With 13 titles in 16 years to his name, Phil Taylor has simply demolished the opposition, winning 4 of his titles to nil, including his most recent 7-0 whitewash of Peter Manley in the 2006 final (the second time he has beaten Manley by that score line). Man against boys.

Cards however, are a different kettle of fish. For one thing, unlike darts, card games involve luck. Luck tends to put paid to any presumptuous notions of winning seven titles in seven years for example.

Nevertheless, having to accept defeat every once in a while (something Taylor’s not used to at the dart board) hasn’t stopped Taylor from developing a love for the game. A keen player, despite only ranking himself 4/10 on his Ladbrokes profile, Taylor has managed to find enough time away from the dartboard to compete in a number of events, his best result to date contributing a neat $179,000 to his bankroll. That was when he came second in the 2004 Pacific Poker Open. Not bad from a darts player.

Taylor’s most recent venture into the poker wasn’t quite so successful when he was one of the first players to be knocked out of the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise main-event (back in mid January).

When I caught up with him, during a Ladbrokes photo shoot with a scantily clad glamour girl, the always jolly Taylor told me he just hadn’t been at the races. “I just played terrible. From start to finish, I was all over the place.”

Oh well, Taylor had brought a dart board on board the cruise boat, so no worries.