Warren qualified for the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was the only Welshman in the field. He lost 3–0 in the first round to third seed Mervyn King. Warren has come close to qualifying for Lakeside on two occasions, falling two games short of qualifying for the 2008 World Championship in a loss to Mike Veitch who eventually qualified, and then falling at the same hurdle again in the qualifiers for the 2009 World Championship, losing to Robbie Green. Warren fell two games short once more of qualifying for the 2010 World Championship, losing to Irishman Martin McCloskey who eventually qualified. Warren's best TV performance came in the 2015 BDO World Trophy, where he reached the quarter-finals, beating Madars Razma 6–4 and 2015 World ChampionScott Mitchell with ease 7–2. He fell at the Last-8 stage, losing a close game with Jeff Smith 8–7. Warren also qualified for the 2013 World Championship, but lost in the first round to Alan Norris. He then went on a barren spell; but, after a five-year absence, he qualified for the 2018 World Championship. This was due to decent 2017 form, where he has reached two ranking semi-finals and three quarter-finals. Warren's best career win was the 2014 BDO Gold Cup, where he beat Pip Blackwell in the final three sets to nil. Warren reached the Quarter-final of the 2018 World Championship, beating Wesley Harms 3–1 in an impressive showing in the 1st round; in the 2nd round, after a tough start, he defeated Willem Mandigers 4–2 to set up a Quarter-final match against Mark McGeeney. Warren led McGeeney 4–3 in sets and led the eighth by a break of throw, but McGeeney took the set to a deciding leg, in which Warren hit a double-one attempting to hit a single 20 that would have given him one match dart. McGeeney won the set and ultimately the match 5–4. At the 2020 World Championship, Warren improved on his best performance by reaching the final, and went on to beat fellow Welshman Jim Williams 7–4 to win the BDO world title. At 57, Warren is the oldest winner of either version of the world championship. He is an active player on the exhibition circuit.
Personal life
Away from darts, Warren works as a roofer and lives in Tynewydd, Rhondda Cynon Taf. He is sponsored by Red Dragon Darts. Fellow players and commentators have commented on his smooth and relaxing throwing style. In 2001, Warren was involved in an incident in which he was splashed with boiling chip fat – suffering 20% upper body burns which gave him heavy scarring.
Jim Williams