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Gary Anderson is the man the whole of the BDO have to beat

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The BBC's David Croft previews the BDO World Championship and tells us who his hard-earned money will be on

So as John Part heads back to Canada with some expensive hand luggage by his side and a cheque for £100,000 burning a hole in his pocket, the Darts action moves from Alexandra Palace to the Lakeside this week. Congratulations to Party who we'll miss in the BBC commentary box next week, it's always ice to see the good guys come out on top.

I was delighted to see him win a third world title and especially as I'd taken my own advice from my column before Christmas and backed him at a very good price. Betfair punters could have had a price of 48 for John to win the world title, I hope some of you did, he was always worth a few quid and to me was the stand-out player throughout the championship.

So with a little bit of betting money burning a hole in my pocket, who is worth taking on for the BDO World Championships?

Firstly, the stand out bet for the week with is the Nationality of the Winner. Betfair backers can get on any nationality other than English or Dutch for [1.83]. Now I know that is a short price but amongst the 9 nine players who come under that bet are Gary Anderson the tournament favourite and Mark Webster the number 1 seed, plus Simon Whitlock the dangerous Aussie, Robert Thornton the Winmau Masters Winner back in November and Tony David, the Champion back in 2002.

It's an outstanding bet, as is the price of [3] for Gary Anderson to win it outright. 'The Dreamboy' has had a dream 12 months, during which he's won both the World Darts Trophy and International Darts League. He also finished as runner up to Phil Taylor at the Grand Slam of Darts and ended his 2007 with victory in the Zuiderduin Masters over in Holland. So often in the past Gary has failed to live up to his potential, look at his record and you'll see 4 first round exits. Not now though and to make his price even more attractive, the draw has been very kind. Gary is in the bottom half and even though he could meet Simon Whitlock in the second round, he'll avoid the potential danger of Mark Webster, Martin Adams and Darryl Fitton until the final itself.

Whitlock aside, his only big threat in the bottom half comes from Ted Hankey, who he's seeded to meet in the quarter finals. Ted on his day can beat the best of the best, but he's made a habit of losing in Lakeside quarter finals - 3 times in the last 4 years - and I have a hunch that run could continue this time around.

Picking a finalist out of the top half of the draw could be slightly trickier. For starters there are three former World Champions amongst the 16 players, one of whom, Martin Adams, has a first round match he surely wouldn't have wanted. Martin's form in 2007 hasn't matched his excellent 2006, so to be paired in round with Phil Nixon the man he beat in final last January could lead to a major upset. Betfair backers can take on Nixon at [3.5] and given the way he fought back from 6-0 down in that epic final that's a decent price. Looking at the top half of the draw I can honestly make a case for at least 7 players to join Gary Anderson in the final, including Mark Webster, a youngster that gets better month by month and will surely have learnt a huge amount from his first round exit on his Lakeside debut last year. Webster is available with Betfair to reach the final at [4.1] which is decent odds given that he's the number 1 seed. However I'm going to pick an outsider to put a few quid on.

Back in the autumn of 2000 John Walton won the Winmau World Masters. A few months later at a price of 50-1 he continued his purple patch and won the world title. Fast-forward to November 2007 and the World Master is a Robert Thornton, no one fancied him to take it but his victory was no fluke. In fact he had to beat Martin Adams, Martin Atkins, Co Stompe and Darryl Fitton to become champion, all of whom are seeded at the Lakeside. With Betfair you can back Robert at [6] to reach the final and [25] to repeat Walton's efforts 8 years and win the title. Take the latter price and have a nibble on Gary Anderson as well and with a bit of luck come the final itself you'll be watching two Scotsmen up on the stage, safe in the knowledge that whoever wins, you'll be in the money.

Enjoy the week and don't forget every match is either live on BBC1 or 2 or the red button interactive service for Freeview and Satellite viewers, so there's no excuse for missing the greatest Darts tournament of them all.