HE'S nicknamed The Hustler and he dances on to the oche to the strains of Song 2 by Blur.

Welcome to the world of professional darts, Steve Pearson.

Since becoming the first player in Gloucestershire to join the PDC Professional Darts Championship in February, Steve has climbed 200 places in the world rankings.

Next year he wants to make a real impact on the pro darts scene.

The 39-year-old decorator from Dymock has only won several hundred pounds in around 20 pro tournaments, but he insists much bigger things are just a short throw away. He said: "I practise regularly with Simon Whitlock and Adrian Lewis and it was nice when Simon tipped me for the top in 2011.

"I feel I've got the game to play anyone. This is the first year I've really focused on my darts and I'm hitting my targets and getting noticed.

"Simon Whitlock said to me 'do you know how good you are'?

"Darts is 50 per cent in the arm and 50 per cent in the head and it's the second part that I've improved most. I'm a lot stronger mentally." Setting himself small goals has been the key to his improvement.

He said: "I've been counting all my 180s and wanted to score 1,440 this year – to give me an average of 30 per week. I'm up to 1,211.

"I'm beginning to get invited to different tournaments and the more I can improve my ranking, the more doors will open.

"I'm playing with the best and because of that I'm getting better. We're talking about the top players in the world, and they're taking me seriously, doing things like trying to slow me down. I love it."

At the end of this month, Steve is set to compete in the Players' Championship and the World Championship qualifiers.

He said: "I still play in Newent when I can because I never want to forget where I'm from, but I'm aiming to play in more than 30 PDC tournaments in 2011."