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Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957) is an English former professionaldarts player. He is nicknamed "The Heat" and is now based inStevenage.^[1] Ovens is regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he has as yet failed to convert his form from the circuit to the big stages on television. His constant second-round exits in numerous televised tournaments have led him to be called by commentators as "The Nearly Man".

His one good run came in the2005 PDC World Darts Championship, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to former World Masters championMark Dudbridge. He has since suffered six successive second round exits in the World Championship – againstSteve Alker in2006, againstAlan Tabern in2007 (in a thriller that went to a sudden death deciding leg, with Ovens narrowly missing a double 12 for a perfectnine dart finish and a £15,000 bonus), in2008 against Dutchman Jan van der Rassel, after defeatingColin Monk in the first round, in2009 toRonnie Baxter having defeatedSteve Maish 3–0 in the first round, in2010 toColin Lloyd and in2011 toSimon Whitlock.

He reached the semi-final of theUK Open in three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor (twice) andWes Newton and reached the final of the inauguralGerman Darts Championship in 2007.

Ovens retired in 2015. Almost two years to the day since his last appearance, at the BDO Swedish Open in 2016, the 61-year-old made a comeback at the same event. He lost 2–4 to Veine Hagen in the last 256 of the Swedish Open Men's Singles, lost 0–3 toWillem Mandigers in the last 32 of the Gents Classicand lost alongside Keith Wetton against Mauri Tuutijärvi and Ari Nevalainen in the last 16 of the Men's Pairs.

• 2000: 1st Round (lost toBobby George 1–3)

• 2001: 1st round (lost toLes Fitton 1–3)
• 2002: 2nd round (lost toRichie Burnett 4–6)
• 2003: 3rd round (lost toDennis Smith 1–5)
• 2004: 3rd round (lost toAlex Roy 3–4)
• 2005: Quarter-finals (lost toMark Dudbridge 3–5)
• 2006: 2nd round (lost toSteve Alker 1–4)
• 2007: 2nd round (lost toAlan Tabern 3–4)
• 2008: 2nd round (lost to Jan van der Rassel 1–4)
• 2009: 2nd round (lost toRonnie Baxter 1–4)
• 2010: 2nd round (lost toColin Lloyd 3–4)
• 2011: 2nd round (lost toSimon Whitlock 0–4)
• 2012: 1st round (retired due to injury while trailingKevin Münch 1–0)
• 2013: 2nd round (lost toAdrian Lewis 1–4)

• Ovens is known for his trademark unshaven looks. Ovens stated onESPN'sWorld Series of Darts that he kept shaving before a darts match and always lost, so he thought "OK, don't shave".
• Ovens is well known to darts fans as "Captain Hobo", in reference to his unkempt appearance.
• Ovens has said he enjoys playing in German tournaments as Germany "do good beer."

• Interview with Denis Ovens
• Profile and stats on Darts Database

• 1957 births
• English darts players
• Living people
• People from Enfield, London
• Sportspeople from the London Borough of Enfield
• Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders
• British Darts Organisation players
• PDC ranking title winners
• 20th-century English sportsmen
• 21st-century English sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2024
• Use British English from October 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• BLP articles lacking sources from January 2010
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Short description is different from Wikidata