Bert Vlaardingerbroek (born 24 March 1960) is a Dutch former professional darts player who competed in events of the British Darts Organisation (BDO), Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), and World Darts Federation (WDF).

Bert Vlaardingerbroek
Personal information
Nickname"Big Bert"
Born (1960-03-24) 24 March 1960 (age 64)
The Hague, Netherlands
Home townAmsterdam, Netherlands
Darts information
Darts28 Gram
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1986–1999
PDC2003–2006
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 32: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
World MastersQuarter Finals: 1986
Other tournament wins
TournamentYears
Dortmund Open
Spring Cup
Amsterdam Open
1987
1993
1999

Vlaardingerbroek was the first Dutch darter to qualify for a world championship tournament.

Career

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In 1988 he was the first Dutch darter who qualified for the BDO World Darts Championship.[1][2][3]

Vlaardingerbroek made four BDO World Darts Championship appearances[4][5] and lost in the first round each time, losing to Bob Anderson in 1988, Dennis Hickling in 1989, Cliff Lazarenko in 1990 and Martin Phillips in 1992.

He also played in the Winmau World Masters five times, his best performance was a quarter final in 1986, beating Mike Gregory and Lyndon Hextall before losing to Jocky Wilson.

His most successful period in the game came during 1992–93, when he reached the final of the Swiss Open (1992) and twice reached the last four of the Dutch Open (1992–93). He also reached the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open and Belgian Open in 1993. The 1993 Swiss event was the first event to suffer the loss of the 16 "rebel" players who had formed the World Darts Council which led to the split in darts.

The loss of the top players from the BDO/WDF led to opportunities for players to make progress up the world rankings. However, Vlaardingerbroek was not one of those who capitalised and faded from the scene after the 1993 World Masters.

He never featured in the final stages of a major event until reaching the last 32 of the Winmau World Masters in 1999 and then competed in some PDC Pro Tour events in 2003, 2005 & 2006 in his native country, which invites resident country players to compete without having to commit to affiliation of the Professional Dart Players Association.

World Championship results

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Performance timeline

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Tournament 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
BDO World Championship Did not qualify 1R 1R 1R DNQ 1R Did not qualify
Winmau World Masters 2R QF 2R RR 1R 4R 2R 4R 3R 1R 2R DNQ 2R 3R
News of the World ??? RR Not held DNP Not held
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

References

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  1. ^ Darts Greatest Games, Matt Bozeat, 2017
  2. ^ (in Dutch) Dartsgekte, Marcel Abrahams, NRC Handelsblad, 9 January 1999
  3. ^ (in Dutch) Nederlandse darters al sinds 1995 aan de top, Frank Huiskamp, NRC, 1 January 2017
  4. ^ (in Dutch) One hundred and eighty!, de Volkskrant, 4 January 2013
  5. ^ (in Dutch) Andere Tijden Sport - season 6 episode 1
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