When it comes to darts, Phil Taylor remains the man they all have to beat

So what chance a 'Power Cut' any time soon..?

In case you hadn't guessed... it's darts season once again.

To be more exact, there isn't much of and off-season in darts these days but as we gradually draw towards the end of the year we've the twin delights of the PDC World Darts Championship (the Sky Sports one) and the BDO World Darts Championship (the BBC version) to look forward to.

'The Power' winner in 2007, 2008 & 2009

In the meantime we've also got the Grand Slam of Darts taking place... where the two rival camps (PDC and BDO) come face-to-face in the same event.

Under the astute management of PDC Chairman, Barry Hearn, this year's Grand Slam event, sponsored by William Hill, will be televised on Sky TV. The tournament will remain at its original venue, the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

32 players will compete in the nine day event. Split into eight groups, each containing four players, a round robin format will determine which two players from each group go through to a knock-out phase.

Defending champion is Scott Waites... the man from Halifax beating James Wade in the 2010 final, coming from 0-8 down to register a memorable 16-12 win.

Phil Taylor will win though... won't he?

Well, that's what the betting and, to a large extent, past form in this event would suggest.

The multiple world champion (multiple champion in pretty much every event), Taylor took the first three GSoD titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

'The Power' was only stopped from landing the four-timer when he was turned over by 'The Adonis' Steve Beaton in last year's quarter-finals. Beaton lost out to Waites in the semi-finals... and the rest is darts history!

Given his total domination of the sport for the last decade, longer in fact, Taylor might seem a big price at 5/4.

However, despite 13 World Championships, 12 World Matchplay title, 10 Grand Prix wins and many, many more titles the stranglehold which the Stoke player has had on the game is slowly beginning to loosen... but only just.

New Kids On The Block!

Darts is entering another generational cycle.

After the early years of Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson and Leighton Rees... through to John Lowe, Bob Anderson, Rod Harrington... then Taylor himself, Dennis Priestley, John Part and Raymond Barneveld. The game moves on.

Adrian Lewis with 'mentor' Taylor

Now it's the likes of Adrian Lewis (2010 PDC World Champion), James Wade and Gary Anderson who pose the biggest threat to the unrivalled success which Phil Taylor has enjoyed during the last 15 years.

These guys follow 'The Power' in the betting and their combined challenge will make sure the game's No.1 player takes nothing for granted.

What comes next?

And after we're all done with the GSoD then it's time to focus on the forthcoming PDC World Championship from the Alexandra Palace as well as the BDO version at the Lakeside.

Great darting action and the opportunity to cheer a few 180's and make yourself a few quid into the bargain.

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