138 Checkout in Darts — T20 → T18 → D12
At 138, the leg is decided by the quality of the opening throw more than any other single factor. The route — T20 → T18 → D12 — is built to convert that first dart into a clear path to D12. Players who finish 138 reliably treat the opening triple as the highest-consequence dart in the visit, not the double — because the double becomes straightforward when the approach is controlled, and becomes genuinely hard when it is not.
Controlling the dart toward the 5 side on the opening throw from 138 is the miss management available here. A drift into 5 leaves 133 — a manageable recovery position. The 1 side leaves 137, which creates a significantly harder continuation. The difference between those two outcomes is not small, and it is within the player's control to influence which one is more likely by building a slight directional preference into the throw preparation rather than aiming straight and hoping the miss falls the right way.
The sequence on 138 needs to be treated as three separate committed throws rather than as one connected action. Each dart in T20 → T18 → D12 should receive its own approach and its own full commitment — T20 thrown to T20, T18 thrown to T18, and D12 thrown to D12. Players who think about the double during the setup darts are splitting their attention across the visit in a way that reliably degrades the quality of the throw that needs it most.
Breathe before the throw. Under pressure, shallow breathing is the norm — and it changes every aspect of the physical execution in ways that are difficult to compensate for. Players who finish 138 consistently in competition are not naturally calmer than those who miss it. They have simply rehearsed the response to pressure enough that it no longer interferes with the mechanics. On 138, the pressure is visible — the opponent knows a finish is on. The players who close it ignore that fact and focus entirely on the process. On 138, pressure is visible — both players know a finish is on. The ones who close it treat it as just another dart in the leg. The grip is where pressure enters the throw first. Noticing grip tension before stepping to the oche is the earliest point at which the miss can be prevented.
Against an opponent on a finish, the worst thing on 138 is a passive, careful approach. This route — T20 → T18 → D12 — asks for commitment at every dart. That commitment is what the match situation demands.
Route Comparison & Target Selection
Primary: T20 → T18 → D12
treble 20 (60), treble 18 (54), closing on double 12 — high-percentage close
Alternate: T16 → T18 → D18
treble 16 (48), treble 18 (54), closing on double 18 — solid close
The primary (T20 → T18 → D12) and alternate (T16 → T18 → D18) follow similar approaches, but the primary closes on D12 — a stronger finishing double than D18. Under match pressure, that difference compounds: D12 is more forgiving on a slight miss, splits more cleanly, and is more commonly practised at competitive level. The miss geometry on T20 is asymmetric — the 5 side leaves 133 and the 1 side leaves 137, so the preferred drift direction is toward 5. The primary is the correct default. The alternate is available when the primary's approach is not producing clean grouping on a given visit.
Avoid 1 on this visit. It leaves 137 — the weaker of the two available miss directions. Better miss is 5 for 133.
Miss Geometry, Route Structure & When to Use the Alternate
The treble 20 bed sits between two of the cheapest segments on the board: 5 and 1. On 138 a miss into 5 leaves 133 and a miss into 1 leaves 137. Neither leave is catastrophic, but the neighbour geometry of treble 20 is the weakest of any high-value target, which is why it demands the most reliable grouping to be worth the commitment. When darts are consistently landing below the bed rather than inside it, the geometry of treble 19 makes it the stronger structural target. Its neighbours — 3 and 7 — score more than the 1 and 5 flanking the 20, meaning drift costs less and leaves more workable routes. That neighbour difference is not trivial. Over a leg it compounds, which is why the switch to 19 is a positional decision rather than a mechanical one. For the structure from here, 138 cannot be closed in two darts, so the route extends to three: T20 → T18 → D12. T20 scores the opening position, T18 reaches the exact number needed for the close, and D12 finishes the leg. The route holds together when each dart is thrown to its role in sequence rather than with one eye on the eventual double. The second dart (T18) is where most execution errors on three-dart routes occur — it is the dart most affected by anticipation of the close, and it is the dart that determines whether D12 is reached from a position of control or a position of recovery. As for the alternate route, between the two options, the primary closes on the stronger double (D12 versus the alternate's D18). That edge accumulates in match play — arriving at a higher-percentage close through a sound route structure is the combination the primary provides. The alternate (T16 → T18 → D18) is the contingency when the primary's approach breaks down on a given visit, not the default.
When and Why to Use This Route
Use this route as the standard approach from this score. Scoring hard through T20 and finishing on D12 is the combination that wins the most legs — not just in comfortable situations, but especially in tight ones where both components need to deliver simultaneously.
This is an aggressive route that does not sacrifice reliability. T20 scores hard and applies pressure. D12 closes cleanly and forgives slight misses on the final dart. The combination is what makes this route correct as the default from this score — it does not require ideal conditions to work, and it does not need the player to choose between being aggressive and being controlled.
Why Players Miss This Finish
Players miss the 138 checkout by losing control of the visit on the second dart, not the first. T20 lands well and the position looks good — then, instead of committing fully to T18, the player is already thinking about D12. The second dart becomes distracted: aimed partly at T18 and partly at the result it will produce. That distraction costs accuracy. The dart lands somewhere other than intended, and the close on D12 is either harder than it should be or no longer available. Players who drop 138 regularly from a clean T20 are almost always losing the leg on dart two, not dart three.
Players who close 138 most reliably have solved the same problem: they have made the response to an imperfect dart automatic. When T20 lands slightly off, the right response is to read the new score immediately and throw the best available continuation without hesitation. That response is not instinctive — it is trained. Practising the recovery from the two most likely miss positions on T20 is the most direct way to reduce the number of legs dropped from a recoverable position on 138.
Practice
Practise the 138 checkout as a complete sequence — T20 → T18 → D12 — rather than drilling each dart in isolation. The rhythm between darts is as important as the accuracy of each individual throw. Players who practise T20 separately, then T18 separately, then D12 separately, and then combine them in a match often find the transition between darts is the problem, not the darts themselves. Run the full route in sets: three successful completions before stopping, or a conversion rate target like two clean legs in five attempts.
Recovery practice is not supplementary to 138 training — it is essential to it. The two most likely recovery positions from a miss on T20 are 133 (via 5) and 137 (via 1). Practising both of these scores alongside the full 138 route produces a player who can continue the visit without recalculation after an imperfect first dart. That continuation speed — the automatic response to a slight drift — is one of the most valuable and least-practised skills in club-level 501.
