Jamie Caven was born in Leicester on March 10th 1976, and although he was blinded in his right eye by virtue of a bee sting at the age of just 15 months, his interest in darts began at a very young age watching the likes of Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Jocky Wilson in the early 1980's on terestrial television. This developed into his early teens where he made his debut for the Eyres Monsell Working Mens Club side on a Friday night when he was just 13 years old. After some fine displays in his first superleague season, he was selected for Leicestershire mens B team at the tender age of 15 and within 2 years Jamie had broken into the mens A side. After a debut win in the A team, his second A team appearance he produced the finist performance by a Leicestershire player to date - a 37.58 dart average (112.74) in a 3-0 win against Lincolnshire in darts of 14, 14 and 12, and this included a few missed doubles! A few months later Jamie was crowned World Youth Champion at Earls Court in London, in December 1993. After some newspaper and TV interviews, Jamie realised that his ambition was to be a professional. 

Over the next couple of years Jamie's success continued in local opens and leagues and his rise seemed to be on the climb continuously, however, a series of blackouts at the age of 20, resulted in an hospital visit and an 8 week admission after the discovery of some pancreatic tumours. After a full pancreatectomy, Jamie was left with a scar in the shape of an arc from one side to the other, and diabetes. His nickname 'Jabba' followed due to the fact he has to jab himself 4 times daily with insulin. After around 3 years away from competitive darts, Jamie returned to action on the County, Superleague and local open circuit. In 2001, Jamie moved up 3 divisions of superleague and County as he switched to Cambridgeshire. Although he only stayed with the Premier Division champions for a couple of seasons, he changed back to Leicestershire, due to travel being an issue. Jamie's County darts career ended in 2003 but he still reflects to this being a positive progression of his career to date. Jamie also met his wife Debbie for the first time in 2003,  at a darts tournament ran by his employers nationally, although they didn't get together until a few years later. This was one of the perks of working for the Inland Revenue, and Debbie still works for the HMRC today.

In November 2006 Jamie entered a tournament at his local club for a chance to play the greatest player of all time, Phil 'The Power' Taylor. Jamie won through the rounds of this event to qualify for the final 8 of the event and all the finalists played The Power on the night. Jamie won the event without losing a leg which included a win of the multiple World Champion Taylor. Soon to follow was a sponsorship offer from Peter Clare of Mr Tax Ltd, who offered to pay for some of Jamie's entry fees to compete in the Professional Darts Corporation after Taylors approval that he should join the PDC. With around 15 professional events played in the 2007 PDC circuit, Jamie entered the World Championship PDPA qualifiers, and won through to be one of the 8 qualifiers on the night. His televised debut at Alexandra Palace saw Jamie defeat Wes Newton in straight sets, and although he lost to Wayne Mardle in round two, he had made a big impression.

Three runs to last 16 in PDC pro tour events in the following months came alongside qualification for the UK Open in Bolton, where he was a second round loser to Steve Smith. He then resched his first final at the Welsh UK Open regional final in September, losing to Ronnie Baxter, and also made a semi-final of a player championship in Dublin and a quarter-final in Killarney. Those results ensured a World Championship return through the player championship order of merit, although his bid to win a Grand Slam of Darts place was foiled with a semi-final loss in the ITV wildcard qualifier. Jamie again impressed on the Alexandra Palace stage in the 2009 World Championship going down to a narrow loss to Mark Walsh in Round One, while he began the New Year with a semi-final run in the UK Open North-East Regional Final before suffering a first round exit to Colin Lloyd in the Player Championship Finals.

Two PDC pro tour quarter-finals followed in April before he claimed his first professional victory, defeating Alan Tabern 6-5 in the final of the UK Open Welsh Regional Final in Newport. The UK Open Finals also proved a successful weekend, with wins over Steve Dolan, Jelle Klaasen and Alex Roy taking him to a first televised quarter-final, where Colin Osborne was too strong. Caven reached another player championship final losing to Walsh in Barnsley, before qualifying through the Las Vegas Desert Classic qualifiers. Phil Taylor defeated Caven in the Desert Classic's first round, while a World Matchplay debut followed but also ended in first round defeat to world number two James Wade at the Winter Gardens.

September 2009 saw Jamie claim his second players championship victory, as he defeated Steve Beaton in Salzburg to pick up another £6,000 title. Qualification for the World Grand Prix, where he was edged out by Wes Newton in the first round of his debut in the double start tournament, confirmed his place in the Worlds top 32. His progression continued with qualification for the European Championship, which saw him defeat Terry Jenkins but lose 9-8 to Jelle Klaasen in round two, as well as automatic qualification for the World Championship for a third successive year, although he went down 3-2 to Gary Anderson in the opening round. Jabba's consistency on the PDC Pro Tour continued into 2010, reaching one final four semi-finals and three quarter-finals in the build up to the UK open, although Andy Smith would end his Bolton hopes in the last 32.

A second Blackpool appearance bought another first round loss in the World Matchplay as Ronnie Baxter secure a 10-7 win, but the European Championship offered a swift chance to bounce back, which Jamie did in style with wins over Gary Anderson and Barrie Bates to reach the last 8 where Terry Jenkins proved too strong. Caven continued that form on a visit to Canada, where he picked up his third professional title with victory in August 2010 in the London Ontario Players Championship, and a day later he reached the final but Colin Lloyd prevented him from a double header.

A fourth championship win came in Dublin in late September with a final 6-5 win over Ronnie Baxter on the eve of the World Grand Prix where Andy Smith foiled Jabba at the first hurdle. Jamie's fourth World Championship was his first competitive action under new manger and former British heavyweight boxer Jess Harding, and followed with a 3-1 first round win over South Africa's Devon Pietersen, but Colin Osborne ended his hopes after Christmas. Jamie began 2011 in the top 20, but after a great 6-1 win over Barrie Bates at the Player Championship Finals, Andy Smith once again stopped Caven's progression. Jamie's fifth Professional win came in February in his home town with a player championship victory in Derby with a 6-2 win in the final over World Champion Adrian Lewis.

Date Event Category Round

03/01/2011 Ladbrokes.com World Championship PDC WC Last 32
29/01/2011 Players Championship, Germany 1 PDC Pro Tour Last 64
30/01/2011 Players Championship, Germany 2 PDC Pro Tour Last 32
06/02/2011 Players Championship Finals PDC Premier Last 16
19/02/2011 Players Championship, Derby 1 PDC Pro Tour Winner
20/02/2011 Players Championship, Derby 2 PDC Pro Tour Quarter Final
26/02/2011 UK Open Qualifier 1 PDC Pro Tour Quarter Final
27/02/2011 UK Open Qualifier 2 PDC Pro Tour Last 64
12/03/2011 UK Open Qualifier 3 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
13/03/2011 UK Open Qualifier 4 PDC Pro Tour Last 64
26/03/2011 Players Championship, Crawley 1 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
27/03/2011 Players Championship, Crawley 2 PDC Pro Tour Last 64
10/04/2011 Newarke Open Open Runner Up
16/04/2011 UK Open Qualifier 5 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
17/04/2011 UK Open Qualifier 6 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
30/04/2011 UK Open Qualifier 7 PDC Pro Tour Last 128
01/05/2011 UK Open Qualifier 8 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
14/05/2011 Player Championship, Vienna 1 PDC Pro Tour Last 32
15/05/2011 Player Championship, Vienna 2 PDC Pro Tour Last 16
21/05/2011 Player Championship, Crawley 3 PDC Pro Tour
22/05/2011 Player Championship, Crawley 4 PDC Pro Tour
05/06/2011 UK Open Finals, Bolton PDC Premier
18/06/2011 Player Championship, Nuland 1 PDC Pro Tour
19/06/2011 Player Championship, Nuland 2 PDC Pro Tour
26/06/2011 Sunday Showdown, Leamington Exhibition
24/07/2011 World Matchplay, Blackpool PDC Premier

Anybody wishing to enquire about exhibitions please contact Jess Harding on 07931107700.

Jamie also has a website dedicated to exhibition nights with top MC Paul Booth. Feel free to have a browse at the site www.jamiecavenexhibition.co.uk - there is all the info you would need to arrange your own exhibition night, and ideas of how to fund it.

The video clip below is from a typical Jabba darts exhibition. This one was at The Lakes, Ambleside Drive,
Worcester in September 2010

Click to play