Martin Adams

Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events.

Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion.

After being made redundant by Lloyds Bank, he turned professional in 1992.

He represents Cambridgeshire at county darts level and was the captain of England from 1993 to 2013, the longest any player has held that role.

As the departing players were also banned from county darts, Adams also took over the role as England captain in 1993 and remained captain until March 2013, becoming the longest reigning England captain ever.

For many years, Adams was known as the nearly man at the Lakeside tournament, often reaching the latter stages but without winning it.

On several occasions, he lost crucial matches from winning positions or an opponent making a great comeback.

From his debut in 1994, Adams made a record 25 consecutive World Championship appearances, before failing to qualify for the first time in 2019.

Adams made his BDO World Darts Championship debut in 1994, the first world championship staged after the infamous split in darts, in which the top-16 players left the BDO to form the World Darts Council.

Adams reached four semi-finals, losing to Steve Beaton in 1994, Erik Clarys in 1995, Les Wallace in 1998 and van Barneveld in 2005.

He twice lost a semi-final in a deciding set, against Raymond van Barneveld in 1995 and Tony David in 2002.

Against David, Adams recovered from a 1–4 deficit to tie the match at 4–4.

In the deciding set, Adams missed two darts at double-16 to save the match, and David then hit double-top to advance to the final.

Adams also suffered first round exits at Lakeside in 1997 (to Roger Carter), 1998 (to Robbie Widdows), 2000 (to Steve Coote) and 2004 (to Ritchie Davies).

Adams reached the semi-finals of the revived News of the World Darts Championship in 1997, where he lost 2-1 to Phil Taylor.

In the 1999 world championship quarter-finals, he lost 5–4 to Chris Mason, having led 4–1 and missed nine match darts.

In the Grand Slam BDO events, other than the World Championship, Adams was beaten 6–4 in the 2004 Bavaria World Darts Trophy final by Raymond van Barneveld and lost the 2006 Bavaria World Darts Trophy final to Phil Taylor 7–2.

In 2005, Adams reached the world final at the 12th attempt.

He beat Davy Richardson 3–2, John Henderson 3–2, Ted Hankey 5–3 and Simon Whitlock 5–0 before losing 6–2 against van Barneveld in the final.

The following year, he reached the semi-finals, and again was beaten 6–2 by van Barneveld.

In the BDO's second biggest major, the Winmau World Masters, it was a similar story.

In 2006, Adams reached his first Masters final, where he lost to 7–5 to 17-year-old Michael van Gerwen, having led 5–2 in sets and despite averaging 107 for the first nine darts of each leg.

Adams has won many BDO Open events and twice won the WDF World Cup singles.

Adams reached his second world final in 2007.

He was number one seed for the second time in his career and put out Tony O'Shea, Co Stompé, Ted Hankey and Mervyn King in his run to the final where he faced qualifier Phil Nixon.

The two oldest players in the tournament (they were both 50 years old) reached the final.

Adams stormed into a 6–0 lead, before Nixon produced an incredible comeback to level the match.

Just when it looked like Adams was heading for another dramatic defeat, having already missed four match darts, he went on to win all three legs in the final set to take the match 7–6 and finally claim the world title that he said he had been chasing for 14 years.

After the game, Adams was clearly emotional in an interview following his victory, citing the memories of the 2007 final as the reason (the first time he had won comfortably).

In the second round he came up against Martin Phillips.

It was easy pickings for Adams, who cruised to a 4–0 victory with Phillips paying the price for many missed doubles.

In the quarter-finals he played a fiercely fought match against Masters champion Robert Thornton, whom he led at one time 4–2.

Thornton fought back to make it 4–4 but Adams eventually took control of his visible nerves to win 5–4.

Adams went on to lose in the semi-finals to number-one seed Mark Webster, who eventually won the tournament.

In the draw for the 2008 BDO World Championships, Adams was again paired with Nixon in the first round.

In the match, Adams beat Nixon 3–0.

Adams was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April 2016, but by the end of the year he was given the all-clear.

As well as playing, he also acts as a regular pundit and commentator for televised coverage of BDO events.

Adams was born in Sutton, Surrey and started his darts career in pubs.

He still plays pub darts, currently playing for The Bell Tavern in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire.