Nickname Big Bert Tournament Years BDO 1986-1999 Name Bert Vlaardingerbroek | PDC 2003-2006 Home town The Hague | |
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Born 24 March 1960 (age 64)
The Hague, Netherlands ( 1960-03-24 ) World Ch'ship Last 32: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 | ||
World Masters Quarter Final: 1986 | ||
Big Bert Dartpionier
Bert Vlaardingerbroek (born 24 March 1960 in The Hague) is a former Dutch darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation, Professional Darts Corporation and World Darts Federation events.
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Career
Vlaardingerbroek made four BDO World Darts Championship appearances and lost in the first round each time, losing to Bob Anderson in 1988, Denis 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.