World champion John Part tells us why it's worth betting on him and why he's flying home for Christmas.
With barely 48 hours to go until he begins the defence of his world championship title, you might think John Part would be cramming in the hours on the practice board.
But as skysports.com arrives to interview the popular Canadian ahead of the big kick-off, Alexandra Palace seems far from his mind. In fact, he seems much more absorbed in the 12.10 at Bangor.
We met up with Darth Maple at a London branch of Ladbrokes - sponsors of this year's world championship - where he was impressing a few journalists with his tungsten-tossing prowess - and at the same time baffling a few passers-by who were wondering why the world champion was practising in the window of their local bookmakers.
Shortly before our chat, somebody pointed out to him that there was a horse called The Big Canadian running at Bangor - and with a name like that it was impossible for him to resist having a cheeky flutter.
But after a strong start, his horse faded towards the finish and Part was soon chucking his screwed-up betting slip towards the rubbish bin.
Embarrassingly for somebody who has made millions from his ability to throw objects with extreme precision, the betting slip bounced off the rim of the bin and onto the floor.
He picked it up and threw it again - with the same amusing result.
He picked up the ball of paper one final time, walked closer to the bin and tossed it firmly into the receptacle.
"That's why they give us three throws in darts," he said, with a wry grin on his face.
Part's ability to remain unflustered is one of the reasons why he was able to triumph in the Alexandra Palace pressure cooker last year and as he sat down with skysports.com he said he wouldn't bet against himself coming out on top once again...
skysports.com: Your horse didn't win, but if you were to have a bet on somebody in the world darts championship where would your money go?
John Part: Me! I've got a great price. Seriously, I'd probably back myself! It's not really worth betting on Phil Taylor because his odds are so short.
SS.com: Of course, but taking yourself and Taylor out of the equation, who should Sky Sports viewers be looking out for?
JP: Robert Thornton seems like an interesting player since he's come over. He's dangerous. I think Mervyn King seems to be gelling into more of the player he can be lately. It's hard to say really. There's no wildcards I'm thinking of, I'm not saying there won't be one but I don't really have any in mind. Mark Dudbridge might do well. He did well in Germany lately, I beat him in the quarter final, but he beat some really good players on the way. He seems like he's back in form at the right time, like I am. I have a lot of respect for Mark because he beat me two years on the trot in the world championship! I'm aware of him!
SS.com: Somebody a lot of people are talking about is Anastasia Dobromyslova. Do you rate her chances?
JP: I've seen her in the Grand Prix and the Grand Slam and she scores very well - and that puts your opponent under pressure. I think she'll have chances at winning some matches. Winning the whole thing? I don't know if the world's ready for it. The reason I say that is because if she won a match or two, the amount of attention she'll get put onto her would just suffocate her. I think it's unfair. I'm not saying she couldn't have the talent to win, but if only she could disguise herself as a guy... The accompanying circus could really make it difficult for her and there's so much to overcome. Hopefully she can give a good performance and maybe win a match or two.
SS.com: What about your first-round opponent, Bill Davis. What do you know about him?
JP: I've known him a long time because I used to play against him in the States. He's a very quiet man from the Philadelphia area and he's been getting better as the years go on. He's used to the very short format over there, all the ADO events are best of three sets. In the first round here we worry about the best-of five-sets short format - but to him that's all day!
SS.com: You play Davis on the first night, so are you planning to go back to Canada for Christmas?
JP: One way or the other, yes. I play on the 19th and if I win then I'll have eight days off until the second round. So why sit in a hotel room by myself for a week-and-a-half? It's a really big gap, so I'm not worried about travelling there and back. I'll go back home after my first round match and I'll be flying back to London on the evening of Christmas day - hopefully!
SS.com: That's a huge journey across the Atlantic and back. Will that not affect your game?
JP: I'm more comfortable there, I practise better there and emotionally I'll be happier if I absorb a bit of Christmas at home. Last year I stayed here over Christmas because I played on the last night of the first round - but whatever I do my head will still be in the tournament. Where I am physically won't really change that.
SS.com: So are you confident of being on that flight back on Christmas Day?
JP: I don't see why not. You can never see the pitfalls, but I just try to be ready to play. The schedule was very bad for me last year, but I survived it. This year the schedule is almost ideal, but I don't want to be complacent.
SS.com: As world champion, have the pressures on you increased in the last 12 months?
JP: No, not really. Maybe externally, but not internally - I just look at every tournament as a chance to win something. I think I got pretty tired doing the Premier League. The travelling in itself was okay, but I think my conditioning suffered, so I've been working on that. I lost some weight and I'm feeling better now. I'm feeling fresh again.
SS.com: Do you look ahead to the latter stages of the tournament or are you just focused on your first match?
JP: I scout it out. I look ahead, think about what could happen and I always look at the logistics of it on the assumption that I go through - flights, hotels, whatever. You need to do that. It's the same when I'm throwing darts. If I have a target in mind - say treble 14 - if I miss it I already like to know what I'm going to go for next, I don't want to have to think about it. It's sort of like planning for a tournament - every eventuality is hopefully worked out one way or the other.
SS.com: You won with a tournament average of 94 last year. Sid Waddell thinks the standard will go up this year and the winner will need a higher average than that. Do you agree?
JP: I don't know. I don't think many people got higher than 94 last year. The longer format makes it tough, people get more nervous, miss more doubles and that brings the averages down. We'll have to wait and see. I think people were looking to a lot of different people last year and nothing materialised. There's a lot of pressure on everybody there.
SS.com: Speaking of pressure, the world championship is being shown in high definition for the first time this year. Are you making any special preparations to look good for the HD cameras?
JP: Maybe I should get one of those face masks? I've dropped a little weight, so maybe that'll help - but I'm worried you'll actually be able to see my hair falling out when I miss doubles! Maybe you'll be able to see the follicles as they snap! Seriously though, I'm not worried at all. We're already playing with an inordinate number of cameras to start with - there's three cameras just on you - so if you were going to be self conscious you would be anyway.
