From the outside it might not seem like the ideal preparation for a World Championship defence.
Michael Smith has just spent 11 nights touring Ireland and on Monday morning the PDC champion took the early ferry and headed for home after a marathon exhibition circuit that wound its way around the country, taking in Tullamore, Waterford, Oranmore and Edenderry among other lesser known darts venues.
It's a tough gig, especially coming so close to the sport's showpiece event, which starts on Friday night but over the course of seven hours, Smith never once refuses any of the numerous requests for pictures and signatures.
The 33-year-old, who earlier this year fulfilled his darting destiny by defeating Michael van Gerwen 7-4 in a classic final at Alexandra Palace, chats with fans for Q&A session in O’Donoghue’s Bar in Edenderry, then takes a short break before taking on the cream of the crop from the local league.
Keith 'Oche Balboa’ O’Connor, Barry ‘The Monk’ Mooney, Johnny 'The Dagger' Downey and Martin ‘The Tonne Machine’ Kelly, some of the names who line up to take a swing at the king.
All fine throwers in their own right but it's as far from the bright lights of London as you can get.
"Being at home I do just normal throwing and checkouts but there's no better practice than match practice," Smith tells RTÉ Sport.
"It's getting me about, out of the house, it's exhibitions but I'm still playing games as I should. I'm focussing hard.
"I’ve not been messing about. Normally in exhibitions you give people chances or you start going for three doubles (for an outshot).
"I’ve done that a couple of times but I’m trying to go out in 12, 11, trying to hit a nine-darter, it’s hard but I’m focused."
Since winning his first world title, and second major after his Grand Slam success in November 2022, Smith’s form on the oche has been mixed.
The St Helens man won three titles this year but his best performance in a major was a semi-final at the Grand Prix in October.
He went out in the group stage of the Grand Slam and lost in the opening round of the Players Championship Finals at the end of last month.
Prior to coming to Ireland, ‘Bully Boy' has been hitting the practice board with pal Nathan Aspinall, this year’s Matchplay winner and a two-time semi-finalist at the Worlds.
"I've seen my kids and wife 30-odd times this year," he says of the schedule that comes alongside his new status, boosted even further by his nine-darter in the 'best leg of darts ever, ever, ever' in the win over Van Gerwen.
THE BEST LEG OF ALL TIME! 🤯🔥
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 3, 2023
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN MISSES D12 FOR A NINE-DARTER, AND THEN SMITH PINS A PERFECT LEG HIMSELF!
ONE OF THE GREATEST THINGS YOU'LL EVER SEE IN SPORT. pic.twitter.com/WyKWFcxq5V
"That's the downside, you've just got to balance it and this year, I've not played anything, just TV events and in the first five months I never played off stage. It was Premier League and Europeans and that was it.
"I had to try to balance it but I think I went about it the wrong way.
"I needed more time at home because I knew how busy this year would be. It's trying to balance my life, it's been hard.
"I get noticed a lot more wherever I go, there's more pictures, signatures, people asking the most random questions. It's weird but I do enjoy it, but I also don't enjoy it at the same time.
"When the Premier League finished it hit me hard because I was missing the extra two days of practice, the Wednesdays and Thursdays, playing, and my form just dipped.
"I was trying to will myself on saying, 'world champions don't play this way, world number ones don't play this way' and it was my own fault I never got back on the dart board.
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"The last two and a half months I've been with Nathan Aspinall, working really hard with him.
"You can see, apart from the Grand Slam and the Players Championship, my game is starting to go up. In practice I'm hitting things like I used to so it's just that little switch that needs to happen on stage."
Talking about flicking the switch, and flicking the switch, are two completely different things, of course.
As is tradition, the defending champ features on opening night and Smith will face the winner of Stowe Buntz, the American who won four games at the Grand Slam on debut, and Kevin Doets from the Netherlands, who meet in the first game of the tournament.
Smith himself burst onto the world stage when he beat then-defending champion Phil Taylor in the second round of the World Championship ten years ago (below).
"I know they are going to be thinking a lot more about me than I am about them," he says of a potential tricky first-to-three-set tie.
"I've been in the final three times and know what it takes to get there so there's no better place for my game to click than on the Ally Pally stage."
The days of being able to predict a couple or three potential winners of the Sid Waddell Trophy, and the £500,000 prize, are gone.
The 96-person field contains seven PDC World Championship winners. There are another 12 men who have won majors, and three more who have won the now-defunct BDO World title.
This season’s eight majors have been won by six different players.
The usual suspects are knocking around: Van Gerwen, this year’s Premier League winner; Peter Wright, champion in 2022 and 2020; Gerwen Price, who claimed the prize behind closed doors in 2021, is circling, while 2018 champion Rob Cross is finding form.
Two-time winner Gary Anderson has that look back, too.
But there’s no doubt who the man of the moment is.
Luke Humphries (above), the 28-year-old from Berkshire, has won three of the last four majors, including a stunning Players Championship Finals win over Van Gerwen, who is still stuck on three titles since 2019.
The Grand Prix and Grand Slam champion has been installed as favourite and it’s no surprise he tops the PDC’s form guide. His three-dart average over his last 200 legs is 101.87 and his doubling percentage is 43.41.
Smith, who this year changed his darts manufacturer, doesn’t feature in the top ten.
"I'm going in there to go back-to-back but whoever wins it this year, hopefully it's me but you're not going to be surprised. It's wide open," says Smith, still ranked world number one.
"I think there's about 10 to 15 people who can win this. It's going to be difficult.
"There are some players who have won majors but never been to a World final. It's different being there.
"When I made my second one, I was like the tenth person to be in two World finals out of 500 players ever.
"There's people like James Wade, a serial winner but he's never been past the semi-final of the World Championship, it's just a different feeling. You need something about you.
"Everyone's got their favourites: Michael, Gez, I know Luke's playing really well but like I said about James, he could fall into that category again.
"[Luke has] been doing that for a while especially in the Europeans, last year he won four and this year he's always in the final.
"And now he's doing it on stage. He's playing really well, he's a good player.
"I'm not afraid of anyone, I wasn't afraid of Michael or Phil, when he was in his prime.
"I love to play them players because it shows you where you are in your game."
Smith reckons Irish darts are in "safe hands" with a healthy contingent of eight set to play at Alexandra Palace between 15 December and 3 January.
Antrim’s Josh Rock (above) is the highest ranked player in the order of merit at 23, while Daryl Gurney (27th) from Derry and Fermanagh’s Brendan Dolan (28th) are the other two seeds.
Keane Barry (41st) will be looking to set up a second-round clash with Van Gerwen if he can beat Reynaldo Rivera of the Philippines, while Mickey Mansell (64th) will face Dolan if he gets past China’s Xiaochen Zong.
Willie O’Connor (38th) and Steve Lennon (58th) face India’s Bhav Patel and England’s Owen Bates, respectively, in their first-round games.
There’s a debut for Dylan Slevin (88th) from Tipperary with the prize of a clash with Dimitri van den Bergh on the line if he overcomes Germany’s Florian Hempel.
Elsewhere, Munster-based Poland native Radek Szaganski will play former champ Raymond van Barneveld if he accounts for Finland’s Marko Kantele.
Szaganski is one of 24 debutants and there are 27 countries represented in the £2.5 million competition.
Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock (above) is back and will fancy her chances against Jermaine Wattimena, while Mikuru Suzuki takes on Ricardo Pietreczko.
World number one Beau Greaves opted out to successfully defend her World Darts Federation (WDF) crown at the Lakeside.
Tournament debutant Luke Littler will be one to watch after the 16-year-old impressed on his way to the World Youth Championship in November.
The 31st renewal of the PDC’s showpiece is set up to be another thrilling affair played out across 28 sessions that includes a break from 24-27 December.
"It would mean everything," replies Smith when asked what it would mean to retain his crown, a feat not achieved since Anderson went back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
"I'd be only the [fourth] player ever to do it.
"It would be even better for my kids and my wife and my family. There's no better feeling than being world champion.
"They are going to be announcing me as the 'reigning' world champion now, I don't want it to be 'former' after the World Championships."
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Friday 15 December (1900)
Kevin Doets v Stowe Buntz (Round 1)
Cameron Menzies v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (R1)
Simon Whitlock v Paolo Nebrida (R1)
Michael Smith v Doets/Buntz (Round 2)
