeating Ryan Hogarth 6-2.  This year on the Modus Super Series Shane would win the week against the likes of David Sharp, Sam Spivey, Scott Campbell & Kurt Parry on route to the win.  We also speak about the importance of having the right equipment to help you elevate your game as well as gaining some advice. Thanks Shane for a great episode it was brilliant to chat with the world champion!  Download on Podbean, Apple & Spotify!

I was joined by someone I have great admiration and respect for in Dutch/American pro Jules 'The Dutch Dragon' van Dongen who kindly came on from the States to chat about his recent battles, winning Tour card, World Championship experiences and to see how he fares in Pro Knowledge.  Jules is from Meerssen a small town in The Netherlands and grew up watching the Darts at Christmas time with Raymond van Barneveld being the main influence at the time for Dutch darts. Jules only turned pro in 2020 after coming from hospitality industry but got good during the lock down period and managed to win his Tour card from Q School.  In 2023 Jules was starting to find his feet on PDC with playing World Cup for USA & making his World Championship debut at Alexandra Palace in a 3-1 loss to Darren Penhall was when at the start of 2024 the first signals of the long battle with Dartitis were evident as the throwing position wasn't what it would usually be and he struggled massively but still managed to win a tour card for 2024 season. It gradually got worse and at the start of this year Jules would seek help for months to fix the problems as he couldn't hold the dart without it falling out his hands or release it that was until a neurological specialist took a look at him and within 5 mins diagnosed Jules with Focal Dystonia where the hand cramps and the brain sends too many signal to the nerves in the hand. Jules would fully switch to left hand as of recent and insists on forgetting everything he achieved with the right hand as he is effectively a rookie with lots of experience as a new lefty. We finish with Pro Knowledge see how The Dutch Dragon fares can he do well? Find out I want to thank Jules for his bravery on talking about Focal Dystonia diagnosis as I know it is a tough subject to talk about and done extremely well describing it! If you are struggling with your game or throw then message Jules van Dongen on Facebook and he says he will reply!  Proud of the delivery of this episode so very sure to listen or download via Podbean, Apple or Spotify. This is a belter, enjoy!

With the World Grand Prix double in major starting on Monday I thought that myself and my good mate & darts tipster for Betfred Sean Rafferty (Raffo's Darts Tips on Patreon if you don't follow) would give you our tournament preview as we dive into the history of the event as well as deep dive into the matches and quarters before predicting who wins. World Grand Prix moved to Leicester in 2021 and since then has seen Mike De Decker, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen & Jonny Clayton win at Leicester Arena, Gerwyn Price won in 2020 covid era at Ricoh Arena in Coventry while in Dublin seen Michael van Gerwen win 3 times, Daryl Gurney & Robert Thornton since 2015. The cut throat nature of double in set play makes this a very interesting major.  We also dive over the latest Players Championship events on the floor over the past week as well as talk about the potential Saudi takeover of the sport and the impacts it could have on the game. Give it a listen if you are looking to have a couple of picks on it! Find on Podbean, Apple & Spotify.

In Episode 3 I was joined live from Longstone Hearts Social Club by Scottish PDC Tour Card holder Darren 'Ice Cold' Beveridge as we discuss the experience of playing in Budapest for the second straight year for Hungarian Darts Trophy on PDC European Tour where he managed to defeat Wessel Nijman 6-2 in Round 1 before being defeated 6-3 by World Number 8 Chris Dobey despite going 3-1 up.  Darren is a 5x UK Open participant and managed to get his first win at Butlins, Minehead last year in 2024 defeating fellow Scot Jason Hogg 6-4 before losing to Former BDO World Champion Scott Mitchell 6-4 and this year Darren got a win on one of the main stages defeating Jason Hurrell 6-4 in R1 before losing 6-3 to Justin Hood.  Darren is currently 64th on PDC Pro Tour this year & could be in contention to be at Players Championship Finals. Recently Darren narrowly got beat 6-5 by Tom Bissell while average over 100 in PC27 & faced Gary Anderson in a high quality contest in losing 6-4 to the 2x World Champ at PC26. At PC24 in Milton Keynes he would reach the 3rd round defeating Gian van Veen 6-5 with a 95 average & Berry van Peer 6-2 with a 96 average before losing to 2018 World Champion Rob Cross 6-2 who averaged 107.  With the most crucial part of the season to come Darren is currently 33rd in the Race to the World's and could very be well set to make his World Championship debut at Alexandra Palace in December which will help loads in his quest to keep his playing rights for 2026. In the ending segment Pro Knowledge find out if Darren can beat Andy Davidson or David Sharp's scores.   Be sure to follow, listen, download & leave feedback via Podbean, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Cheers Darren!

Welcome back to episode 2 of The Oche Life Podcast where I was joined live at The Ship Inn in Dalkeith, Midlothian with 2x Modus Super Series & PDC Challenge Tour player 'Razor' David Sharp. Want to thank The Ship Inn for allowing us to record in the back room with David. We find out how David got into the game as a young 16 year old lad who got a lucky break when one of the pub teams needed players and got asked if anyone was decent enough to play. 20 years later and Sharpy is on a successful run making Modus Super Series down in Portsmouth managing to make it to finals night defeating the likes of WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk along the way while this time round in Group C playing against Robert Thornton, Jason Brandon, Carl Wilkinson, Carl Gabriel & Jasper Scarrott narrowly falling short. David has also been playing PDC Challenge Tour events this year in Leicester & Hildesheim with best results of making the last 16 at Challenge Tour 6 & last 32 at Challenge Tour 13 playing against the likes of Darius Labanauskas, Stefan Bellmont, Nathan Girvan and a few others as we go over the depth of talent now at Challenge Tour level. See how David gets on in the final segment 'Pro Knowledge' as we test his Darts knowledge. Can he beat Andy's 5/8? Be sure to find out.  Thanks for the support so far and be sure to listen, download and subscribe via Podbean, Apple Podcasts & Spotify, enjoy!

Welcome to The Oche Life Podcast where I will try my upmost best to provide you with some great content with top players & pros from PDC, WDF, ADC & more.  In this first episode live from Longstone Hearts Social Club in Edinburgh I was joined by 2x WDF title winner & Modus Super Series week winner Andy Davidson where we find out about his remarkable rise in the past few years going from relatively unknown to defeating the odds in Portsmouth winning a shade over £4,000 to win the week at Modus Super Series defeating Aden Kirk in the final to become the champion in a week where he also averaged an incredible 110 against Scott Taylor.  Andy got into the game from watching the old BDO World Championship watching the likes of Martin Adams, Tony O'Shea & Gary Stone and played his first darts tournament at 18 in the pub in Polworth defeating one of the best players in Edinburgh in Scott Gardner 3-2 before facing Gary Stone in the final narrowly defeated 5-3 that would set Andy up to compete in the leagues and further beyond.  Andy has participated 3 times at UK Open as a Riley's Qualifier in 2016, 2017 & 2020. In 2016 he managed to make R3 defeating the likes of Jan Dekker & Cristo Reyes before being beaten by Darren Webster 9-5 in R3 at Butlins, Minehead.  Since joining the WDF circuit Andy is currently 12th in the race to Lakeside for WDF World Championship & 19th in race to World Masters and has 2 titles to hid name winning 2024 Welsh Open & 2024 Malta Masters.  We also test Andy's darting knowledge I the new final segment 'Pro Knowledge' tune in to see how he got on and if he can get close to getting all 8 questions right? Thanks so much to Andy for being a gentleman and a great first guest. I hope you enjoy the episode!      Be sure to like, subscribe, follow & most importantly listen in for the future.